Day 328 - Beer 328 Arctic Circle Ale , Malmgardin Pamimo, Malmgard, Finland

Tonight's brew my first from Finland and my first brewed with dark rye and juniper twigs. This is also a first for it is listed as a Sahti. It is said to be one of the only primitive beers to survive in Western Europe, Sahti is a farmhouse ale with roots in Finland. First brewed by peasants in the 1500s, mashing (steeping of grains) went down in wooden barrels, and then that mash would be scooped into a hand-carved wooden trough (a kuurna) with a bed of juniper twigs that acted as a filter. The bung at the bottom of the kuurna would be pulled to allow the sweet wort (liquid infusion from the mash) to pass through the twig filter, followed by wort recirculation and a hot water sparge (rinsing of the grains), all of which created a juniper infusion of sorts.

Sahti is also referred to as being turbid, because the wort isn’t boiled after lautering (separation of spent grain and liquid), leaving loads of proteins behind, thus providing tremendous body. A low-flocculating Finnish baker’s yeast creates a cloudy unfiltered beer, with an abundance of sediment. Traditional Sahti is not typically hopped, so the task of balancing is left up to the juniper twigs, which impart an unusual resiny character and also act as a preservative.

Arctic Circle, only available in the winter season pours a murky/muddy dark brown with two fingers of head that settle to leave almost no surface lacing yet it sticks to the sides much like a heavily laced beer. The aroma  is big on caramel malts with a milk chocolate background and a hint of pine. The flavour is quite malty with a caramel and honey sweetness and a nice spicy background of rye and juniper. This is my first beer of this style and my first comment to my wife was this is a really good brew. It is very drinkable with a nice balance of malts, the alcohol is not overpowering although it is 7.3%ABV and it has some great fruit and yeast characteristics. 4 out of 5.