Brewery: Lapin Kulta
Location: Tornio, Finland
ABV: 4.5%
Version: Bottled
Source: Selfridge’s, Manchester

I tried this one last Saturday night, as I wanted something to accompany the rather delicious fisherman’s pie I’d just made for dinner. And thanks to a tip-off from Ed I was fairly certain that there wouldn’t be much chance of Lapin Kulta overpowering the flavours of the food. Ed was right. Lapin Kulta – a “premium lager”, according to the label – has the distinction of being the only beer brewed in Lapland. Alas, that turned out to be its only distinguishing feature.

Lapin Kulta poured a fairly standard pale straw colour, with little or no aroma to speak of – even though I was drinking it at cupboard temperature, not chilled – and tasted… bland. Not much hop-bitterness, not much of malt-sweetness; the best I can say about it is that it wasn’t too gassy. But I’m afraid it was pretty much identical to any of the other bog-standard bottled lagers I’ve been served in spicy-food restaurants in the past. I’m guessing it’s a served a fair bit colder up in Lapland – so they wouldn’t necessarily notice the lack of flavour – or maybe they drink it to accompany some spicy dishes of their own and really only value it for its wetness? I’ll ask my Finnish chess-buddy whether he’s heard of it, hope I haven’t just dissed his favourite brew…

(You know, I only picked this one up because I was buying a few beers from the food hall in Manchester Selfridge’s and the bloke on the counter asked if I’d tried it, said it was quite popular. I reckon he had excess stock to shift.)