MARKETS
INTERVIEW
“In Finland we have three terms for beer” Eemeli Tuhkanen has been working in the family-owned Beer Hunter’s Brewery since he was 18 years old. The brewery is located in Pori at the west coast of Finland and sells its beer under the brand Mufloni. In July Eemeli Tuhkanen graduated as VLB Certified Brewmaster. His father Mika Tuhkanen, who founded Beer Hunter's in 1998, took the opportunity to pick up his son in Berlin. Michaela Knör, Head of Axel Simon Library at VLB, interviewed father and son about the Finnish craft beer market. On the right: Mika Tuhkanen (l.) and his son Eemeli are talking in the interview about their bre wery in Pori and the Finnish beer market in general
Michaela Knör: Beer Hunter’s is running two breweries: the restaurant brewery in the city center of Pori and a bigger brewery outside the city center. How do you sell your beer? Mika Tuhkanen: We started off only with serving from tank and from kegs in our 2 hl restaurant brewery. On top, we sold kegs to other restaurants. Around 2011, after we had bought a brewery from Carlsberg A/S, we started to bottle our beer. We do not can. Eemeli Tuhkanen: Our second brewery is a 10 hl system – in total, we produce around 2000 hl per year. MK: What types of beer do you brew? ET: We have a couple of flagship
Overview – beer in Finland Brewing and drinking culture has a long history in Finland. Beer was the main alcoholic beverage until the late 17th century when distilled spirits took over for a while. In the middle of the 19th century the temperance movement restricted distilling and favoured breweries. But in the following years the ban of alcohol was put on lower alcohol beverages as well. With the independence in 1917, the parliament voted for prohibition – thus, Finland was dry until December 1931. A referendum initiated the founding of the state alcohol monopoly Alko. This monopoly is still existing and it is responsible for retailing all alcoholic beverages with more than 5,5 % ABV (as an exception: Microbreweries). In the 1990s there were less than 10 breweries in Finland. But with craft beer movement the number increased to more than 100 at the moment. With a per capita consumption of around 76 l per year Finland is ranking number 18 in world beer consumption. With 153,84 €/hl Finland has the highest beer taxation in the EU.
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beers like Pale Lager, which is quite similar to a German style Lager. Our second flagship beer is the IPA which is probably one of the most popular IPAs in Finland. We have been producing this U.S. inspired 7 % Mufloni CCCCC IPA for about ten years now. Besides that, we brew all kinds of beer, always trying to be on top of the trends. MK: Do you sell your beer only in and around Pori or also to other regions and to Helsinki? MT: There is state-owned alcohol monopoly in Finland called Alko. All beers having 5,5 % ABV have to be sold in Alko Stores exclusively. That means that you find our beer in the Alko Stores all over Finland, and of course in Helsinki as well. MK: Do you export to other countries at all? MT: We exported our beer only twice – to Norway, which is not too far away. ET: We do not pasteurize or filter our beer and we wish to sell fresh and good quality beer. MK: Eemeli, what was the reason to come to Berlin for the Certified Brewmaster Course of VLB? ET: Since I was a kid I wanted to become a brewer. When I turned 18 I asked my dad if it was possible to work in the brewery. He agreed. But at some point, I wanted to get more knowledge about brewing. I remember sitting in a car with my dad telling him that I want to go to Berlin to do the VLB Brewmaster Course. I knew that it was originally my father's dream to study at VLB. But he could not do it back then.
Brauerei Forum International – November 2020
MT: Yes, that is true, it had been my dream. We started business at 1998 and I was the one who had took care of our new brewery. So I was not able to go to Berlin. MK: How did you get your brewing experience? MT: There was a guy called Boris Orlo, he was a former brewmaster at Sinebrycoff in Helsinki. In 1998 he was retired already but consulted us when we started. He was the one who designed the recipes for our Pale Lager and Dark Lager. He was a tough guy and he told us: 'We do not brew beer lower than 5 % alcohol!' And he always called beer beer! In Finland, we have three terms for beer: the English term beer, the Finnish olut and in street language kalja, which is basically not real beer. ET: For brewers like us it is somehow insulting to use this term. MT: I remember when customers were asking 'May I have one kalja?', he was shouting from the brewery: 'We don’t sell kalja'. The most I know about brewing I learnt from Boris Orlo. In 2001 I did a short training course at Tuorla after we had won a beer competiton in Finland with our 7 % Mufloni Stout. MK: Who was Boris Orlo? MT: I think he had graduated from the Brewing School in Copenhagen. He had a younger brother who was a brewer as well. His name was Jori
