The commercial sahti brewing in Finland is not going very strong. It became possible to brew sahti commercially in 1987-1988 (brewing 1987, retail sale 1988). Very quickly some breweries started operating. During the best years in the beginning of 1990's there was maybe some 8-9 breweries. Very heavy alcohol tax has killed almost half of them by now. When you want to sell sahti you pay over 2 euros (1.5 USD) of different taxes per litre alone. The retail price for sahti almost equals that of the expensive imports.

So, sahti is not going strong but it's still kicking. There are six sahti breweries still in operation.

The Finnish sahti breweries

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Finlandia Sahti [ Web page ]

Address: Suokulmantie 237, Matku, tel. +358 3 435 3801
Some 30 km from Forssa to direction Urjala (road 2835) and then to road 2841. Suokulma is some 10 km from willage Matku.
Open to visitors: Shop: tue-fri 2 p.m. - 7 p.m. sat 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. sun noon - 6 p.m. Bar: on appointment
Established: January 1995
Owner/brewer: Antti Vesala
Availability: in Alko stores in 0,75 l bottles. Sells also wort at 1,45 euros / kg.
Description: appearance very cloudy, amber. Aroma sweetish, phenolic. Quite thick. Taste sweetish, phenolic, a hint of licorice and rye. Very good example of traditional sahti in Häme. Ingredients are pilsner malt, rye malt, juniper. Alcohol 8% abv (24 plato/OG 1096). Also available is Finlandia Sahti strong, 10% abv.
Web page by Ari Järmälä

Hollolan Hirvi

Address: Aikkalantie 37, Hollola , tel. +358 3 780 0552, +358 40 505 3357
From Lahti: take the road 54 to Riihimäki from the road 12 (Lahti-Tampereentieltä), drive some 950 meters, turn right to Aikkalantie, drive 250 meters, turn right and you are on there.
Open to visitors: by appointment
Established: Autumn 1999
Owner/brewer: Ilkka Sipilä
Availability: ?
Description: appearance very cloudy, dark brown. Aroma sweet, phenolic, strong rye flavor. Quite thick. Taste sweet, phenolic, lots of rye. Ingredients are pilsner malt, rye malt, juniper. Alcohol 7.1% abv.

Joutsan Sahti

Address: Jousitie 76, Joutsa, tel. +358 14 883 403
Established: 1985 (licenced 1987)
Owner/brewer: Reino Laitinen
Availability: At least in one restaurant/gas station in Joutsa and at Alko stores in Joutsa, Heinola and Jyväskylä. Wort can be bought from the brewery every weekday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. and on saturday 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Description: Appearance very cloudy, apricot colour. Aroma fruity, phenolic. Not so thick. Very complex flavor, hint of sourness, licorice and fruity/citrus taste. Ingredients pilsner-, wheat- and rye malt. Alcohol 8-8.5% abv (20 plato/OG 1080, FG < 1020).

Lammin Sahti [ Web page ]

Address: Liesontie 554, Lammi, tel. +358 3 633 5444
Established: 1985 (licence 1987)
Capacity: 1300 liters / batch, 60 000 liters / year
Owner/brewer: Sirpa & Pekka Kääriäinen
Availability: Lammin sahti is available in (at least) two restaurants in Helsinki; Zetor in the very center of Helsinki and St Urho's Pub, Museokatu 10. Brewery also produces wort and extract for home brewers. Price of the wort is 10,00 FIM / liter.
Description: Appearance a bit cloudy, amber. Aroma mildly phenolic. Not so thick. Balanced fenolic, fruity/banana flavor, hint of licorice. Well balanced but lacks some complexity. Ingredients are pilsner malt, rye malt, hops, juniper. Alcohol 7.5% abv (20 plato/OG 1080).
Lammin sahti is the biggest producer and its sahti widely available in Alko liquor stores. Package is 3 liter cardboard box lined with plastic bag inside. Now also available in 0,33 l standard bottles and 1 l swing-tops.

Panimo-Ravintola Sahtikrouvi [ Web page ]

Address: Kalhontie 459, Kalho, Hartola, +358 3 7168 067, +358 49 497 768
Six kilometres west from the main road (E75) to direction Kalho. Approximately 35 km north from Heinola.
Established: 1996
Capacity:
Owner/brewer: Matti Punakallio
Availability: Panimo-Ravintola Sahtikrouvi
Description: Reddish brown, very cloudy. The sahti is dispensed by CO2 so it is quite carbonated (very unusual). Flavour is sweet almost caramel like, medium fenolic. Alcohol 9% abv. (23.5 plato/OG 1095).

Stadin Panimo [ Web page ]

Address: Kyläsaarenkatu 14, Helsinki, tel. +358 50 525 3608
Some 3 km from Helsinki city center in the industrial area of Sörnäinen.
Established: 1998 (operational 2000)
Capacity: 500 liters / batch
Owner/brewer: Kari Likovuori, Ilkka Sysilä, Ari Järmälä
Availability: occasionally, see www-page
Description: Stadin Kundi, dark amber, medium cloudy. Some phenolic and fruity/banana in aroma. Taste is dryish, malty, quite strong rye flavour. Typical southern Häme region sahti. Ingredients pilsner- and rye malt, Alcohol 7.5% abv. (20 plato/OG 1080).
Stadin Friidu, pale yellow-honey in colour, medium cloudy. Some pehnolic and fruity aromas. Taste is thick but quite light and "refreshing". Dryish. Ingredients pilsner malt, unmalted wheat. Alcohol 7.5% abv. (20 plato/OG 1080).

Home brewing

Besides these commercial sahti producers there are maybe some thousand home brewers of sahti in the traditional sahti area. Some/most of them also sell their products to neigbours and relatives (although this is of course illegal).

Wort producers

Besides the actual sahti brewers there are many wort producers. These "breweries" make the sahti wort and then sell it directly to the customers. The customers then ferments the sahti by adding ordinary bakers yeast. This is quite inexpensive way to get sahti because you don't have to pay taxes of the unfermented products and wort producers don't need brewing licence.

Some wort producers

Orimattilan tilaussahti

Address, phone: Orimattila, phone (03) 777 3514
30 km south from Lahti. Produces two different worts the weaker (?) is about 1,108 OG. Colour pale to darkish. Price 0,87 euro / liter and 1,21 euro / liter.

Jouko ja Raili Toivonen

Address, phone: Pertunmaa, (015) 467 534
Produces pale sahti from eastern Häme

SahtiKeisari

Address, phone: Tapani Liski, Ansiolahdentie 134, Kuhmoinen, (019) 555 6255
Web site http://www.dlc.fi/~frank/sahti/sahti.htm