I’m Mika Laitinen, and I will be serving you today. On the menu is information I have collected on traditions and innovations in Nordic beer, as a native of Finland myself.
I have spent many years researching this topic, and I have shared my love of it also as the author of Viking Age Brew and various articles on Nordic farmhouse ales, which have appeared in beer magazines such as Brew Your Own and Zymurgy.
Since 1998, I have crafted hundreds of homebrew ales, many of them to test how various farmhouse methods work in practice or to explore the ways people brewed in ages past. Through a plethora of brewing successes and failures, I have gained hands-on awareness for guiding others in how to brew ancient ales.
Although this site is geared more toward traditional farmhouse ales, I also enjoy brewing and drinking beer that has been refined by science and inspired by modern artistry. I will incorporate more and more material on modern Nordic beer culture into Brewing Nordic, not forgetting practical brewing tips.
I’m privileged to live right on the doorstep of Finland’s sahti heartland, where traditional farmhouse ale culture remains strong. My favorite way of passing the time is by chatting, brewing, and drinking with farmhouse brewers, all the while collecting stories, recipes, and photos from a beer culture that has disappeared from most parts of Europe.
Kippis –Skål – Cheers!
Mika Laitinen
mika@brewingnordic.com
P.S.: The Brewing Nordic site is grounded on the following principles:
- Most of my writing is based on research, such as reading, travel, and brewing experiments. This, along with the fact that I am an industrial mathematician by day and a writer–brewer by night, means that the update cycle of this site is very sporadic.
- I prefer writing timeless and thorough articles over echoing the latest news. Therefore, this site is more a collection of stories than a blog. Whenever there’s a need and I have time, I will update and improve the stories.
- Roughly once a month, I publish a newsletter that can be received by e-mail subscription or read via the News section. This announces major updates to the site, tells of plans and upcoming events, and occasionally features short tales of ales. Updates and other beery stuff will also appear on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
- The content I have created for this site is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 terms. However, I incude works of others too, for which I cannot grant permission of any kind. Therefore, it’s best to ask permission first (mika@brewingnordic.com), especially before using photos.
The photo portrait on this page was shot by Sami Piskonen