A Saturday homebrew. This time a lilac flavored one. The beer is dressed in cloudy, deep amber. Looks actually surprisingly attractive. The carbonation is still somewhat fatigued but brisker than that of the heart's ease version of the same base batch. A limited soapy lacing adorns the top for a short while until it dies away. The carbonation obviously develops. Good. The scent is very malty: barley, no doubt, amberish, and somewhat worty. Do I get a floral punch? No, definitely not a punch. Anything? Not sure. The fragrance of lilac is normally relatively copious but, of course, when applied in a beer, it's different. I can't say that I received a lilac nuance here, rather something biscuity, which obviously has nothing to do with lilac. The taste is very light, malty, slightly worty, crackery and also biscuity. Quite pleasant. But not floral. Maybe a bit grassy. I can't find a floral note here. Pity. But not surprising though. I tasted a lilac blossom when I picked them for a freezer, and the taste wasn't particularly appealing. Rather grassy. And that's what I get here. Lilac can make a nice decorative element when applied in tiny amounts on salads or soups but tastewise it's rubbish. The body is thin. The finish is grassy and a tad malty, nothing special but nothing revolting either. Feels thin, a bit crisp, earthy, dry and drying. But not floral. Drinkable although not a huge masterpiece. –0.3 stars down for the absence of lilac.

Homebrew time! This is one of the Small Beer series. Flavored with blossoms of a flower called Heart's Ease. Yes, it's edible 😅 The beer looks cloudy copper. The carbonation is, understandably, still timid as it will develop bolder over time. Some of my beers have developed overcarbonated during a couple of years, for example, so that the foam erupts uncontrollably from the bottle. I still can't make beers whose carbonation level would remain constant over a longer period of time. The emerging lacing is off-white and soapy, remains at a few millimeters only. The scent is almost zero. A bit of cookie, malt and faint cacao nibs. A floral hint lingers somewhere in the shadows. The taste is marginally grassy, probably because of Tettnanger hops. The other components include a small amendment of malt, dried apricot and bread. Nothing that would resemble a flower. Pity. The body is thin. Not surprising at 2.4 %. Ends unchanged. Feels thin, slightly crisp, moderately dry and drying. But not floral tastewise, scentwise yes. Okay for a sauna refreshment but otherwise too characterless.

A third review of our homebrewed cider. I reviewed this just a few weeks ago for the second time, so it wouldn't necessarily make sense to re-review it this quickly after the last time. The reason is that this particular bottle is a special version of the cider: a flaked edition! Meaning that it contains masses of apple particles. Looks ugly! Or attractive! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? Really turbid, confusing. The color is still the same, deep orange with a milky hue. No head. Sour fermented apple in the air. I don't expect the scent to be different from the earlier experiences. But the taste can be! Sour apple remnants! Natural. Fermented. A tad farmhousey. Uuuh. Nnnnice! The biggest difference is, of course, the sensation in the mouth. Very mushy, flaked, murky and granular. It's seductively tart, puckering, flat and moderately funky. Oddness makes it attractive!

Finally! Sahti! Juhannussahti!! Opaque. Dark brown. Restrained carbonation. A modest lace ring whose color is off-white and height basically tiny. Overripe banana in the scent. A dark toasty punch merges with rye porridge, rye flour, dark chocolate and a drop of wort. Reflects carefully the original set of inputs. The tastebuds analyse the intake first and then give the verdict: overripe banana, dark chocolate, raw cacao powder, rye malt, cookie and a surprisingly hefty roasted note. Somewhat sweet, overall. The body clocks medium. Well... could and should be bigger but I can live with this. The end is roasted and offers dark chocolate, cookie and cacao powder. The mouthfeel is medium, a bit roasty, lip-glueing, soft, smooth and a tad deep. Lip-glueing. Nice, traditional with a darkish twist.

Today is the 5th anniversary of our homebrewery Teva Brew 🎉🎊🍻  On 8 June 2020, we started homebrewing with two brews: "Maiden Voyage" and "Small Beer: The Genesis". The first one was a Sahti and astonishingly delicious. The second one's genre was Other Traditional Ale and it left plenty of room for improvement. Ever since, our line has contained 41 different Sahtis and 66 different beers other than Sahti. And one cider. Therefore, a homebrew! This is the second review of our cider, just like I promised to revisit this a few times to assess its development. The interesting thing in this cider is that we brewed it with spontaneous fermentation. No added yeast at all. And no added nothing actually. Not even water. Just apples and the nature's own bacteria and wild yeasts. The fermentation started in October 2024, the cider was bottled in very late December 2024. My first review was in early March 2025. And now the second. The appearance hasn't changed a bit. The carbonation was impatient, now it behaves decently, even somewhat timidly. The scent. Fairly similar to what it used to be earlier. The biggest difference is that the sour apple note has declined in intensity. The taste has developed a bit: the apple side is really sour. Probably even more sour than before. Malic acid gives no mercy to my enamel. But: the farmhousey flavor has grown moderately. That's the way I 💛 it! Has the mouthfeel developed since the first encounter? I doubt but let's check it out. Juicy, tart, puckering, acidic, drying. Super natural! The funkiness is bolder, still not huge but I'm happy that it has reached this level. This is sufficient. However, if more is to come, I'm open to it! A slight increase to the rating is justified.

Homebrew. Again. Small Beer series #28. The flavoring is Northern Bedstraw. No idea what it tastes like. Or smells. But here we go. This beer is dressed in semihazy amber, marginally unclean looking actually. The carbonation gives a loud popping sound but the emerging off-white head still falls short of three fingers. The retention is, however, surprisingly long as a thick dense lace ring decorates the surfaces for a long time. The scent is not particularly easy to recognize. It's floral, resembles a clover. A tad grassy and a distant vegetal note behind the scenes. Pale malt in the basement. Sounds a bit unattractive but isn't really so. Manageable, I would say. The taste follows the manageable road. A moderate combination of grass and something floral is the first encounter. Remote green tea. Nothing vegetal among the flavors. Lemon zest and orange peel bring citrusy elements to the palate. The malty side is impotent, and pale, for sure. The body is light. The end is a tad citrusy. The grassy and floral variables don't vanish anywhere although they decline in intensity. The mouthfeel is light, modestly floral, drying and fairly easy. The Northern Bedstraw seems to be an unchallenging herb.

Homebrew #2. Small Beer series #27 actually. This time mugwort flavored. Sounds green... The color of the beer is cloudy amber. The carbonation is abrupt and settles down quickly. A dense moussy head reaches two fingers and descends to a still thick lacing. The nose... (omg 😬)... mugwort. Oh yes. Mugwort it is. Not nice. I couldn't necessarily remember what mugwort smells like but now that I smell the beer, it can't be mistaken for anything else. Like I said, I don't necessarily fancy this "green" nuance but I'm still glad that mugwort is present here. Pretty ample, actually. The taste scares me. Gosh. Do I have to dive to the deepest end right away? I will have to. And I will. Okay. The tastebuds receive... mugwort. Milder than that in the fragrance. But still recognizable. A bit lemony undertone with a dash of grass. Fruitier than what I expected. The body is light but not skinny. The finish doesn't change the path. Same same. The mouthfeel is light, herbal, gardeny and somewhat green. Not my favorite but manageable. And better.

Homebrew time! I have three new beers in my Small Beer series, they are always flavored with natural herbs or uncommon berries. I have created as many as 25 different versions. The list of edible, reasonably tasting plants is getting really short, I will have to move to an unpredictable sphere soon. Or now. This beer has been seasoned with Lady's Mantle (= Alchemilla). Definitely not my everyday diet. The color is not what I anticipate: relatively foggy, deep gold. Looks actually more appealing than what I was prepared for. The carbonation is rich and starts pushing foam out of the bottle gradually after uncapping the bottle. Nothing dramatic though. An off-white, soapy head exceeds three fingers and settles down soon. The olfactory universe is composed of grassy and fruity elements. Surprisingly fruity, as a matter of fact. I'm spotting orange and apricot with a balancing weight of grass. Not bad at all. Rather pleasant, to be honest. The taste lifts up the floral side that, interestingly, remains camouflaged in the scent. Only moderately grassy this time. But yes, a floral note on the tongue. Nothing flamboyant, rather down to earth it is. Obviously the plant itself, Lady's Mantle. I have never really smelled it, so I can't tell. The taste of the plant itself is far less enjoyable than what I experience now in the beer. The other flavors are lemon, orange peel and green tea. Alright. The body is light. The finish portrays very little of anything, just remnants of the actual taste. A bit of citrus with a floral twist. The citrus survives the longest. The mouthfeel is light, floral, herbal, slightly drying and balanced. Interesting indeed! I expected that this would be close to terrible but it actually proves to be nice. Would surely work beautifully in the sauna. It's a pity that I only have two more bottles left.

Easter = Sahti. What else? Okay, maybe a few barleywines, freeze-distilled beers and meads. But Sahti is always my festivity drink #1.  🍺 This "beauty" is dressed in muddy, sludgy light-to-medium brown. Generally speaking, the carbonation is negligible but the small yeast remnants do produce bubbles and even a soapy lace ring for a while. Rye malt is unexpectedly rich in the scent although the amount of rye in this Sahti is modest. Banana gains strength only when the temperature rises. A bit of cookie follows behind. Banana takes a big leap forward on the tongue. Nice. Surprisingly ample. Gives a traditional vibe. Milk chocolate, cacao nibs, cookie, biscuit, even a drop of syrup. Surprisingly beautiful! 🤎🤎 The body is medium-full. The finish drops a few elements on the side of the road. What continues is slightly less sweet and definitely somewhat less chocolatey. Feels medium-full, soft, smooth, desserty even, still classical. Moderately deep only. Enjoyable anyway.

Now a homebrew! Our first ever cider! An interesting fact here is that this has been fermented with wild yeasts only. No commercial yeast at all. We picked the apples in September at our summer cottage. The varieties are relatively sour. In October, we crushed the apples and put them in a fermenting bucket. The fermentation started slowly as it is normally the case with uncontrollable wild yeast fermentation. Then we juiced the slowly fermenting apples. The apple juice still continued to ferment for two months. Finally, the bottling took place in late December. Now the cider has rested in bottles for nine weeks. Another interesting fact is that one could think that the apples would grow mold. Well, they don't. For some reason, the wild yeasts and related organisms overpower molds and other harmful organisms and prevent them from growing. I'm sure there is a microbiological explanation to it. Now the cider. The appearance is deep and full: Mandarin orange with a remote milky hue. Naturally hazy. Totally. The carbonation is, first, impatient but calms quickly down and produces a clean white, spritzy head that fails to reach one finger and shrinks fast to a thin lace ring. Powerful Finnish apples in the scent. Mash and peel. Malic acid can't be missed. Wild yeast is really modest, barely traceable. Lovely, all in all! The same sour Finnish apples prevail also on the tongue. Flesh and mash and peel. Like it actually contains. Malic acid gives a true punch. Distant farmhousey wild yeast seasons the juice. The cocktail ends with sour apple, what else? Feels extraordinarily juicy, tart, puckering, acidic and drying. Natural but only faintly funky. Autumnal, I would say. Tastewise, this is really successful but I would have welcomed a bolder wild yeast nuance. Nevertheless, this is something that I will later return to in order to see how it develops.