Beer Tasting in Moose Country

There's a moose for almost every 53 people in Finland. And yet during a recent six day stay I didn't spot a single one. Plenty of snow and ice, but not so much as a glimpse of the enormous antlered herbivore. Well, except this guy. I photographed him in Hollola, a little town just outside of Lahti, near Lake Päijänne.

I had found my way to this medieval church village with the help of Pekka Kääriäinen, a well-known sahti advocate, entrepreneur, and head of the Finnish Association for Small Breweries. After spending the morning showing me all around his hometown, he'd insisted on introducing me to his friend Ilkka Sipilä, the owner of a place called Maaseuturavintola Hollolan Hirvi, or Hollolan Moose Countryside Restaurant. A place with a very small on-site brewery. And while it technically wasn't open for the season, the parking lot had been plowed, and Pekka assured me that it was no problem to drop by on a Friday afternoon in late winter. Plus, he explained over the pop music spilling from his car radio, sahti is still brewed the traditional way at Hollolan Hirvi—by adding heated stones to the mash tun instead of hot water—and I simply couldn't leave the country without meeting Ilkka.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a drop of the aromatic, juniper-infused farmhouse beer to be had when we arrived, so I settled for a taste of Tumma Hirvi, or Dark Moose (4.5% ABV), instead. Ordinarily a glass with set you back €6 (about $7.80), but turn up with a respected Finnish brewer and you'll likely get a complimentary pour. A thick, creamy beige head emerged as soon as my goblet was full, and leaning in to appreciate the smell, I found the nose reminded me of date cake or sticky toffee pudding. Five types of malt including caramel, Munich, and smoked malt, give this dark ale a full body and an ebony color with rosy highlights. Magnum hops are used for bittering, and Saaz to impart aroma. The finish is quite dry.

Ilkka demurred when I asked him about Tumma Hirvi's style, maintaining that he brewed for himself, not judges or beer freaks. "When we are brewing, we don't think about what category it should be," he told me. Depending on the season, farm guests can choose from a number of other unfiltered, unpasteurized beers as well as a meat-heavy menu of Finnish food. Beer-wise, I would've liked to sample Kivipukki (steinbock), American Moose (a pale ale), or French Moose (ale aged in cognac casks) and from the kitchen I might have ordered moose soup or a beer-marinated venison steak. I guess I'll have to try those on my next visit though.

Sure, lots of people think March is the month to look for cheap holidays to Goa or a quick escape to Ireland, but I say Finland deserves to be in the running, too. Bring a warm coat, a good pair of boots, and just in case you want to venture (naked) into a sauna, plenty of self confidence. If you're lucky, you might even see a moose. Travel to Hollolan Hirvi, and you'll definitely be able to taste one.

Interviews With Touring Musicians

In the three years since I started this blog, I've interviewed six musicians about the influence that travel has had on their lives and their songwriting. Here they are again, sharing stories, recalling strange or humorous moments on the road, and revealing the cities and countries they still hope to visit:

Two Minute Interview: Sergio Rotman

The saxophonist for Los Fabulosos Cadillacs reminisces about touring.

Two Minute Interview: Jessica Sligter

Dutch singer-songwriter Jæ discusses her journeys as a performing artist.

Two Minute Interview: Marcellus Hall
Seven questions with the former frontman of Railroad Jerk and White Hassle.

Two Minute Interview: Bob Nanna
The guitarist and vocalist reveals where he'd like to go next with Braid.

Two Minute Interview: Andy Chase
The producer, mixer, and member of the band Ivy explains while he prefers buses to RVs.

Two Minute Interview: Ethan Holtzman
Dengue Fever co-founder and keyboardist talks about serving as a cultural ambassador.

Craft Beer and Museums: A Smart Pairing

On a Thursday evening in midwinter, the lobby of Burlington's ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center was packed. But the crowd anxiously awaiting the stroke of seven hadn't arrived for a new display or the chance to see baby Softshell turtles in the Animal Care Lab. No, everyone in line had turned up for a craft beer tasting. More specifically, they were there for FeBREWary: The Science of Beer, a two-hour special event that included presentations on beer history and chemistry along with access to more than two dozens bottles of stouts, saisons, pilsners, and pale ales.

Well before the last guest had even left the building, staff members were declaring FeBREWary a success, excitedly discussing the possibility of future beer nights at the aquarium. All across the United States, from Syracuse to Seattle, a growing number of institutions are discovering the tremendous appeal of craft beer and its ability to raise revenue and attract visitors. This weekend for example, marks the tenth anniversary of Hops and Props, a tasting event that features over 40 breweries and benefits Seattle's Museum of Flight. Meanwhile, at the end of March, the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology in Syracuse will host the eighth annual TAP into the MOST.

Numerous animal parks organize "Brew at the Zoo" days. And fine art museums have taken notice, too. On March 9th, the Akron Art Museum in Ohio brings back their popular Art of Ale event, while the Oklahoma City Museum of Art has already begun to plan another ARTonTAP for October. Will history museums embrace this trend next? Maybe. In May, the New York Historical Society launches Beer Here: Brewing New York's History, a temporary exhibit that surveys "the social, economic, political, and technological history of the production and consumption of beer over the past 350 years." Heady stuff, to be sure.

I'd really like to see an exhibit that places fermented beverages in a historical context, explaining the relationship between ancient ales and cultures of the past. To drink, the museum could offer Fraoch, a Scottish gruit made with heather and bog myrtle instead of hops. Or maybe they'd pour Dogfish Head's Egyptian-inspired Ta Henket and Birra del Borgo's Enkir, a saison brewed with a grain that's been found at Neolithic sites. I'll bet it would find a large audience, and beer travelers like me would probably race to the internet afterwards, feverishly searching for Egyptian holiday offers, Scottish heritage vacations, and archaeology tour packages.

The Truth About Elephant Trekking

Few experiences can compare with meeting one of the world’s largest vegetarians. Up to ten feet tall at the shoulder, Elephas maximus, better known as the Asian elephant, is the very definition of a gentle giant, happy to accept a spiny pineapple or a bunch of ripe bananas from an awestruck two-legged visitor. According to biologists, perhaps as many as 100,000 members of this species occupied Southeast Asia in the early 1900s, but in the century since, these animals have seen their range steadily shrink as logging, slash and burn agriculture, and a growing human population encroach on the tropical and subtropical forests pachyderms depend on for survival. Poaching and habitat fragmentation further threaten the small numbers that exist in the wild in Thailand today, now largely limited to national parks such as Khao Yai and Khao Cha Mao, as well as isolated tracts of land along the Cambodian, Laotian, and Myanmar borders.

While their numbers in the wild have decreased, their popularity as a tourist attraction has only grown, due in part to the government ban on logging that effectively put many domesticated elephants out of work. At present, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) lists nearly four dozen tour operators that offer short rides or longer treks. Clearly elephants are big business. But what kind of business exactly? These highly social animals require lots of fresh water and about 330 pounds (150 kg) of food per day, not to mention quite a bit of space. So how are they trained and cared for? A phrase on the TAT website offers a telling if disappointing clue: “the treatment of Thai elephants varies from elephant camp to elephant camp, some using more humane methods to look after their elephants than others.”

According to Timothy Gorski, director of the documentary How I Became an Elephant, the boom in elephant tourism began in the 1980s and has risen with "the so-called ‘eco-tourism’ phenomenon. Elephant treks are being marketed as eco-friendly conservation tours.” Problematically though, the definition of eco-tourism often differs from company to company, and training methods—rarely witnessed but captured in Gorski’s documentary—are often cruel. The pajaan, a practice that involves caging a young elephant and depriving it of food, sleep, and even contact with its mother, is one such method. In addition, some say that health and safety regulations are minimal and inadequately enforced. As a result, Catherine Bodry, co-author of the last edition of Lonely Planet Thailand, maintains that the long-term well being of elephants in Thailand is largely up to tourists and the general public. But if the future of the Asian elephant depends on public awareness and action, education must be a part of any trek. Unfortunately, this isn’t something that every camp provides.

The Winter Blues

We're one month into the new year already and so far the Northeast hasn't felt particularly wintry. Lately I've even found myself half wishing to be somewhere colder, or at least a little snowier. I didn't have this problem two years ago when I went to Iceland to research a story for Wend magazine. It was appropriately frigid during my time in the capital city. But before returning to Keflavik International Airport on my last day there, I made a short detour to a much warmer place that's practically become an obligatory stop for every visitor to Reykjavik: The Blue Lagoon.

Although the word lagoon is usually used in a tropical context, I suppose this popular geothermal spa, being a relatively shallow pool of water, technically isn't misnamed. What struck me about this quintessentially Icelandic attraction though, as much as the heat and the sense of calm that pervaded the whole complex, was the color. Even on an overcast day in February, the water seemed to glow, appearing a bright cyan or aqua against the drab surrounding landscape. Walking around after a dip in the famously therapeutic geothermal seawater, I snapped a handful of photographs that take me back to that day every time I look at them. Here's the set on Flickr.

The Blue Lagoon's 30 Euro entrance fee (about $39.40) isn't exactly inexpensive—especially when you add on another €5 for towel rental—but cheap holidays to Iceland do exist. Plan to travel in February or March and you'll get better fares and packages on Icelandair as well as lower hotel rates in Reykjavik. Sure, it'll be cold and dark, but spend enough time at a neighborhood bar, or better yet, a burger joint, and you're bound to meet a friendly Icelander or two.

Border Hopping for Beer in Victoria, BC

With all of the attention lavished on Portland and Seattle, it's easy to forget that the Pacific Northwest has a third craft beer capital: Victoria. Just across the Puget Sound on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, this scenic city has quietly yet steadily added craft breweries and brewpubs, businesses that have earned themselves a loyal local following and more than a few Canadian Brewing Awards along the way. In the winter issue of HARBORS Magazine, I cover four of the eight in a short feature entitled "Brewing Up Business."

Of course I couldn't do a story on Victoria's beer scene without mentioning Spinnakers and Swans, two brewpubs that made a mark in the 80s, well before some of their current peers had even considered brewing professionally. But while they might be a venerable duo in the industry, neither is content to rest on their laurels. Spinnakers, for example, recently released Das Razz, a strong Belgian-style ale with raspberries (8.2% ABV), while Swans sold out of their new Saison (a 6.3% ABV spiced winter ale) in about three weeks. Not to be outdone, Lighthouse Brewing Company debuted their Belgian Black this month, a 9% ABV strong ale available in 650 mL bottles. Any one of these beers would be worth seeking out on its own. Considering the fact that all three can be sampled in the same city, I'd say it's time to start counting frequent flyer miles.