Beer review: Laitilan Kukko Lager (4.7% Finland: Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas)

The Laitilan Kukko Lager is a lager, more specifically a premium lager (a beer type balancing between pale lagers and pilsners). It's 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.

Taste: The Laitilan Kukko Lager is a light/medium-bodied lager with aromas of bready maltiness, metallic bitterness and an aftertaste of grassy hoppiness.

Overall, The Laitilan Kukko Lager is a decent lager. It doesn't offer anything exciting but neither does any other Finnish bulk supermarket lager. In my opinion, it's actually among the better supermarket lagers and competes with Karhu and Sandels for the title of the best bulk lager in Finland.

55 Above 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: Laitilan Kukko Vehnä (4.7% Finland: Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas)

The Laitilan Kukko Vehnä is a wheat beer, more specifically a Hefeweizen. It's brewed by Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas, the fourth largest brewery in Finland. The brewery was founded in 1995 and has since grown immensely. Since the Laitilan Kukko Vehnä has only 4.7% alcohol in it, it's available in Finnish supermarkets and therefore contends in the category of "supermarket strength Hefeweizens".

Taste: The Laitilan Kukko Vehnä is a medium-bodied wheat beer with all the classic characteristics of a Hefeweizen. The beer starts with a sweet fruity banana flavor and then moves on to deliver a wheaty malt body and faint sweet yeastiness. The beer finishes with a citric, herbal hoppiness.

Overall, the Laitilan Kukko Vehnä is a good Hefeweizen. Unfortunately the Finnish alcohol laws force the Finnish breweries to create beers which are slightly watery and lack strong flavors. However, in the category of "supermarket strength Hefeweizens" the Laitilan Kukko Vehnä is a well-accomplished individual.

70 Good

Beer review: Laitilan Kievari Ameriikan Ale (4.7% Finland: Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas)

The Laitilan Kievari Ameriikan Ale is an ale, more specifically an American Pale Ale. It's 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.

Taste: The Laitilan Kievari Ameriikan Ale is a medium-bodied beer with a slightly sweet malty body. It starts with a malty flavor and then delivers a strong herbal hoppiness with citric and fruity aromas. The beer finishes with a hoppy citric bitterness.

Overall, The Laitilan Kievari Ameriikan Ale is a great beer. Considering the market-strength of the beer, it succeeds in delivering a strong fruity and citric hoppy taste. It's definitely one of the better choices in Finnish supermarkets, and a positive surprise from such a large brewery.

75 Good

Beer review: Grillimaisteri Gourmet (4.5% Finland: Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas)

The Grillimaisteri Gourmet is a lager, more specifically a dark lager. It's part of the Grillimaisteri brand, a barbecue brand of the supermarket chain Lidl aimed for the Finnish markets. Supposedly the beer is produced by Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas, a medium-sized company mostly focused on soda manufacturing. It's quite cheap and produced in bulk quantities, so I've got no great expectations towards it. In any case, let's find out what this "barbecue master" is all about.

Taste: The Grillimaisteri Gourmet is a light/medium-bodied beer with a bready malt body. It's a bit watery but delivers a decent roasted malt taste and finishes with a faint hoppy aftertaste.

Overall, the Grillimaisteri Gourmet is an OK, easy-to-drink bulk dark lager. It doesn't offer anything exciting, but it's fine considering the cheap price. There are definitely worse beers available in Finnish supermarkets, although there are also plenty of better ones as well.

60 Above average

Beer review: Nobelaner Kesäolut (4.5% Finland: Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas)

The Nobelaner Kesäolut is a lager, more specifically a Pale Lager. It's a "summer edition" of Nobelaner, a beer brand of the supermarket chain Lidl. It's aimed for the Finnish markets and it's brewed by a Finnish medium-sized company Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas.

Taste: The Nobelaner Kesäolut is a light-bodied beer with a watery, light and slightly sweet malty body. The beer finishes with a faint metallic and citric hoppiness.

Overall, the Nobelaner Kesäolut is an OK beer, but it doesn't impress in any way. It's one of the cheapest beers in Finland so it's OK in that sense, but that's basically the only good thing there is to say about it. For beer connoisseurs, it doesn't really offer anything.

50 Average