Beer review: Sinebrychoff Koff III (4.5% Finland: Sinebrychoff)

The Sinebrychoff Koff III is a lager, more specifically a Pale lager. It's one of the 'basic beers' of Finland, along with Karhu, Lapin Kulta, Olvi and Karjala. It's produced in bulk quantities by Sinebrychoff, the oldest brewery in the Nordic countries founded in 1819. Nowadays Sinebrychoff belongs to the Carlsberg Group, the 5th largest beer brewing corporation in the world. Koff is usually one of the cheapest (and often the cheapest) beer in Finland so it's definitely worth reviewing, although one shouldn't really expect any good quality from it (although back in the day it apparently won some awards in international competitions).

Taste: The Sinebrychoff Koff III is a light-bodied lager. It starts with a watery, malty taste with a slight metallic flavor and finishes with a very faint metallic hoppy bitterness.

Overall, the aromas that the Sinebrychoff Koff III succeeds in delivering are quite thin and one-sided. This makes the beer quite easy to drink and to enjoy, but taste-wise it doesn't really offer much. For a beer connoisseur it's one of the worst beers available, but I guess it serves its purpose if your aim is just to get drunk.

35 Below average

Beer review: Laitilan Kukko Pils (4.5% Finland: Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas)

The Laitilan Kukko Pils is a pilsner brewed by Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas, a medium-sized Finnish brewery mainly focused on soda manufacturing. The company was founded in 1995 and is currently the fourth largest brewery in Finland. The beer is available in Finnish supermarkets and is one of the few pilsners produced by the large Finnish breweries. Apparently there isn't a large demand for pilsners in Finland, but let's see if the Laitilan Kukko Pils is good enough to satisfy the needs of pilsner lovers.

Taste: The Laitilan Kukko Pils is a light/medium-bodied beer with a slightly sweet malt dominated aroma. It starts with a slight citrus aroma, then offers a sweet malt body with some metallic bitterness and the beer finishes with a slight herbal hoppiness.

Overall, the Laitilan Kukko Pils is a really decent beer. I hate to admit, but in my honest opinion it's one of the worst beers available in Finland. It offers the aromas characteristic for a pilsener, but it fails to offer any of them in a pleasant way. The overall impression of the beer is a metallic, bitter sourness and it's quite far from the aromas that I like in a pilsner.

30 Below average

Beer review: Corona Extra (4.6% Mexico: Grupo Modelo)

The Corona Extra is a lager, more specifically a Pale Lager. It's brewed by Grupo Modelo, a large Mexican brewery founded in 1922. The company has 63% of the Mexican beer market and exports beer to most of the countries in the world. In 2013 the brewery merged with Anheuser-Busch InBev, the largest beer producer in the world with a total of 25% global market share. Talk about bulk quality...nevertheless, let's give it a go!

Taste: The Corona Extra is a light-bodied beer with a watery body and faint aromas of corn, malt and citrus. The beer finishes with a really faint citric hoppiness.

Overall, The Corona Extra is a beer connoisseur's nightmare. Taste-wise, it doesn't really offer anything. However, there's a time and a place for it: it belongs to the category of "when you want to pretend you're drinking beer but actually you're drinking lemonade water with a lime". Personally, I occasionally do enjoy these types of beers as a refreshment but when it comes to taste experiences, the Corona Extra doesn't deliver much.

45 Below average

Beer review: Sol (4.5% Mexico: Cuauhtémoc-Moctezuma Brewery)

Sol is a lager, more specifically a Pale Lager beer. It is one of the "victims" of the large beer corporations. It is brewed by Cuauhtémoc-Moctezuma Brewery which belongs to the Heineken corporation. Since the Finnish brewery Hartwall is also part of the corporation, it is in charge of importing Sol for the Finnish markets. When the large beer corporations are involved, one can expect no personality from the beer. Keeping this in mind, Sol is a beer meant more for refreshment and inebriation than for tasting.

Taste: Thin, watery flavor with almost no recognizable maltiness. A faint taste of lemon of the beer should definitely be accompanied by fresh lemon or lime.

A really average beer which I would only recommend if you do not want to taste your drink too much. If you just want a refreshment Sol and a lime will serve you well enough.

35 Below average