Today's “Small Beer” has been seasoned with sneezewort. This beauty displays relatively clear amber. Lively carbonation. A creamy head reaches one finger and descends to a neat lace ring. The scent is floral weedy, like meadowy. Not particularly attractive but not unpleasant either. Sneezewort is not familiar to me but this is obviously what it smells like. Malt, grass and lemon pith seal the deal this time. The taste profile gears in a grassier direction with a dash of malt accompanying. Bitter lemon pith and peel, yeast bread and a faint floral touch can also be observed on the tongue. The body is light. The finish is bitter citrusy and weedy, pretty much like upfront. The mouthfeel is light, meadowy, modestly floral, a bit crisp, dry and drying. Reasonable. Not my ultimate favorite tastewise but I'm glad the flavor of sneezewort is copious here.

Today's “Small Beer” is a maiden pink edition. Looking forward... The beer looks somewhat cloudy, deep amber. Wait... is this lighter than yesterday's beer? Looks like it is. The maltbase is the same anyway. The foamy crown is white, slightly creamy and velvety. One finger maybe. The olfactory provision is rather gentle and remotely floral. I can't identify the exact floral element. The auxiliary aromas include bread, orange pith and passionfruit. Interesting indeed! Nothing like harsh grass at all! The flavor cocktail gives malt, bread, graham cracker, grassy floral hops, lemon pith and orange peel. Very pleasant, actually. The body is light. The finish is short-lived, a bit grassy but nothing compared to yesterday's wild strawberry leaf version. The sensation is light, truly refreshing, a bit crisp, distantly floral, modestly dry but not really drying. Overall, quite gentle and enjoyable. Amazing how a small amount of maiden pink infusion can change the package compared to an equally small amount of wild strawberry leaf infusion. Honestly speaking, I expected these to be the other way around but this is so much better!

Let the “Small Beer” series continue. This is #35 of the series, brewed from the second runnings of the Sahti wort. Flavored with a wild herb, berry or leaf. Some very intriguing flavors have come across, also some others that I don't see a point of retrying with. Semihazy, deep copper beer. The carbonation is perfect. For once! So many times, my small beers have had modest carbonation, and only after a longer period, it has developed to a decent level. Now it's nice, meaning that it will be excessive in six months. It doesn't matter though because I only have a few bottles of each variety, they will be finished by then. Easily. The foam is clean white and velvety, almost one finger tall, and is sustained for a relatively long period. The scent is interesting: an ample floral slam, accompanied by lots of grass, a bit of multigrain bread, perhaps also a hint of lemon peel. The taste profile deviates a bit from the olfactory supply with strong bitter grass, a tad spruce, grapefruit peel, lemon pith and an intense weedy touch. Interestingly, I don't find a molecule of wild strawberry but I'm not surprised since this beer doesn't contain wild strawberry but was flavored with wild strawberry leaf. The leaf is grassy unlike the berry. Of course. The body is light, well decent for the ABV. The beer ends like it starts. And feels light, floral, pithy and earthy. And slightly tangy, as well. Probably refreshing, especially in the sauna. I will try that once, I swear.

Happy Midsummer! Stay afloat and enjoy the Midsummer festivities! And good beers, of course! 🌞😎🌿🍺 I'll open this year's midsummer festivities with our own sahti! Is there any other option? Hell, no!! This has now a somewhat different formula: more rye malt than before. The sahti wears a hazy, medium raisin brown gown. No carbonation, just a few bubbles on the top. Then flat still. Attractive rye malt in the scent. A bit of juniper and fermented banana, as well. And graham cracker with a hint of biscuit. The taste is seductive: ample fermented banana, intensive rye malt, juniper twig, biscuit, sweet bun and a suggestion of clove. A lovely sweet encounter. The body is full, not huge but full enough to be called 'full'. The end reduces the level of softness a bit but the component set remains pretty much the same. The mouthfeel is full, soft, smooth, gentle, moderately sticky and lip-glueing. Very traditional. This is GOOOOD!! 😋 Hyvää juhannusta! 🌿🌞🍻

This one has a lucid, deep bronze appearance. A few tiny fawn bubbles float in the sides for a second, then the top is flat still. The scent is restrained: banana is recognizable but not particularly brave. Biscuit, apricot and a whisper of clove finalize the olfactory experience. The taste is fairly pleasant: fermented banana, dried apricot, raw mango, orange peel, sweet biscuit and cereal. Fruitier than I expected though. The body is... light-medium maybe. Not exactly what I wanted it to be but no can do. We need to make adjustments in the process since this seems to be a standard handicap now. Okay, forward! The end doesn't actually deviate from the proven track with the minor exception that alcohol gives a faint signal of itself here. The mouthfeel is light-medium, juicy, traditional, smooth and moderately lip-glueing. Could and should, however, be thicker and fuller to please me.

A third herbed beer this time of our small beer series. The flavoring is marsh woundwort. Not a slightest idea what it tastes like. 😆 The base is the same as that of the two earlier homebrews. Looks translucent copper. Subdued carbonation. The foamy cap is as moderate as that of the other two beers. A floral scent. Faintly sweet-leaning. Biscuit, peach flavored ice tea, apricot, mandarin, waffle and a wink of banana. Interesting. Peach and black tea on the tongue. Floral, weedy. Somewhat fruity, offering especially mandarin, apricot and orange pith. A tweak of graham cracker in the background. The body is light. The fruity sector grows marginally from upfront. The mouthfeel is light, floral, herbal, zesty and tea-like. Also somewhat drying although not actually dry. Easy.

A second homebrew of the Small Beer series. This time the flavor is supposed to come from sea-buckthorn leaf. Relatively cloudy, deep amber is the appearance. Oppressed carbonation, just like it was in the previous Small Beer. A weak lacing is born but, unfortunately, its life proves to be short. The scent is interesting, quite fruity actually. Very difficult to specify. Yellow berries. Sea-buckthorn. Or distant cloudberry. Maybe green gooseberry? And wheat. There's no wheat in the maltbase though. The tastebuds like the sourish fruity cocktail. It's also somewhat floral, now that I realize it. Sea-buckthorn? Maybe. The intensive floral sphere offers something like lady's mantle: lemon zest and pith, green tea, grass, a suggestion of apricot. The supportive foundation is a mix of wheat bread and cracker. The body is thin. Surprising because it's recognizably smaller than that of the large-flowered hemp-nettle edition, yet, the brew itself is the same in these both. One of those inexplicable elements of the beer world? The sensation left in the mouth is thin, floral, herbal, zesty and slightly dry. Difficult to rate — I like the fact that the sea-buckthorn leaf can be spotted, even if remotely. On the other hand, the grassy plus floral side reduces the attractiveness of the beer.

Small Beer time! It means my own homebrew. Made of the second runnings of our Christmas Sahti, always flavored with a Finnish natural herb, berry or plant. I have produced 27 varieties so far and two unflavored ones (I think..., the search function of this app sucks at the moment). Three new editions are awaiting tasting. This is the first one of those three. The herb is this time large-flowered hemp-nettle. Or by its scientific name Galeopsis speciosa. Common on the roadside, fields and meadows. No idea what it tastes like, all I remember from the summer when I picked a small bag of this is that the taste didn't thrill me. But maybe it's a flashback from the summer? The beer looks lucid copper. Like malty. The carbonation is still relatively underdeveloped but, over time, it will gain strength. I apply fairly modest priming sugar nowadays although it prolongs the time needed for carbonation to develop properly. However, if a beer is stored for more than a year – yes, I have a load of homebrews that are one or two years old – the carbonation becomes excessive and the content of the bottle erupts like a volcano when opened. Now, a marginal lacing only. What do I get in the scent? Well, a floral slam. Unsurprisingly. Like a summer morning in a meadow. Not unpleasant but not recognizable either. Malt and biscuit whirl into the floral cocktail. And the taste profile then? Malt, faintly worty as if still modestly unfinished, bread, black tea and grass. That's the package at the moment. A floral touch but much less pronounced than what the fragrance suggests, unidentifiable to me though. The body is light or light minus. Not thin though, which is more than welcome at 2.8 %. The finish doesn't give any new elements, short-lived though. The sensation left on the tongue is light minus, floral, herbal, still quite flat but it will develop. Slightly dry and moderately drying. Quite pleasant for a herbed beer whose primary flavoring I didn't even know.

Christmas Day 🎄  More Sahti! Our own, absolutely. This is a date infused version. Looks impenetrable medium-brown. Not sure if there was any carbonation, probably not. A minimal lace ring with big bubbles, color fawn. Soon flat still. The scent is quite restrained. Ehhh... I let it warm and open up for a while. [•••] Okay, I think I can proceed. Yes, better now. Sweet malt, biscuit, dark chocolate, raisin, date, faint banana. That's the fragrance. Interestingly, all the other nuances enter the show before the date. Why? I don't know. I'm glad the date didn't stay hidden though. The taste is medium-ample with sweet-leaning malt, raisin, a pinch of chocolate, cacao nibs and a hint of rye flour. Date is detectable, however, it's only marginally more pronounced than what it was in our regular Christmas Sahti. I expected it to be bigger. The body is medium. The end is identical to upfront, I don't experience any difference. Not the tweak to slightly harsher notes either that showed in the regular sahti – the same soft package prevails all the way down the throat. The mouthfeel is medium, smooth, still marginally husky, even distantly drying but definitely not dry. Lip-glueing. Not much different from the mother version but still a bit. Yet, looks like the date infusion didn't bring more date to the taste but rather gave a punch of additional fermentable sugars that boosted the ABV.

Now. Time for the crown jewel of the Christmas festivities: Sahti! Homebrewed, of course. The appearance is murky brown. Virtually, no carbonation. A modest chain of bigger fawn bubbles emerges on the top and melts fast away. Dark chocolate, cacao nibs, roasted malt, cookie, raisin and overripe banana emanate to my nostrils. The taste follows suit with soft overripe banana, dark chocolate, raw cacao powder, raisin, cookie, a whisper of syrup bread and a roasty suggestion. A hint of clove lingers in the back of the mouth. The body is medium to medium-full. The end alters a bit harsher, more roasty and raw-chocolatey. The mouthfeel is medium-full, a tad deep, moderately roasty, distantly husky, still very classical. A medium-dark side adventure that is missing viscosity. Merry Christmas to all Pint Please folks! 🎄🎅🏻🤶🏻🎁🍗🍺