Craft beer in Finland:
CoolHead Brew in Helsinki
Craft beer in Finland: CoolHead Brew in Helsinki
Our brewery tour in Finland in late summer 2025 continued from Salama, ETKO and Factory in Kerava to Helsinki, where we headed to one of the must-visit destinations for every craft beer enthusiasts visiting the capital city. CoolHead Brew is one of those microbreweries that have redefined what Finnish beer can taste like, bringing both Nordic and exotic new flavors in the market for ten years already, earning its reputation as one of Scandinavia’s most exciting microbreweries. Let’s take a look what’s cooking under the glass roof of a former winter garden in Viikki!
From a humble Tuusula industrial garage to a beer phenomenon
The story of CoolHead Brew began in 2016 in Sula, an industrial area near the town of Tuusula. The brewery was born out of a love for brewing and a desire to disrupt the Finnish beer market. The Brazilian founder of the brewery, Cleber Goncalves, turned his passionate home-brewing hobby into a commercial level operation, with a mission to raise Finland on the world map of artisan breweries.
CoolHead started in Tuusula with a compact 1,000-liter brewhouse and four 2,000-liter fermentation tanks. A small, international team was out together, CoolHead became the very first brewery in Finland to focus heavily and commercially on sour beers. This still is the beer style that CoolHead is most famous for, and what especially stands out within it, are their “own genre”, the Nordic Sours. This sub-style combines traditional sour brewing techniques with Scandinavian flavor profiles, such as hand-picked spruce tips, Nordic berries and salty licorice.
CoolHead’s approach to quality caught the attention of craft beer lovers. As CEO Cleber famously puts it: “If I tell you it’s a raspberry beer, it’s a f*cking raspberry beer!”, a philosophy proven by the their DEEP series sour beers, with tons of fruits added in them. Thee team behind the recipes and brewing consists of international and Finnish professionals, including their talented Indian brewer Ram Gowrishankar.
CoolHead brewery in Viikki is a tropical craft beer paradise
What kind beers CoolHead brews then? Well, the beer selection definitely is wide, from Pilsners to Fruited Sours and all the way to heavy, barrel-aged delicacies. While CoolHead is globally renowned for its tart and fruity sour beers, the portfolio includes much much more, also a lot of collaborations with both Finnish and international craft breweries.
CoolHead is probably best known for their juicy, sweet and tart Candy Sours. Finns notoriously love salty licorice (salmiakki), and CoolHead successfully brought this cultural obsession into the beer world. Their innovation peaked when the Salmiac Licorice Blackcurrant Sour won the Finland’s Best Beer 2025 competition. There are also several other delicious sour beers that combine Nordic berries with salted licorice, like Salmiac Licorice Cherry Sour and Salted Licorice Raspberry Sour. Not all sours are about candy flavors though, as there is a bunch of Fruited Sours – we loved for example their Tropical Sour with mango, passion fruit, lychee and peach, and the Mango Chili Gose was delicious too.
But as said, it’s not all about the sours. The CoolHead core line-up incudes quite some treats also for those who prefer bit more traditional combination of malts and hops. There are clean Lagers, like the Crispy Boy, hop-forward IPAs and fruity Pale Ales. Furthermore, there is the Pilot Series, experimental beers usually only available in the Viikki taproom. These are small-batch brews, where the brewers push the boundaries of flavor. If a Pilot beer receives success from the taproom crowd, it might just find its way into permanent production. And last but not least, there is the barrel series with delicious barrel-aged beers including complex Imperial Stouts, rich Barleywines as well as Sours with deep, decadent flavor profiles.
CoolHead is also behind the Glass Pyramid Project, a small-batch project and brans especially aimed at international market. This brand focuses on Smoothie Sours packed with fruits or berries and exotic spices, or in part of the beers, ice cream or marshmallows. We haven’t got our hands on any Glass Pyramid cans yet, but as soon as we will, beer cards with tasting notes will follow!
CoolHead brewery in Viikki is a tropical craft beer paradise
Beyond food and drink, the tropical glass dome frequently comes alive with culture, hosting a variety of live music gigs and events. The most famous event is the Craft Beer Garden Festival, a two-day festival where craft beers are combined with a garden party atmosphere, good food and live music. The festival is not just the brewery’s own celebration, but invites more than dozen international and domestic microbreweries to participate each year. In 2026 the beer festival is organized on 24th and 25th of July. Oh and of course there will be special festival beers – of the 2025 CBGF beers, we tasted the Sandstorm in the Garden NEIPA and the Garden through the Looking Glass Imperial Pastry Stout, both brewed in collaboration with international friends.
About Craft Beer Nomads
Craft Beer Nomads is a blog about artisan beer, microbreweries and craft beer culture in Europe and beyond. The blog is written by FinnsAway, a nomad couple who has been on the road since 2017, and enjoys tasting new craft beers all around the world.
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CBGF: Garden Through the Looking GlassA thick, roasted, sweet dessert Stout by CoolHead Brew from Finland.
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