Sour Grapes
I got a little surprise when I saw this month’s Ruoka & Viini magazine. Right there on the front cover, sandwiched between ice-cream soda and kefir, was hapanolut–sour beer–picked as a coming dining trend for this year.
I must confess, I felt a little pleased with myself, having predicted a sour trend a year or two ago. But I didn’t foresee it going mainstream-ish. The mag suggests sours are well suited to the dining table due to their wine-like taste (hmm…) and slight tartness. Beer Hunter’s, StaPa and Ruosniemen get namechecked as local sources for a sour fix.
This wasn’t the only beer trend mentioned; small portions are also “in” for 2015. The magazine mentions Brewdog Helsinki‘s sizing–as I did recently–and Bier Bier‘s 1dl portions, explaining that half a litre is just too much for some of the stronger, more flavourful beers that the cool kids want to be seen with people are consuming nowadays. Perhaps someone failed to notice that Bryggeri has been offering 1, 2 and 4dl portions since they opened two years ago. But then I guess a trend isn’t a trend until others start doing it too..
Say Cheese
Not being a regular reader of this publication, I decided to do a little research, in case I was missing a crucial source of beer information. Turns out I wasn’t. Of over a hundred drinks recommendations on the Ruoka & Viini website, only one was a beer. I should mention, though, that I found an interesting-looking recipe for beer & cheese soup. Let me know if you try it..