Beer review: Stella Artois (5.0% Belgium: InBev Belgium)

The Stella Artois is a lager, more specifically a Pale lager. It's brewed by InBev Belgium, a brewery that is today part of the world's largest beer corporation Anheuser-Busch InBev. The beer has been brewed in Leuven, Belgium since 1926. Since it's one of the most popular beers in the world, one can't really expect a detailed, mature taste. Then again, there has to be something appealing in it since so many people choose to drink it.

Taste: The Stella Artois is a light/medium-bodied lager with a light, refreshing fruity sweet malt body. The beer finishes with a citric, herbal hoppiness.

Overall, the Stella Artois is very easy to drink. It's a nice refreshing beer that isn't demanding in any way, and I guess this goes a long way to explain its popularity. I'm guessing it doesn't really appeal to anyone, but neither does it turn any of its drinkers away from it. The beer is quite light and refreshing, yet isn't really watery because of the heavy carbonation and the sweet maltiness. I can easily imagine myself drinking this on a sunny day, and apparently so can millions of others. There are definitely many better pale lagers available but the Stella Artois succeeds in being a decent beer despite the fact that it's produced in serious bulk quantities.

65 Above average

Beer review: Olvi CXXXV (4.5% Finland: Olvi)

The Olvi CXXXV is a lager, more specifically a Pale lager. It's brewed by Olvi, one of the largest breweries in Finland. Olvi was founded in 1878 and is located in Iisalmi. The beer celebrates the 135 years of Olvi and is described as having matured with good time. It follows the recipe of the original CXX beer, which celebrated the 120 milestone of the brewing company. Let's see how the slow maturing affects the taste of the beer...

Taste: The Olvi CXXXV is a light/medium-bodied beer with a slightly sweet malty and faintly fruity flavor. The flavor is quite soft and round, and unlike the bulk lagers of Finland (Lapin Kulta, Karhu, Karjala, Koff, and the basic Olvi) it lacks the unpleasant cardboard and metallic tastes. The beer finishes with a pleasant faint touch of hoppiness.

Overall, the Olvi CXXXV is clearly more mature than the basic Olvi lager. This isn't saying much, but actually the CXXXV is quite easy to enjoy. It doesn't offer any exciting aromas, but as a refreshing beverage it works much better than the basic bulk lagers in Finland. Overall, it's a decent accomplishment in the category of Pale lagers and personally I definitely prefer it over the basic bulk lagers.

65 Above average

Beer review: Grafenwalder Vehnäolut (4.5% Germany: Lindenbrauerei Unna)

The Grafenwalder Vehnäolut is a wheat beer, more specifically a Hefeweizen. Grafenwalder is a beer brand by the international supermarket chain Lidl. The Grafenwalder Vehnäolut is a wheat beer specifically aimed for the Finnish market since Finnish supermarket beers are only allowed to have a maximum of 4.7% alcohol in them. The beer is presumably (I say presumably since the can doesn't mention the brewer) brewed by Lindenbrauerei Unna, a brewery belonging to the Oetker Group, a large German company that produces various food products.

Taste: The Grafenwalder Vehnäolut is a light/medium-bodied Hefeweizen which starts off with a slight sweet fruity banana taste. It then delivers a typical sweet wheaty malt body with a faint yeasty aroma and finishes with a very faint hoppiness.

Overall, The Grafenwalder Vehnäolut is a surpisingly well-accomplished Hefeweizen considering the cheap price and the bulk quality. It doesn't deliver as wide a spectrum of flavors as, for example the Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier, but then again it's ridiculous to expect that. For a supermarket wheat beer it's an excellent choice with easy drinkability.

65 Above average

Beer review: Lapin Kulta Arctic Malt Dark Lager (4.6% Finland: Hartwall)

The Lapin Kulta Arctic Malt Dark Lager is a lager, more specifically an Amber lager. It's brewed by Hartwall, one of the biggest beer producers in Finland. Hartwall belongs to Royal Unibrew, the second largest brewery group in Denmark. The beer belongs under the Lapin Kulta beer brand, and is brewed in large quantities. Therefore, I don't have much expectations towards it but you never know, it might just surprise me.

Taste: The Lapin Kulta Arctic Malt Dark Lager is a light/medium-bodied beer. It has quite a rich bready, sweet malt dominant body and it finishes with a faint, slightly metallic hoppiness.

Overall, the Lapin Kulta Arctic Malt Dark Lager does an OK job. It delivers a nice bready, malty flavor but otherwise remains disappointingly boring. It doesn't offer any mind-blowing flavors, but neither does it disappoint in any way. It's a good alternative for the basic lagers available in Finnish supermarkets, but these days there are many better beers available even there.

65 Above average

Beer review: Westheimer Weizen (5.0% Germany: Gräflich zu Stolberg’sche Brauerei Westheim)

The Westheimer Weizen is a wheat beer, more specifically a Hefeweizen. It's brewed by Gräflich zu Stolberg’sche Brauerei Westheim, a medium-sized German brewery located in the town of Marsberg in central Germany. The brewery was founded in 1862 and today has about 35 employers.

Taste: The Westheimer Weizen is a light-bodied wheat beer, with a fruity and refreshing taste. The beer starts with a fruity, banana taste and then offers a faint wheaty aroma, with hints of herbal hoppiness.

Overall, the Westheimer Weizen is a really refreshing wheat beer with not much personality. It delivers all the flavors of a wheat beer, and therefore delivers what's expected but does so with no real enthusiasm. It serves its purposes and as a refreshment works well, but doesn't deliver anything exceptional.

65 Above average

Beer review: Holba Premium (5.2% The Czech Republic: Pivovar Holba)

Holba Premium is a lager, more specifically a Czech styled pilsener/lager produced by Pivovar Holba. The Czech Republic is one of the most highly regarded beer producing countries in the world. The quality of almost all of the beers coming from the country is above average, and therefore one can expect good quality when coming across a Czech beer. Holba is among the ten most popular beer brands in the Czech Republic and thus it is produced in bulk amounts.

Taste: Holba Premium is a medium-bodied Czech styled beer with a taste dominated by a slightly sweet maltiness. The aftertaste of the beer offer a bitterness typical to Czech beers. It is slightly bitter without being pungent and the beer finishes with a faintly herbal taste of hop.

Overall, Holba Premium is precisely what one can expect of it, based on it being from the Czech Republic but produced in mass quantities. It is an OK beer, without much personality but still...its a Czech and you can't really go wrong with that.

65 Above average

Sparkling wine review: Divici Organic Prosecco Extra Dry (11.0% Italy: Botter)

Divici sparkling wine comes from the Veneto region in northeastern Italy. It is made by Botter, a winery founded in 1928. Divici belongs to the group of low/mid-priced sparkling wines available in Finland. It is described as extra dry, containing flavors of pear, lemon and green apple. Before tasting it, I was a bit suspicious about the extra dry nature of it but the wine was a positive surprise.

Taste: Divici is dry but not in an unpleasant musty sort of way. It's actually a really refreshing sparkling wine, dominated by medium sourness and containing aromas of lemon and hints of pear and apple. The wine finishes with a faint sour taste of lemon, and does not leave a dry feel to your mouth like some cheap wines.

Overall, Divici Organic Prosecco Extra Dry is a really nice sparkling wine, especially considering the low price and the good quality it provides. Divici doesn't have much personality, but if you just want an inexpensive easily enjoyable sparkling wine, I would definitely recommend going with this one.

65 Above average

Beer mix review: Foster's Radler (2.0% Australia/Finland: Heineken/Hartwall)

Foster's Radler is a combination of lemonade and Foster's beer, the ratio being 60:40. Thus, in no way can it be considered beer and the review is made in comparing it to other beer mixes (or refreshment beers as the Foster's company likes to call it). The beer selection in Finnish supermarkets is quite thin and therefore the Radler is a welcomed release. Foster's is brewed in Finland by Hartwall, and therefore the company is also in charge of manufacturing the Foster's Radler. With no expectations of a mind-blowing connoiseuric experience, I enjoyed a can of Radler and was pleasantly surprised.

Taste: The first impression introduces a taste of lemonade, with a hint of sourness. It is sweet enough but not too sweet and it is actually surprisingly close to the taste of Finnish grape long drinks. After this the drink finishes with a very faint taste of lager beer, and therefore can justifiably be called a lemonade beer.

Not the right choice for people who want to enjoy beer, nor for people who want to get inebriated. However, a good choice if you want something refreshing and enjoy the taste of lemonade with a pleasant, albeit weak aftertaste of beer. This being said, I personally enjoyed the taste a lot and the Radler is really refreshing when served ice cold.

65 Above average

Beer review: Keisari Kellari (4.5% Finland: Nokian Panimo)

Nokian Panimo is one of the middle-sized breweries of Finland. It prides itself in being an honest, independent brewery. Keisari (Finnish for emperor) is their brand and Keisari Kellari (Finnish for cellar) is a hand-brewed lager beer, more specifically an unfiltered cellar beer. It can be found in supermarkets in Finland and definitely offers a more interesting variety of flavors than the 'basic beers' of Finland.

Taste: The unfiltered character of the beer becomes clear in its full-bodied malty flavour. It is quite thick, sweet and bready, with a hint of yeast. Reminiscent of home-brewed beer, which in this case is a good thing, since it gives character to this supermarket-available beer. Maybe a bit musty towards the end.

A good choice if you are into beers with more character and taste than the bulk products and choose to enjoy a single beer instead of gulping down a case. However, does not deliver strong aromas and in this way reminds a home-brewed beer. This might be a good or a bad thing, depending on the drinker.

65 Above average