This past week I was in Bend, OR (which also happened to be Central Oregon Beer Week) and made it over to the release party of The Ale Apothecary’s new beer Sahati. The story behind this beer is outstanding but the product in the bottle is even better. This beer is a total labor of love and is based off the traditional Sahti beer style that has been brewed in Finland for hundreds of years. You can learn more about it here. This beer, which clocks in at 10.5% abv, is brewer Paul Arney’s Pacific NW take on this traditional style by using a local spruce tree (that he cut down) as his lauter tun instead of the juniper tree used in Finland. He also uses spruce boughs as his filtration “false bottom” in the tun. If you get a chance to sample this beer don’t miss it as it’s deceptively strong but soft, slightly sweet up front and dry in the finish–a truly special beer indeed!
