Craft beer in Finnish Lapland
Tornio Brewery and Lapland Brewery
Craft beer in Finnish Lapland: Tornio Brewery and Lapland Brewery
Lapin Panimo - Lapland Brewery
Lapin Panimo is currently the only brewery operating in Rovaniemi, but the brewing history of the city is more than 100 years old, since there used to be a steam brewery already back in 1909. Beer production in Rovaniemi continued (with some downtimes due to the war) until 1972, but after the steam brewery ceased operations, there was a long silent period in the beer history of the city.
The idea of establishing a new brewery slowly arose when one of the founders, Arturs Dutka, was often hosting international guests visiting Rovaniemi. When visiting restaurants and pubs, the guests would often ask for local beers of course. But frustratingly, there was nothing truly local available, so Dutka finally decided to do something about it himself. To put it short, he found a partner that shared the passion and business idea, headed to Berlin to study brewing in the world-renowned VLB Berlin institute, found a suitable location for a brewery and ordered the needed brewing equipment to get started.
Our favorite Lapland Brewery beers were soft and tasty Aihki Lapland Dark Lager, fresh and hoppy Hippu Lapland Golden Pilsner and malty, quite heavy Riski Amber Lager. A warm recommendation to visit the brewery & shop and the adjacent taproom restaurant during your visit to Finnish Lapland, and to taste the arctic beers, long drinks and mineral waters, that are inspired by the wilderness of the north!
Tornion Panimo - Tornio Brewery
After six years the beer production in Tornio was started over in 2016. The new Tornio Brewery honors the beer history of the city, but is also an experimental artisan brewery. The location is the same, the historical stone cellars are still under the brewery, but the scale is way smaller than before. The new Tornio Brewery is bigger than most of the microbreweries in Finland, but still utilizing only a fraction of the space that the former macro brewery needed, but proudly carries the flag of the northern beer making tradition. Now also the legendary lager beer from Lapland is back, brewed in Tornio with the original recipe, with the help of the original head brewer Leo Andelin, who created the original beer in the 1960’s. The new version of the classic beer carries the name Original Lapland Lager, and like its predecessor, it was awarded with Monde Selection gold medal in 2018.
Tornio Brewery cherishes clean arctic water, domestic ingredients, high level of quality and environmentally sustainable operations. The beer selection focuses on highly drinkable, rather low ABV lagers and ales, including both traditional and more experimental products, that are inspired by the nature of the north. In addition to beers, Tornio Brewery produces long drinks, distillery products and alcohol-free ice teas. We had a great brewery tour in Tornio and learned a lot about their brewing process and approach to beer making. Our favorite beers were fresh and hoppy Arctic Pale Ale, tart and tasty Herutus Fruited Gose and dark and roasted Routa Imperial stout, a collaboration brew with Maistila from Oulu.
Have you ever visited Lapland, or are you planning to? We recommend to experience the beauty of the nature of the north, and to combine the experience with craft beer from Lapland of course!
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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