Finland has a long history of

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

dating back to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. The oldest still-existing commercial brewery in Finland and Nordic countries is

Sinebrychoff The Sinebrychoff Brewery () is a Finnish brewery and soft drink company. It was founded in 1819 in Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland, by the Russian businessman Nikolai Sinebrychoff, and it is the largest brewery in Finland today. By the end of 19 ...

, founded in 1819. The Finnish Beer Day ( fi, Suomalaisen oluen päivä) is celebrated on 13 October to commemorate the founding of the

brewery and the birth of Finnish beer. The largest Finnish brewers are

Hartwall Hartwall Ltd is a beverage company based in Helsinki, Finland. It was founded in 1836. Its drinks range includes Jaffa, Pommac and Novelle waters. The company also owns the licence for manufacturing and selling PepsiCo's Pepsi, 7 Up and Mounta ...

Olvi Olvi plc ( fi, Olvi Oyj, ) is a Finnish brewery and soft drinks company founded in 1878. It currently holds 18.7% of Finland's market share in beverages, making it the largest Finnish-owned business in its sector. Among its subsidiaries, A. Le C ...

and Sinebrychoff. Most of the beers brewed in Finland are

pale lager Pale lager is a very pale-to- golden-colored lager beer with a well- attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. The brewing process for this beer developed in the mid-19th century, when Gabriel Sedlmayr took pale ale brew ...

s. Finland's standing is 9th in ''per capita'' consumption of beer. Finnish people consume a total of 440 ML of beer annually and the trend is increasing by 11.7 633 mL bottles year-on-year ''per capita''.

Sahti

Sahti Sahti is a Finnish type of farmhouse ale made from malted and unmalted grains including barley and rye. Traditionally the beer is flavored with juniper in addition to, or instead of, hops;

is a traditional Finnish

farmhouse ale Farmhouse ale is an ancient European tradition where farmers brewed beer for consumption on the farm from their own grain. Most farmers would brew for Christmas and/or the late summer work, but in areas where they had enough grain farmers would u ...

, made mostly with rye and

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

malts, but sometimes also

oat The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other cereals and pseudocereals). While oats are suitable for human con ...

s, and filtered through straw or juniper twigs. The modern version has a distinct banana flavor from the bread yeast used to ferment it. It was often praised in the writings of the beer connoisseur

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

. Although less common today, it is still served at

wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

s and other special occasions. There are also a few commercial producers.

Finnish beer tax-classes

Beer was classified into tax classes by law in Finland until the year 1995 when Finland joined the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. After joining EU the law was reformed so that the tax is set directly by the percentage of alcohol by volume contained in the product: with 0.5-2.8% beers €0.02/cl of alcohol, with beers over 2.8% €0.0214/cl. However, the old classifications are still voluntarily used widely and the old tax classes are still often marked on the products and advertisements. Beer with an alcohol content of 5.6% or higher may only be sold in state-owned

Alko Alko Inc is the national alcoholic beverage retailing monopoly in Finland. It is the only store in the country which retails beer over 5.5% ABV, wine (except in vineyards) and spirits. Alcoholic beverages are also sold in licensed restaurant ...

liquor stores or bars and restaurants with the appropriate license. It is also sold in tax free shops on

Baltic Sea cruiseferries The Baltic Sea is crossed by several cruiseferry lines. Some important shipping companies are Viking Line, Silja Line, Tallink, St. Peter Line and Eckerö Line. Eastern Baltic Tallink and Viking Line operate competing cruiseferries on the route ...

. Because of tax regulations, the tax free shops may only be open when the ships are either on international waters or visiting

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1,580 km2, and a populat ...

(which has special exempt status in the EU).

Finnish beer market

Finland's beer market has been described as international rather than local. The market leader is Denmark's

Carlsberg Group Carlsberg A/S (; ) is a Danish multinational brewer. Founded in 1847 by J. C. Jacobsen, the company's headquarters is in Copenhagen, Denmark. Since Jacobsen's death in 1887, the majority owner of the company has been the Carlsberg Foundation. T ...

, owner of the Finnish brewery

, with a market share of 46.9%. Its beer brands include Koff and Karhu. Carlsberg is followed by

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 Feb ...

International, which controls - through its

brewery - a 29.5% share of the national market and produces the

Lapin Kulta Lapin Kulta (in English, Lapland Gold) is a Finnish beer brand. Lapin Kulta was also the name of the brewery in the Lapland town of Tornio, where the beer was originally brewed. The brewery was founded in 1873 under the name Torneå Bryggeri Ak ...

and

Karjala Karjala is a Finnish lager type beer manufactured by the Hartwall brewery. Karjala beer was manufactured by the cooperative shop Osuusliike Itä-Karjala owned Sortavalan panimo Oy brewery from 1932 until 1944. Production was resumed in 1948. ...

brands.

is the largest Finnish-owned brewery, holding approximately a further 20% of the Finnish market. The rest of the Finnish breweries are smallish regionals or

microbreweries Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...

, all founded post-1985. , there are 85 microbreweries in the country. Craft breweries are allowed to sell their products directly to consumers.

Prohibition

Prohibition started in Finland on 1 June 1919 and lasted nearly 13 years, during which the production, import, sales, transportation and storage of alcohol products was only allowed for medicinal, scientific, and technical purposes. A referendum on the continuation of prohibition was held starting on the 29th and closing on 30 December 1931. The referendum closed with a 70% majority against the law and resulted in the end of prohibition on 5 April 1932 at 10:00 when the new state-owned alcohol retail stores opened their doors to customers.

Finnish breweries

* Auran panimo * Bock (brewery) * Bock's Corner Brewery (brewery) * Brewcats * C. A. Robsahmin Portteripanimo (sold in 1895) * CoolHead Brew * Fat Lizard * Finlandia Sahti * Fiskarsin Panimo * Haapala Brewery * Hailuodon panimo *

(

) **

(owned by Hartwall) * Hiisi * Honkavuori * Hopping Brewsters Beer Company * Iso-Kallan Panimo * Kahakka * Kakola Brewing Company * Kaleva Brewing Company *Keudan panimo * Kiiski * Koskipanimo * Kotkan Höyrypanimo * Kvarken * Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas ( Kukko) * Lammin Sahti * Lapin Voima * Linden Brewery * Maistila * Maku Brewing * Mallaskoski ( Kuohu, Häjy, Komia, Makia) * Mallaskuun panimo * Malmgårdin Panimo * Narvan kyläpanimo * Nokian Panimo ( Keisari,

Året Runt ''Året Runt'' ( Swedish: ''All Year Around'') is a weekly women's and family magazine published in Malmö, Sweden. Founded in 1946 it is one of the longest-running magazines in the country. History and profile ''Året Runt'' was started by Åhl ...

) * Olaf * Olarin Panimo * Olutpaja *

(Olvi, Sandels) * Palvasalmi (bankrupt) * Panimo Honkavuori * (Amerikan Serkku, Metsän Henki, Munkintie) * Ruosniemen panimo * Saimaan Olut (Saimaa), Marsalkka, Rokrammi, Luostari *

( Karhu, Koff) ** Porin panimo (owned by Sinebrychoff) * Pyynikin käsityöläispanimo * Sonnisaaren panimo * Stadin Panimo * Suomenlinnan Panimo * Taiwalkosken panimo * Takatalo & Tompuri Brewery * Tampere Brewing & Distilling Co *

Teerenpeli Teerenpeli is a Finnish family company founded in 1994 operating in the restaurant, brewery and distillery business as well as franchising. Name The name "Teerenpeli" means the courtship of the black grouse in Finnish, and the term is also used f ...

* Tuju * Ylikylä Olut * Ålands Bryggeri (Stallhagen)

Finnish brewery restaurants

* Bock's Corner Brewery (Vaasa) * Haapala Panimoravintola (Sotkamo) * Hollolan Hirvi (Hollola) *

Panimoravintola Beer Hunter's Panimoravintola Beer Hunter's is a Finnish brewery, distillery and a restaurant. Founded in 1998 and located in the city of Pori, the brewery restaurant started distilling malt whisky in 2001. The brewed beers are sold under the brand of "Muf ...

(Pori) * Panimoravintola Bruuveri (Helsinki) * Panimoravintola Huvila (Savonlinna) * Panimoravintola Koulu (Turku) * Panimoravintola Plevna (Tampere) * Perho (Helsinki) * Ravintola Herman (no longer brewing) * Teerenpeli Panimo & Tislaamo (Lahti)

Most important Finnish beers

* Karhu *

* Koff *

Olaf Olaf or Olav (, , or British ; Old Norse: ''Áleifr'', ''Ólafr'', ''Óleifr'', ''Anleifr'') is a Scandinavian and German given name. It is presumably of Proto-Norse origin, reconstructed as ''*Anu-laibaz'', from ''anu'' "ancestor, grand-father" a ...

* Sandels * Kukko

Annual Finnish beer events

* Helsinki Beer Festival (held since 1997) * Isojano-tapahtuma (held since 1993) * Olutfestivaalit (held since 1990) * Sahdinvalmistuksen SM-kisat (Finnish

sahti Sahti is a Finnish type of farmhouse ale made from malted and unmalted grains including barley and rye. Traditionally the beer is flavored with juniper in addition to, or instead of, hops;

brewing championships, held since 1992) * Suomalaiset sahtipäivät (held since 1995) * Suuret oluet – pienet panimot (held since 2003) * Kaljakellunta (held since 1997)

References

{{Beers of the world Finnish cuisine