Tänään on Kalevala-päivä, joten 'Eläköön ja kippis!'

Sammon taonta

Tänään on Kalevala-päivä, joten minä annan teille neuvoa oluenpanosta, viisaus, jonka antoi Osmotar, kaunis impi, luvussa kaksikymmentakolme:

''Keitä ohraiset oluet, makujuomat maltahiset
yhen ohrasen jyvästä, puolen puun on poltakselta!
Kun sa ohria imellät, ma'ustelet maltahia,
elä koukulla kohenna, kärryksellä käännyttele:
aina kourilla kohenna, kämmenillä käännyttele!
Käypä saunassa use'in, elä anna iun paheta,
kissan istua ituja, kasin maata maltahia!
Eläkä sure susia, pelkeä metsän petoja
saunahan samotessasi, kesken yötä käyessäsi!''

Ja tietysti, muistakaa Lia Fail ja Blackfriar teidän juhlastanne ja mietiskelystä saunassa pois metsästä eläimet!

Eläköön ja kippis!

Ken

A wee prècis for the non-Finnish speakers - Today (28 February) is Kalevala Day in Finland, a celebration of the great epic of Finnish oral folklore, compiled by Elias Lönnrot and first published on this day in 1835. It played a major role in the movement towards Finnish independence and has inspired Finns ever since.

The first picture is 'Forging the Sampo' by Aksel Gallen-Kallela, who painted many scenes from the Kalevela. The Sampo is the stuff of legends, a fantastic prize, a talisman, a magical quern with 'its bright lid' with a salt-mill on one side, a grain-mill on the next and a money-mill on the third.

What follows are some of the words of wisdom from the Fair Maid Osmotar to a young bride in how to brew beer ''from one barleycorn and half a tree's burnt wood...when you malt it with its honey-sweetness, do not turn it with a hook, but use your hand cleverly...go to the sauna often and keep the cats off the floor of malt...fear not the hungry wolves nor beasts of the forest as you go to the sauna at midnight!''

Still sound advice in these modern times.

Then finally, I counsel minding of the Lia Fail and Blackfriar for celebration and contemplation in the sauna.

Long Live and Slàinte! Ken

Lia Fail in Keg gets Bronze Medal and goes globetrotting!

We've had a busy time of it at the brewery these last two months - plenty of kegs of Lia Fail have been got ready to go off to customers in Finland and Australia. This is the first time we've sent off kegs to these places - bottles yes, but draught is a different situation, so it means plenty of cold-conditioning at -1 C, followed by filtering out the yeast and unwanted protein hazes, before racking the beer from the Bright Beer Tank into our PET recyclable kegs. The Finnish shipment will be arriving in a week or so but the Australians in Perth, Western Australia, will have to wait 6 weeks after the slow sea voyage.

A wee plus for us is that our keg Lia Fail for export garnered a Bronze Medal at the SIBA National Craft Keg Competition held at Hereford this weekend.

So I'm going to crack open a bottle of Lia Fail in celebration right now and settle down to a good read of Kalewala, taikka Wanhoja Karjalan Runoja Suomen kansan muinosista ajoista ('The Kalevala, or old Karelian poems about ancient times of the Finnish people'), the English translation admittedly, with the sounds of The Night of the Wolverine from the great Dave Graney, fab Australian musician, on the stereo.

Gippis & Slainte, Ken

Pub Tram!

Here we are in Helsinki, the Jewel of the Baltic, about to go for a tram journey. Not any old tram journey, but a very special tram journey, for this tram, bedecked in the Finnish beer Koff livery, is a pub! Unlike many former trams masquerading as restaurants and bars - the one in Prague's Wenceslas Square springs to mind - this Koff tram actually goes on a circuit of the Helsinki centre. The beer on board was the very tasty Koff pilsner and was a superb accompaniment to the tour of the old city with its achitectural gems. The small tables between the seats have holes cut out in which to keep one's glass steady whilst the tram trundles over the cobbles and points on its journey.

Gippis!

(Slàinte for the non-Finnish speakers)

Passing by one of the Alko off-licences which sell our Blackfriar

In typical Finnish style, the tram was furnished with polished wooden seats and tables with all the metal finishings in beautiful brass. The circular journey took about 45 minutes, plenty of time to sample the liquid gold with sufficient time for ample replenishment...and there is a very clean toilet on board for those who feel the need. I wanted to go around again (obviously to tick off my guide book recommendations of Jugendstil granite edifices), but was countermanded by the Lady Arlene, as a visit to the ceramic studio Arabia awaited us...

Well worth a visit if you are in Helsinki, and it's only one of the many pearls of delight in this truly wonderful city.

The small but perfectly-formed bar.

Slàinte, Ken

Blackfriar for Finland - Olut Suomen!

Here's your local brewmaster standing beside our new 60 bbl FV8 bedecked with Sinivalkoinen or the Finnish Flag to mark this brew of Blackfriar destined for our good friends in Finland in a few weeks time.
Gippis & Slàinte
Ken

The brewery's getting bigger!

We are very proud and pleased to announce the commissioning of our new Fermenting Vessel, Big Bertha, which is dwarfing the lovely Lady Arlenka on her Sunday visit. Big Bertha holds 60 barrels, 100 hectolitres or 20,000 bottles. She was a bit troublesome to get in position, with 2 cranes needed and lots of excited brewery folk watching from the viewing platform upstairs.

However she's all ready to brew into with 60 barrels of Blackfriars destined for Alko in Finland! Hurrah!

Slainte, Ken

Hallo Finland! Part 2...

In my last blog I wrote in Finnish, or what sort of resembles it, over a weekend with the help of a variety of dictionaries, grammar notes, my father's old Teach Yourself Finnish book and the interweb Finnish university language pages with much thanks to the authors of the wide range of Finnish brewing pages for the more technical brewing words.

Since many readers don't understand Finnish, I was asked to give a translation, so here goes:

''Hallo to our Finnish Friends!

My Tankard in Greyfrars beside a very nice bottle of ale...

Today I thought I'd write a few words about our beer Blackfriar. This wonderfully dark and mysteriously strong ale has been accepted by ALKO (which is the Finnish State Off-Licence Board). I am chuffed to bits about this.

Blackfriar is named after one of the three former monasteries in Perth, Grey, White and Black Friars, so called after the colour of the monks' habits. They were destroyed after the Reformation in 16th century, but the names live on still. Whitefriars is a suburb now, Greyfriars is now an old graveyard and also the name of my local pub, where I have my own tankard above. Being a brewmaster has its privileges! Blackfriars, where James 1 of Scotland was murdered by traitors in 1437, is now the name of some buildings beside the River Tay, but more importantly, receives acclaim and glory as our delicious ale.

The taste of the ale is outstanding, with a strong vinous aroma mixing with Fuggles and Styrian Goldings hops, going then to a warming dark chocolate malty palate and finishing with the soft bitterness, which continues on and makes the drinker taste it once more. At 7% abv, it's an ale to sip slowly with a good book, such as the Kalevala, the famed Finnish epic poem, perhaps looking at Chapter 20, 'On Slaughtering and Brewing'! Listening also to Sibelius' Finlandia Suite or even the Leningrad Cowboys (an esteemed Finnish Rock 'n Roll band renowned for their quiffs, wraparound shades and winklepickers, let alone their riotous assemblies with the Red Army Choir!).

I'm cooking tonight with a bottle of Blackfriar for some friends over for dinner. Venison shoulder, Blackfriar and juniper berries slow oven-roasted for a rich spicy gravy. I'm looking forward to it already...

Now I've got to get the dinner organised. Where's my bottle opener?

Kippis or as we say in Scotland,

Slàinte, Ken''

Hei Suomi!

Hei meidän suomalaisia ystäviä!

Tänään ajattelin, että haluan kirjoittaa muutaman sanan olut Blackfriar. Tämä ihanan tumma ja salaperäinen voimakas olut on hyväksynyt Alko. Olen hyvin iloinen tästä. Pahoittelen huonoa kieltä ja oikeinkirjoitusta - suomalaisia opettelen. Oppimen kreikan ja latinan vuosia ja puhuminem Gaelin ja Tsekin auttaa paljon!

Blackfriar on nimetty yksi 3 entisen luostarit Perth - Harmaa, Valkoinen ja Musta Friars (munkki). He saivat nimensä väristä munkkien kaavun. Luostarit tuhottiin vuonna 16. vuosisadn aikana uskonnollisia ongelmia, mutta nimet elävät tänään. Whitefriars on lähio nyt, Greyfriars on vanhan hautausmaan ja on myos nimi minun paikalliseen pubiin, jossa minulla on oma kolpakko. Että pääoluenpanija on etuoikeuksia! Blackfriars, jossa kuningas Jaako 1 Skotlannin murhasi petturit vuonna 1437, on nyt nimi rakennusryhmä Tayjoen, ja mikä tärkeintä, saa suosiota ja kunniaa niin herkullisia olut.

Maku olut erinomainen, voimakas viinistä tuoksu sekoittamalla Fuggle ja Golding humala, menee sitten lämpeneminen tummaa suklaata maltainen maku ja lopuksi viimeistely pehmeä katkeraan loppuun, jonka pitää käynnissä, ja tyontää juomari maun uudelleen. Klo 7% alkoholia on olutta juoden hitaasti hyvä kirja, kuten Kalevala (ehka luku 20 'teurastuksesta ja oluenpano'!) ja kuunnella Finlandia J. Sibelius tai jopa Leningrad Cowboys...

Olen keitetään pullon Blackfriar tänä iltana ystävien minun metsästysseura. Red Deer hirvenliha olkapää, Blackfriar ja katajanmarjat kypsennetään uunissa hitasti rikas mausteinen kastike. Jo minä odotan sitä...

Nyt minun täytyy mennä valmistelemaan keittioon. Missä on pullo-avaaja?

Kippis tai kuten sanomme Skotlannissa, Slàinte!
Ken