Lammin Sahtia
Lammin Sahti Oy

Murky tea brown body with some clarity; no head, ring nor lace. Nose is strong banana. Sweet over ripe bananas with an herbal presence (I’m guessing the juniper here); phenolic finish. Medium light body, no carbonation.Overall unpleasant; drinks like a flat heff spiked with herbal tea; long awful banana linger; I couldn’t finish the first 1/2 glass.

From a bottle. Cloudy reddish brown with no head. Strong floral aroma. Medium body with light carbonation. Tastes of rye and juniper with a banana like yeast note. First sahti, so nothing to compare to, but it's interesting and worth trying if you can find it.

 

 

Pours a murky brown coloration with no head whatsoever. Smell is oddly vegetal, with a strong juniper aroma and some bready malts coming through as well. Taste follows the nose, being quite vegetal and malty with a strong juniper character, light tartness and some fruity/spicey estery yeast notes. Some musty earthiness and wet cardboard is present as well. Finishes quite dry, with some musty vegetal notes lingering in the aftertaste. Medium body with very low carbonation.

I had this at a bar and couldn't finish my glass. Absolutely disgusting with that odd vegetal/wet carboard character and clashing sweet, sour, fruity and spicey notes that blend together to form a weird taste pattern that is reminiscent of vomit. To be fair here, I wouldn't be surprised if this beer was either way past its freshness treshold or even slightly oxidized. Hopefully I will get the chance to sample a fresh, well-kept Sahti at some point to be able to form a comparison.

 

"Lammin Sahti." Cost was 9 euro per .5 litre pour at One Pint Pub, where it as served from a curious 3 litre refrigerated jug into a halbelitre glass. Apparently Lammin sends these jugs straight from the brewery to select bars in Finland. Expectations were high given the style and country of origin.

Reviewed from notes taken in Summer 2015.

HEAD: None. No lacing.

BODY: Brown-copper of average vibrance. No yeast particulate or sediment is visible within. Nontransparent but translucent. Glowing.

Appears aptly carbonated. It's a nice looking sahti, to be sure. But it's not a fantastic appearance in a general "beer" sense.

AROMA: Juniper twigs are evident. Baker's yeast is present, but it doesn't have the raw breadiness usually concomitant. Honey-like raw almost wort-like sweetness. It's definitely on the sweeter side, with none of the juniper bitterness found in other traditional Finnish sahtis - though it does have a faint resinous character to it. Not as banana-emphatic in the yeast profile as you might expect, but it's noticeable.

Aromatic intensity is above average. I find no booziness.

TASTE: Juniper twigs and subtle resins. Wort-like raw grainy sweetness. Baker's yeast replete with biscuity vitamin-y notes, and traces of banana esters. Sweet albeit neutral brewers' malts. Balanced? No - not that it's imbalanced (too bitter, too sweet, etc.)...it's just unbalanced. Well-built, though, with an apt rawness to it that evokes more ancient ales and brewing styles. No booze, alcohol, or off-notes come through. A well-built sahti with a pleasing taste. How do they hide the ABV so well?

Average duration, depth, and intensity of flavour.

TEXTURE: Smooth, wet, perfectly carbonated, medium-bodied. Has near perfect heft, weight, and thickness on the palate. Its low carbonation enhances its bread-like malt backbone, and I'm shocked how well its 7.5% ABV disappears beneath the flavour profile. Overall, this texture does a nice job complementing the taste in a general sense, but there isn't a perfect harmony of texture and taste.

OVERALL: Drinkable but not gestalt. It's probably the best traditional Finnish sahti still brewed, and yet I can imagine it better. It's absolutely a must-try when in Finland, and I find it remarkable. Will intrigue the discerning drinker.

Low B (3.55) / GOOD

 

 

 

 

 

 

This brew poured out as a flat looking amber color with no head on top at all. The smell of the beer was herbal with some other odd aromas coming off of it. The taste is interesting, lots of herbal juniper flavors and other things that I can't honestly say I've tasted before. I can't really describe it. The mouthfeel was flat and rather bland. Overall I think if the carbonation wasn't so low on this one it'd be easier to drink and more enjoyable all around.

 

 

 

Poured from a plastic jug in the back of the bar.
Dark bronze color, veiled. No foam.
Cereal smell, yeast, juniper. Pleasant and intense.
Very peculiar. Bread, fruitiness, banana, apple.
The alcohol is very well hidden.
Peculiar taste, too. Banana. Malty, sweetness, then juniper and spices.
Anyway, good and interesting.

Served with a large bubble, sudsy head the color of the brew which was a hazy dark amber. Aroma was spice, licorice, malt. Flavor is similar but butterscotch is present also. Plus a bit of tang. Body and carbonation are true to style. Finish is like flavor and quite long. Seems to be what a sahti is all about except for the butterscotch which I’m not a huge fan of.

On cask at the One Pint Pub. This is a 2 day old cask straight from the Lammin brewery. This beer pours a murky brown with almost no carbonation whatsoever. The owner of the bar (and one of the brewers of the beer) explained that traditional Sahti should have almost no carbonation. The aroma contains quite a bit of banana, caramel and just a slight bit of juniper berries. Also just a tiny tartness is starting to come through on the backside of the aroma. The flavor is a banana bomb. Wow, I always thought that juniper should take the first seat but in this, it’s definitely banana. Juniper comes through with a bit of caramel. The tartness is a bit more pronounced then in the aroma. For as much emphasis as the brewer put in telling me that it is fermented with bakers yeast and not brewers yeast, I really don’t taste that much of a difference. Overall it’s a bit to much banana for me. I wish the juniper was a bit more pronounced but it really is a experience to drink 2 day old cask Sahti