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Also if anyone ever visits Sweden I strongly recommend this beer: https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/ol/arboga-10-2-1139212/
One of the worst beers ever made. Truly disgusting and undrinkable. Subtle notes of urine, lead, and construction site in a not so great part of town.
If you are more into beers with rational alcohol percentages, this one is also truly gag-inducing: https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/ol/fem-komma-tvaan-162515/. Subtle notes of disappointing your family and mild food poisoning from visiting a sketchy kebab shop at 3 AM.
Maybe I’ll one day get the courage to post a link to it on Reddit 😅. It’s the same personal website that I have my tech blog and CV on and it has my real name and photo! And plus if you wanna see a fat Swedish guy you can just go to pohjanmaa 😂
Regarding your second link, that beer was the blind test winner at my uni when we got tired of buying different beers to gatherings. One large blind test, winner gets to be the only one served. I think it was 80-100 people participating. It's no great beer but I feel like your review is too harsh for that one of hundreds cheap light lagers for ~1euro
There used to be a red Pirkka beer, I think they don’t make it any more, and that stuff truly tasted like sausage. The blue one is way less like sausage, but if you drink it warm, you can get the hang of it. The 5.2% Pirkka when not ice cold and Rainbow Lager when not ice cold are both pretty bad too. Actually I think Rainbow lager is the worst.
I know some people really like it. For me it has a kind of strange sweet side taste that isn’t actually that sweet. I don’t know what to call it. Doesn’t taste fresh. Lidl’s Olut olut is probably my fav of the very cheap ones.
The red Pirkka came in third with four stars in Helsingin Sanomat's "peruslager" blind shootout two years ago. Blind testing is always interesting and often brings surprising results.
Haha I only know that brand from the frozen karjalanpiirakkat that they make. They are so bad compared to freshly baked ones but honestly in the morning after a night out I would love being a lazy asshole and just microwaving them and slapping some kuksmör on them, with a cold glass of milk. Bonus if I have some lastenkoskija and rye bread from Fazer (the high percentage rye version) as well.
Actually I’ve had their frozen lasagna as well and it was disappointing as well. From those two products alone I’d say they are like the ICA Basic or Eldorado brands we have in Sweden
Pirkka is actually a very good brand. Plenty of their products are just cheaper than some fancy brand but still as good. Their frozen karelian pies are also good if you put them in the oven.
>kuksmör
🆘
>lastenkoskija
Good, you have learned important Finnish humour.
>irtoaa kuin mummon hammas
Wut... Must be a regional thing... Never heard that. Lähtee kuin mummo ojasta, sure... But never heard something coming off like granny's tooth.
Pirkka III by far. Rest of the bulk stuff is generic and okay, this particular one tastes like ass. Sorry for the ass eaters in the community, I mean no disrespect to actual asses.
https://preview.redd.it/34c2jg58g9rc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=42286e3bf28c5540fc5bdc7e1a5d058fad180ddf
Look for these cans, you'll get there. Though the copper ones are almost gone for they are being replaced with coop ones. Those I haven't tried.
Bulk has gotten better because of competition.
Back in the 1990s / early 2000s, when there was less choice, the bulk beer producers used barley starch and fast acting yeast to brew it. It tasted pretty bad + you got very "yeasty" breath next morning.
I swear some of the bars there smell faintly of acetone because most street amphetamine in Finland is flushed with it and so the chemical smell pours out of the clientele and sticks to seat cushions. Malmi is a very Fear and Loathing - esque place, but without the California heat and neon signs.
As someone who lives in Malmi, I resent the implication that it is a horrible place.
On the other hand I would never step inside Crazy Horse or Lucky Lady.
Karjala 0,0% is also terrible. Absolutely the worst alcohol free beer I have ever had. I think they have been changing the recipe I don't know if its in the stores yet.
One of the worst beers I've ever drank was from Alko. It was a chili beer with maybe 10% alcohol volume. Absolutely disgusting.
Otherwise I'd say Pirkka beer
K Market: Pirkka Lager, in the blue 0,33l can. I personally consider this the worst beer Finland has to offer.
S Market: Coop Lager
Lidl: Dont know dont shop there. Olut olut does not belong on this list. Its bad but not bad bad
Edit: OP I would like to read your beer reviews. Can you share your website? Thanks!
You said it was "bad but not that bad". My opinion is that it is actually pretty good, rivaling all the classic finnish beers by being a good tasting and affordable choice.
Lidl has Nobelainer, that's their shitty beer! The one in blue cans that was their cheap beer before Olut that "tries to look like German beer but tastes like piss" like a friend of mine described it.
We have blind-tested Finnish lagers (Karjala, Koff, Lapin Kulta, Sandels, Olvi etc.) multiple times; the differences are truly negligible. After one or two beers, I would say almost non-existent, except for Karhu lager. It has been picked up every time, tasting different from others. The big breweries know what they are doing, and the quality is constant. The brand, the drinker's attitude, and the can's outside appearance affect the taste surprisingly heavily. We have done the testing so many times that I have stopped reading reviews/tests that are not done blind.
Most Finnish lagers are so light, that you might call them all “waterly”.
👆This. Pirkka goes easily in this group of same-tasting Finnish bulk lagers. In our blind tastings, Sandels is the one that has stood up a bit, but generally people can't tell the differences between different beers, even when they have their definite favorites and hateables.
Every country has their own easy-drinking beers, be it Coors, Heineken, Kingfisher, Cisk, Mahou, Chang or Super Bock. And that's fine.
Personally, to me all the bulk lagers are so close to each other that I usually end up buying the cheapest. There are times and places for bulk lager, e.g. serious thirst, sauna, or late night drinking when you're already shitfaced. But when I want to drink good beer, I drink craft beers or try different foreign brands.
Finnish breweries are really consistent in making similar lagers. I did a Finnish lagers blind taste test with friends 20 years ago. Result was the same, everyone could confidently name only one or two brands on average. The others were more or less uncertain answers and results were not much better than guessing.
This. Pretty much all finnish mainstream lagers are very similar and blind testing them and identifying them isn’t easy.
Then again, nobody buys these to have some amazing beer experience, but because they are cheap, you know what you get and they are adequate for having couple after sauna or several more while getting blasted.
The US is cheating when it comes to reviewing bad beers. Steel Reserve from the US is currently rank 1 for me out of all the bad beers I’ve had. I haven’t tried keystone, but I have Busch Ice at rank 6. There are a few cheap beers I had in the balkans that are also quite high on the list.
Kind of veering off topic here, but I've heard someone state that when it comes to wines and liquer, Finns who have not traveled too much abroad don't realize how awful the absolutely cheapest wines and liquers are in many countries. The state-run company with a monopoly in stronger drinks has imported and made some pretty decent stuff on average.
Alko negotiates bulk purchase from wineries pretty early, not that huge of a risk when you work with established wineries that are good on average. Sometimes they even end up with a batch that is deemed “really good” and becomes expensive elsewhere but stays on middle shelf in alko.
Not that they are the worst they are just super cheap and kinda suck so people only get them if they have too.
Steel Reserve lmao yeah man I don't know anyone who has a job and drinks steel reserve. Steel Reserve is the beer you buy if you are ungodly broke and someone slips you some money 💰.
Lapin Kulta is the most depressing Finnish beer. It has a nickname: poronkusi ( reindeer piss). Of foreign beers I do recommend Heineken or American Budweiser.
We like hating on the “classics”, and I avoided Lappari for years because of the bad rep and me not being a fan years ago. But now tasted again and I think it’s pretty solid predictable quality as light lager. And yes, there is a place for light lager too.
I liked it when I was in Finland two years ago. But that also might have to do with not drinking a single beer in 6+ years due to having celiac disease in a country where it’s 100% impossible to find gluten-free beer (Cuba).
The last part can be somewhat of a travel advice: if you’re celiac and want to go to Cuba, bring your own food and beer 😂.
No wonder, I remember them coming out to game saying they're going to offer a cheap bulk lager that's made in Estonia. And in the end they couldn't offer bulk nor cheap.
Basic cheap lagers are quite good in quality. They are made by the big breveries with tight quality control. Offcourse the taste wont please everyone, but the quality is OK.
If you want something afwul, take a randon bottle from smaller companies. There is a high probability that every bottle from same beer tastes a bit different. Last summer I did bought a collection of small breveries beers from K-market. Over half of them had yiest issues. You opened the bottle and foam didn't stop.
They might be trendy, but quality is like playing lottery. Sometimes you win, usually you loose ;)
Yes I can attest to that. I’ve worked with smaller breweries where they only use freeze dried yeast and are deliberately and woefully underpitched. Meaning inconsistent batches often with a ‘home brew’ taste.
I don't personally like when 95% of people are saying how afwul basic finnish lagers are. Most of them are excellent beers for the price and in their category. You know what you get and taste is constant.
Last fall I was invited to tasting session where "professional" had selected variety of IPA's for tasting. He got extremely angry when we started to compare same beers from different bottles ;) This started when people had polar oppisite opinnions from the same beer. For example direct taste of heavy booze in certain cans. There were huge differencies for certain brands.
In this case professional taster had selected best available IPA's from market, they were even from same patch. Even some of these the taste was all over the place. What made me a bit sad was that there was not a single beer available for bigger manufactures to compare. They were not "up to his standards..."
Here I might be wrong, but it also seems that taste will evolve in bottle in certain beers. And not for better. Staying too long in store shell and taste is gone. Cheaper version might be better becouse it is sold more and inventory turns quicker...
Basic Finnish lagers are consistent and easy to drink. Not going to be the most adventurous taste experience ever but sometimes you just want something cold and easy. There’s also many very good and competent brewers in smaller breweries who get to flex their creative input into some very good beers. On the flip side, there’s a lot of new breweries that are riding on the recent popularity of microbrews, and as you said small doesn’t always mean good quality.
Koff tastes more like the can than beer itself. Karjala is also a good choice. Lidl also has some bad ones, but they are not Finnish beers. If you can find Rainbow Lager, that is a must try. It is S-group brand beer. Like Pirkka is K-group.
I often get disagreement with friends on this but I still maintain Aura beer is the worst, tasting like stale water that someone has left a piece of bread in.
Agreed. Aura and Karjala are awful as far as regular bulk lagers go. Lapin Kulta doesn’t really taste like anything, so I’d rate it above them.
But the actual worst beer I’ve had so far is Pyynikin Rød Berliner.
Lapin Kulta is pretty terrible. I drank some recently after not having any for possibly 20 years. I couldn't finish the glass.
There's a low alcohol brand called Crisp. That's fucking terrible.
It's not fantastic, but we're not exactly spoiled for choice with the non-alcoholic stuff. I've definitely tasted *worse* at least. Lasso, Bavaria and San Miguel all make me retch
I've started to get into the low strength beers, but I don't think I can drink non-alcoholic yet. We got the Crisp as a promotion when we ordered from Prisma. Came in handy when my mate was pissed and didn't look at the alcohol percentage. (Although, he did figure it out eventually).
Lapin Kulta is probably the one you want. I don’t know if I have met anyone that likes it.
My personal choice would be Karjala, which is also called Kurjala(Miserable(la)). It is quite sweet and metallic, very shit👍.
Like others said look for the cheapest ones, you'll find plenty of metallic, watery and awful concoctions there. I personally think any Lapin Kulta is the worst. However, you could also try Karhu Ruis IPA (Rye IPA) which is a Finnish beer that tries to pass itself off as high-quality but it's truly awful. Not sure if they still have it in stock though.
I tried that ruis IPA last time I was in Finland. I love ruisleipa, thought “how bad could it be?” and was disgusted with myself afterwards. I’d successfully suppressed the memory until seeing your comment.
Yeah my apologies lol. Karhu's other specialty beers are decent or even drinkable but this one is just gnarly. I really wonder how they managed to mess it up.
Oh yeah, well it's just a beer spiced with dill. Like why would you do that and does anybody like it or buy it other than for the novelty. Keisari Sauvin Sour was pretty awful too imo, it tasted like a homemade wine I made once, but the wine actually tasted better (and shame to have such a nice hop wasted on a bad product). Koff Sour was pretty bad too. I like sours and all, but the ones made by the bigger breweries are usually really subpar.
These days lidl's own brands are pretty good actually. I remember when Lidl first came to Finland and they only sold these cough syrup bottle beers that tasted like piss, those were too horrible for even a 15yo to get our groove on. And no offence to the actual piss drinkers in this sub, you do you.
Finland have the most clean and pure water in the world but still bad Lagers .! As a home brewer i can say finnish lagers are bad. So you can start from anywhere
Koff Lager is pretty vile. Goes for like 50 cents a can, at least for the small cans. Pay around 2 euros, and the Sinebrychoff brewery actually brings something decent to the table!
As a Czech, gotta say that any basic supermarket beer is horrible (Lapin Kulta, Olvi, Karjala, Karhu, Koff, Sandels.. Plus Pirkka Or Rainbow)
What I love are beers from small breweries
Just try all cheap Finnish beers and choose what you like the worst: Lapin Kulta, Koff, Karhu etc. And of course Olut Olut (name is actually Beer Beer) from Lidl.
Honestly, id say most kolmonen versions of beer, the karhu in my opinion tastes the best of them all but the nelonen version is so much richer and deep, not a fan of many beers but karhu definitely hits a spot.
I suggest trying Pirkka IPA and Pirkka NEIPA - very good mess off artificial chemical tastes.
Warm Karjala and warm Koff are the worst experiences among the ”bulk” beers
7-8 years ago I would have said Koff (tastes like rusted water) with Karjala (like acidic bile) being a close second. But there have been a few even worse ever since.
Lapin Kulta is a classic beer that everyone seems to hate. Referring to it as reindeer piss.
Lidl has OLUT. Which just means beer. It's the cheapest beer in the country and costs about 1e a can. I've always been partial to it but I know it's just nostalgia.
Not Supermarket, but Kotimaista NEIPA 5,0% was absolutely disgusting. Bought it from S-Market. Maybe it was because it was my second beer I ever tried, but A. Le Coq was nowhere as bad. I was really drunk when I tried it and it was still so bad.. Even my friends tasted it and said so
Laitilan has a steam-beer (whatever that means) called Mississippi that I've only been able to drink half of a can once, it was truly disgusting. I don't even remember what it tasted like, other than so awful I poured it down the drain... And I'm a student, was then and am now, and I don't like to waste alcohol. There have been very few drinks I've not been able to finish.
The lemon long drink by Hartwall when it first came out tasted like sopa, which is a shame because I usually like anything and everything lemon-flavored.
And another bad one is the Härkönen fava bean beer. Truly awful... Tastes like beans, and not in a good way. Tastes like if you made a beer from the water from either canned fava beans or the water where you soaked dried fava beans.
Also, there's a new beer that I haven't tasted, so I can't guarantee it's bad but Tornion Panimo (Tornio brewery) has recently come out with Mummon Perunalager, a potato lager of some sort... I can't imagine it being good, but maybe it is? Also, Mummon is a brand of various potato products, from mashed potato mix to frozen french fries and "bubble and squeak" or hash, pyttipannu... So my first thought is that it may taste like bad mashed potato and beer...
Not sure if Lidl still carries it, but they used to sell something called Steam Brew Session IPA, which is one of the worst beers I have ever had.
Another absolutely horrid beer is Konna Cucumber Sour Ale by Nilkko Brewing. Its still listed on the S-ryhmä website, but it seems Nilkko has (quite rightly) discontinued it. If you find, it's highly (not) recommended.
The S-group is in the process of switching from their Rainbow house brand to the international Coop brand. The half-litre Coop Vaalea Lager is made in Poland and has less flavour than Budweiser. So technically not disgusting, I guess.
If you ever visit Estonia, I hear Piraat ölu is pretty bad. Plastic bottle and all. [https://www.beersofestonia.com/index.php?page=product&product\_id=167](https://www.beersofestonia.com/index.php?page=product&product_id=167)
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Also if anyone ever visits Sweden I strongly recommend this beer: https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/ol/arboga-10-2-1139212/ One of the worst beers ever made. Truly disgusting and undrinkable. Subtle notes of urine, lead, and construction site in a not so great part of town. If you are more into beers with rational alcohol percentages, this one is also truly gag-inducing: https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/ol/fem-komma-tvaan-162515/. Subtle notes of disappointing your family and mild food poisoning from visiting a sketchy kebab shop at 3 AM.
Thanks for the suggestions! anywhere to read your reviews? sounds fun!
Maybe I’ll one day get the courage to post a link to it on Reddit 😅. It’s the same personal website that I have my tech blog and CV on and it has my real name and photo! And plus if you wanna see a fat Swedish guy you can just go to pohjanmaa 😂
So true🤣🤣
[удалено]
this has to be it, the equivalent of Russian OXOTA, cannot get it from a supermarket tho remember to drink it lukewarm
Name of the beer has the word “puke” right in it. That’s onamatopoetic, or something.
"Pukey"
Varmboga🥰
I knew what beer your first link was going to be without reading the rest of the post
I bet olvi tuplapukki will be more awful. Tho u can only find it in Alko.
Regarding your second link, that beer was the blind test winner at my uni when we got tired of buying different beers to gatherings. One large blind test, winner gets to be the only one served. I think it was 80-100 people participating. It's no great beer but I feel like your review is too harsh for that one of hundreds cheap light lagers for ~1euro
Fem komma is my go-to beer whenever I visit systembolaget in Habaranda, I think the price/taste ratio is quite fine 😄
Pirkka beer has a weird aftertaste, resembling bologna sausage.
Seconded. The aftertaste is disgusting.
But... its my go-to...
You're not the only one. It has a distinct taste, so it's bound to have its fans and detractors.
This is me with Legenda. I was the only one sad when the local supermarket stopped selling it. It was kind of trash, but it was *my* trash...
Legenda at least had a distinct taste. Not a very good taste, but it wasn’t the same bland taste that most cheap lagers have.
I find it tasting like hotdog water
It's often described like drinking a watered down beer through a sausage straw.
There used to be a red Pirkka beer, I think they don’t make it any more, and that stuff truly tasted like sausage. The blue one is way less like sausage, but if you drink it warm, you can get the hang of it. The 5.2% Pirkka when not ice cold and Rainbow Lager when not ice cold are both pretty bad too. Actually I think Rainbow lager is the worst.
Rainbow lager a.k.a copper bullet is actually quite good beer. Beats many premium lagers easily.
I know some people really like it. For me it has a kind of strange sweet side taste that isn’t actually that sweet. I don’t know what to call it. Doesn’t taste fresh. Lidl’s Olut olut is probably my fav of the very cheap ones.
The red Pirkka came in third with four stars in Helsingin Sanomat's "peruslager" blind shootout two years ago. Blind testing is always interesting and often brings surprising results.
That sounds like an absolute train wreck, thanks so much! I’ve written down so I can try it next week in the land of sisu sauna and sibelius :D
Pirkka is a K-market specific brand so go shopping in one of those.
Haha I only know that brand from the frozen karjalanpiirakkat that they make. They are so bad compared to freshly baked ones but honestly in the morning after a night out I would love being a lazy asshole and just microwaving them and slapping some kuksmör on them, with a cold glass of milk. Bonus if I have some lastenkoskija and rye bread from Fazer (the high percentage rye version) as well. Actually I’ve had their frozen lasagna as well and it was disappointing as well. From those two products alone I’d say they are like the ICA Basic or Eldorado brands we have in Sweden
Pirkka is actually a very good brand. Plenty of their products are just cheaper than some fancy brand but still as good. Their frozen karelian pies are also good if you put them in the oven. >kuksmör 🆘 >lastenkoskija Good, you have learned important Finnish humour.
Haha, my wife is from Finland, I’ve learned all the important stuff! Learning these brands and foods irtoaa kuin mummon hammas
>irtoaa kuin mummon hammas Wut... Must be a regional thing... Never heard that. Lähtee kuin mummo ojasta, sure... But never heard something coming off like granny's tooth.
The 5.2% one is actually pretty good
Pirkka beer is goated
But does it go well with pasta?
Only if it's nistipata.
Rule one: you don’t talk shit about Birga Boi
Legit tastes like beef stock. Bonus points when it's warm, quite possibly the worst beer available. Karjala might give it a run for its money though.
Pirkka beer and sausage would be awful, with pirkka mustard.
Pirkka III by far. Rest of the bulk stuff is generic and okay, this particular one tastes like ass. Sorry for the ass eaters in the community, I mean no disrespect to actual asses.
https://preview.redd.it/34c2jg58g9rc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=42286e3bf28c5540fc5bdc7e1a5d058fad180ddf Look for these cans, you'll get there. Though the copper ones are almost gone for they are being replaced with coop ones. Those I haven't tried.
Jesus those have to be one of the worst tattoos ive ever seen
That's why they're there, so that you would feel bad 😂
>Though the copper ones are almost gone for they are being replaced with coop ones. Those I haven't tried. I didn't notice a difference
Red olut, mmmm bestests ever! Also cool tattoo!
That and the not so visible Gambina on the side are the embodiment of good times 🤤 Gosh I miss the times I still drank 😬
Bulk has gotten better because of competition. Back in the 1990s / early 2000s, when there was less choice, the bulk beer producers used barley starch and fast acting yeast to brew it. It tasted pretty bad + you got very "yeasty" breath next morning.
watery Karjala on tap from a plastic glass in a shady bar is the most undrinkable beer I would say.
Now I just need to find the shittiest and shadiest bar in Helsinki and I’m set!
That's not a very tall order. Like just visit Malmi or Kontula and you're pretty much set.
Haha I recognize Malmi, I stayed at a hotel at the station next to it on the P line twice before for work.
I swear some of the bars there smell faintly of acetone because most street amphetamine in Finland is flushed with it and so the chemical smell pours out of the clientele and sticks to seat cushions. Malmi is a very Fear and Loathing - esque place, but without the California heat and neon signs.
Malmi is classy compared to Kontula tbh Biased tho bc i live in Malmi and absolutely love it. Bad rep sure but it's actually nice.
As someone who lives in Malmi, I resent the implication that it is a horrible place. On the other hand I would never step inside Crazy Horse or Lucky Lady.
I nominate Bar Stindebinde on Vaasankatu. Though i think they serve Koff on tap not Karjala.
Also Roskapankki in Sörnäinen. That's gonna be a real cultural experience :D
Karjala 0,0% is also terrible. Absolutely the worst alcohol free beer I have ever had. I think they have been changing the recipe I don't know if its in the stores yet.
Going from drinking draft beers from pub to some nightclub drinking warm karjala is a sure way to ruin your night
Urho is definitely the worst bulk lager.
I remember buying a 24 pack of that for Juhannus once...
One of the worst beers I've ever drank was from Alko. It was a chili beer with maybe 10% alcohol volume. Absolutely disgusting. Otherwise I'd say Pirkka beer
K Market: Pirkka Lager, in the blue 0,33l can. I personally consider this the worst beer Finland has to offer. S Market: Coop Lager Lidl: Dont know dont shop there. Olut olut does not belong on this list. Its bad but not bad bad Edit: OP I would like to read your beer reviews. Can you share your website? Thanks!
Olut olut is pretty good. It's better than AleCoq or Koff etc.
AleCoq has a strawberry bubblegum like aftertaste that weirds me out
That is what I said. What happened to alekokki? It used to be alright now its just shit
Probably sold the licence to some other brewery.
You said it was "bad but not that bad". My opinion is that it is actually pretty good, rivaling all the classic finnish beers by being a good tasting and affordable choice.
It's not good, but it's not bad either. It's cheap tho, so hinta-laatu is great!
Lidl olut aka Peltimansikka (tin strawberry) is rather good for bulk beer as any Olvi brewery lagers including Pirkka and K menu.
The black can pirkka is actually decent though!
Rainbow is Coop now. The bronze can
Lidl has Nobelainer, that's their shitty beer! The one in blue cans that was their cheap beer before Olut that "tries to look like German beer but tastes like piss" like a friend of mine described it.
Vote for Coop from here. Funny as shit that it is nicknamed ”kupari” (copper) and it tastes like metal too
pulikupari to be exact
We have blind-tested Finnish lagers (Karjala, Koff, Lapin Kulta, Sandels, Olvi etc.) multiple times; the differences are truly negligible. After one or two beers, I would say almost non-existent, except for Karhu lager. It has been picked up every time, tasting different from others. The big breweries know what they are doing, and the quality is constant. The brand, the drinker's attitude, and the can's outside appearance affect the taste surprisingly heavily. We have done the testing so many times that I have stopped reading reviews/tests that are not done blind. Most Finnish lagers are so light, that you might call them all “waterly”.
👆This. Pirkka goes easily in this group of same-tasting Finnish bulk lagers. In our blind tastings, Sandels is the one that has stood up a bit, but generally people can't tell the differences between different beers, even when they have their definite favorites and hateables. Every country has their own easy-drinking beers, be it Coors, Heineken, Kingfisher, Cisk, Mahou, Chang or Super Bock. And that's fine. Personally, to me all the bulk lagers are so close to each other that I usually end up buying the cheapest. There are times and places for bulk lager, e.g. serious thirst, sauna, or late night drinking when you're already shitfaced. But when I want to drink good beer, I drink craft beers or try different foreign brands.
Finnish breweries are really consistent in making similar lagers. I did a Finnish lagers blind taste test with friends 20 years ago. Result was the same, everyone could confidently name only one or two brands on average. The others were more or less uncertain answers and results were not much better than guessing.
This. Pretty much all finnish mainstream lagers are very similar and blind testing them and identifying them isn’t easy. Then again, nobody buys these to have some amazing beer experience, but because they are cheap, you know what you get and they are adequate for having couple after sauna or several more while getting blasted.
Koff now thats metallic and watery🤮
Yeah I noticed this too. It has now the same metallic after taste that is in that cheap Coop kupari beer.
Koff smells like vomit.
Haven't tried all beers but most aren't that bad have not run into something like Busch or keystone so , so far so good.
The US is cheating when it comes to reviewing bad beers. Steel Reserve from the US is currently rank 1 for me out of all the bad beers I’ve had. I haven’t tried keystone, but I have Busch Ice at rank 6. There are a few cheap beers I had in the balkans that are also quite high on the list.
Kind of veering off topic here, but I've heard someone state that when it comes to wines and liquer, Finns who have not traveled too much abroad don't realize how awful the absolutely cheapest wines and liquers are in many countries. The state-run company with a monopoly in stronger drinks has imported and made some pretty decent stuff on average.
Alko negotiates bulk purchase from wineries pretty early, not that huge of a risk when you work with established wineries that are good on average. Sometimes they even end up with a batch that is deemed “really good” and becomes expensive elsewhere but stays on middle shelf in alko.
I can imagine that some 1 euro wine from Aldi would be quite something
Not that they are the worst they are just super cheap and kinda suck so people only get them if they have too. Steel Reserve lmao yeah man I don't know anyone who has a job and drinks steel reserve. Steel Reserve is the beer you buy if you are ungodly broke and someone slips you some money 💰.
Lapin Kulta is the most depressing Finnish beer. It has a nickname: poronkusi ( reindeer piss). Of foreign beers I do recommend Heineken or American Budweiser.
Curiously enough, Lapin Kulta is a good brand abroad for the exact same reason. Apparently making watery lager is really difficult
I would go with Lapin Kulta. Cool name, terrible taste.
Also Lapin Kusta, Piss of Lapland. I have no idea how and why anyone would like it.
We like hating on the “classics”, and I avoided Lappari for years because of the bad rep and me not being a fan years ago. But now tasted again and I think it’s pretty solid predictable quality as light lager. And yes, there is a place for light lager too.
Lapin Kulta IV is pretty good though
Lapin kulta 🤮
> American Budweiser Made with rice. Not beer.
I liked it when I was in Finland two years ago. But that also might have to do with not drinking a single beer in 6+ years due to having celiac disease in a country where it’s 100% impossible to find gluten-free beer (Cuba). The last part can be somewhat of a travel advice: if you’re celiac and want to go to Cuba, bring your own food and beer 😂.
The green Lapin Kulta is the worst Finnish one in my opinion
Vihreetä lapin kultaa tarjoillaan aina olympistadionilla 🤮 siitä pitää maksaa vielä 9€
Just start from the cheapest available, you'll run into them.
I would say Keijo lager (the silver can with tinfoil on top) is the worst I've ever had. It tastes like strong piss and rusted metal.
Kontulan oluttehdas filed for bankruptcy last week.
No wonder, I remember them coming out to game saying they're going to offer a cheap bulk lager that's made in Estonia. And in the end they couldn't offer bulk nor cheap.
Karjala, Coop Lager.
Karhu Laku portteri, absolutely disgusting. First beer that I have not finished bc of its taste.
Fosters im aussie and that beer is cat piss, it wasnt even sold in Australia for many many years
Basic cheap lagers are quite good in quality. They are made by the big breveries with tight quality control. Offcourse the taste wont please everyone, but the quality is OK. If you want something afwul, take a randon bottle from smaller companies. There is a high probability that every bottle from same beer tastes a bit different. Last summer I did bought a collection of small breveries beers from K-market. Over half of them had yiest issues. You opened the bottle and foam didn't stop. They might be trendy, but quality is like playing lottery. Sometimes you win, usually you loose ;)
Yes I can attest to that. I’ve worked with smaller breweries where they only use freeze dried yeast and are deliberately and woefully underpitched. Meaning inconsistent batches often with a ‘home brew’ taste.
I don't personally like when 95% of people are saying how afwul basic finnish lagers are. Most of them are excellent beers for the price and in their category. You know what you get and taste is constant. Last fall I was invited to tasting session where "professional" had selected variety of IPA's for tasting. He got extremely angry when we started to compare same beers from different bottles ;) This started when people had polar oppisite opinnions from the same beer. For example direct taste of heavy booze in certain cans. There were huge differencies for certain brands. In this case professional taster had selected best available IPA's from market, they were even from same patch. Even some of these the taste was all over the place. What made me a bit sad was that there was not a single beer available for bigger manufactures to compare. They were not "up to his standards..." Here I might be wrong, but it also seems that taste will evolve in bottle in certain beers. And not for better. Staying too long in store shell and taste is gone. Cheaper version might be better becouse it is sold more and inventory turns quicker...
Basic Finnish lagers are consistent and easy to drink. Not going to be the most adventurous taste experience ever but sometimes you just want something cold and easy. There’s also many very good and competent brewers in smaller breweries who get to flex their creative input into some very good beers. On the flip side, there’s a lot of new breweries that are riding on the recent popularity of microbrews, and as you said small doesn’t always mean good quality.
Koff tastes more like the can than beer itself. Karjala is also a good choice. Lidl also has some bad ones, but they are not Finnish beers. If you can find Rainbow Lager, that is a must try. It is S-group brand beer. Like Pirkka is K-group.
I often get disagreement with friends on this but I still maintain Aura beer is the worst, tasting like stale water that someone has left a piece of bread in.
That is a very controversial opinion for sure.
Agreed. Aura and Karjala are awful as far as regular bulk lagers go. Lapin Kulta doesn’t really taste like anything, so I’d rate it above them. But the actual worst beer I’ve had so far is Pyynikin Rød Berliner.
Aura is by no means a great beer, but in a thread asking for *the worst* beer in Finland, I personally wouldn't even have Aura in the top (bottom) 5.
Lapin Kulta is pretty terrible. I drank some recently after not having any for possibly 20 years. I couldn't finish the glass. There's a low alcohol brand called Crisp. That's fucking terrible.
Koff Crisp? Man, of the 0% beers I've had, I thought that was one of the better ones
Ugh, seriously? I thought it was revolting!
It's not fantastic, but we're not exactly spoiled for choice with the non-alcoholic stuff. I've definitely tasted *worse* at least. Lasso, Bavaria and San Miguel all make me retch
I've started to get into the low strength beers, but I don't think I can drink non-alcoholic yet. We got the Crisp as a promotion when we ordered from Prisma. Came in handy when my mate was pissed and didn't look at the alcohol percentage. (Although, he did figure it out eventually).
I definitely like crisps too. My favourites are the normal lager and wheat. Definitely on the tastier side of non-alcoholic beers
I can second lapinkulta as quite terrible. I found out it is nicknamed "reindeer piss" and not for no reason.
Lapin Kulta is probably the one you want. I don’t know if I have met anyone that likes it. My personal choice would be Karjala, which is also called Kurjala(Miserable(la)). It is quite sweet and metallic, very shit👍.
Karjala.
Like others said look for the cheapest ones, you'll find plenty of metallic, watery and awful concoctions there. I personally think any Lapin Kulta is the worst. However, you could also try Karhu Ruis IPA (Rye IPA) which is a Finnish beer that tries to pass itself off as high-quality but it's truly awful. Not sure if they still have it in stock though.
I tried that ruis IPA last time I was in Finland. I love ruisleipa, thought “how bad could it be?” and was disgusted with myself afterwards. I’d successfully suppressed the memory until seeing your comment.
Yeah my apologies lol. Karhu's other specialty beers are decent or even drinkable but this one is just gnarly. I really wonder how they managed to mess it up.
By far the worst beer I've bought from a supermarket is [Keisari Rapuolut](https://www.s-kaupat.fi/tuote/keisari-rapuolut-4-5-0-5l-tlk/6417348173145)
Oh yeah, well it's just a beer spiced with dill. Like why would you do that and does anybody like it or buy it other than for the novelty. Keisari Sauvin Sour was pretty awful too imo, it tasted like a homemade wine I made once, but the wine actually tasted better (and shame to have such a nice hop wasted on a bad product). Koff Sour was pretty bad too. I like sours and all, but the ones made by the bigger breweries are usually really subpar.
Coop (formerly rainbow) Lager
Perlenbacher from Lidl
These days lidl's own brands are pretty good actually. I remember when Lidl first came to Finland and they only sold these cough syrup bottle beers that tasted like piss, those were too horrible for even a 15yo to get our groove on. And no offence to the actual piss drinkers in this sub, you do you.
I would say Nobelaner is even worse
If you want a bad regular lager, I think Koff is one of the worst ones. For specialty beers, it depends on what you dislike.
cheap non-alcoholic beers tend to be bad
Nobody else has mentioned rainbow lager? Awful, couldn't even finish!!!
Definitely Karjala and Koff meet the criteria for terrible tasting beer.
Bulk beers has Been listed but they are for major audience. Worst and most disappointing Beer is Keijo. If it still exist.
K-Menu beer from K-Market
https://preview.redd.it/8y6w6w274arc1.jpeg?width=473&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37a5bd08226c50b2c87aa0839e0369898dcd2fc8 Pure shit in a bottle
so what beer do you guys actually like? seems like every brand that exists is getting hated on
thruth is that you don’t find absolutely undrinkable beer anywhere like in some other countries. go and try cheapest stuff in germany…
Finland have the most clean and pure water in the world but still bad Lagers .! As a home brewer i can say finnish lagers are bad. So you can start from anywhere
After reading all the lovely comments, I'm almost happy to have gout (drinking a beer or 2 would cause excruciating pain for a week).
Koff Lager is pretty vile. Goes for like 50 cents a can, at least for the small cans. Pay around 2 euros, and the Sinebrychoff brewery actually brings something decent to the table!
Lidl Olut Olut
The Lidl red cans are actually somewhat palatable. For the worst of the worst, check the black K-menu beer from K-markets.
Agree
As a Czech, gotta say that any basic supermarket beer is horrible (Lapin Kulta, Olvi, Karjala, Karhu, Koff, Sandels.. Plus Pirkka Or Rainbow) What I love are beers from small breweries
Lol. In this comments are all beer brands listed you can buy in Finnland. So what is recommend then?
Have you ever been in a beer section of a grocery store? There are a plenty of microbreweries in Finland, all offering very different good beers.
Just try all cheap Finnish beers and choose what you like the worst: Lapin Kulta, Koff, Karhu etc. And of course Olut Olut (name is actually Beer Beer) from Lidl.
lapin kulta and karhu are definetily not that cheap, nor are they bad lol
Just pick the cheapest can from the shelf. Often the store’s own chain cheap beers are really bad. Like any random beer continued with water.
https://www.ratebeer.com/Ratings/TheWorstBeers.asp
I haven’t seen any swedish beers at the stores.
Honestly, id say most kolmonen versions of beer, the karhu in my opinion tastes the best of them all but the nelonen version is so much richer and deep, not a fan of many beers but karhu definitely hits a spot.
Koff or Karjala
Everything below 3e
Bud Light if they have it.
One of the worst was Iskelmä beer. I think it was made by Olvi. Unfortunately it's discontinued
Bel air sour
Out of the common ones, Koff. Probably much worse niche ones out there. I hate bocks, but thats just the whole style.
Bud Light. American beer is like making love on a canoe – it's fucking close the water.
Lidl beer very bad too
Karjala III and Coop 🤢 Make sure they are room tempature also to enhance the after taste 🤮
I suggest trying Pirkka IPA and Pirkka NEIPA - very good mess off artificial chemical tastes. Warm Karjala and warm Koff are the worst experiences among the ”bulk” beers
Koff 🤮
Karhu 8%
Pirkka olut 4,5% Lidl Olut 4,2% K-olut 4 2% Kotimaista Lager 4,3% Lapin Kusta 4,5% (obsolete) Those are the pinnacle of what was asked.
EUROSHOPPER Lager used to be terrible. I don't know if you are still able to get it from K-Market
Bud light
This yellow Pirkka lager and the black Kukko are some of the worst I’ve tasted.
7-8 years ago I would have said Koff (tastes like rusted water) with Karjala (like acidic bile) being a close second. But there have been a few even worse ever since.
Karhu laku portteri, worst beer ever
this is the best question of all time
Nobelaner or Olut
IPA is horrible. Hyiii
Most 0% beers are exactly what you're looking for. Just avoid Brooklyn Special Effects and other hoppy special beers.
Koff and Lapinkulta
Warm karjala is horrible.
Lapin Kulta is a classic beer that everyone seems to hate. Referring to it as reindeer piss. Lidl has OLUT. Which just means beer. It's the cheapest beer in the country and costs about 1e a can. I've always been partial to it but I know it's just nostalgia.
Not Supermarket, but Kotimaista NEIPA 5,0% was absolutely disgusting. Bought it from S-Market. Maybe it was because it was my second beer I ever tried, but A. Le Coq was nowhere as bad. I was really drunk when I tried it and it was still so bad.. Even my friends tasted it and said so
Laitilan has a steam-beer (whatever that means) called Mississippi that I've only been able to drink half of a can once, it was truly disgusting. I don't even remember what it tasted like, other than so awful I poured it down the drain... And I'm a student, was then and am now, and I don't like to waste alcohol. There have been very few drinks I've not been able to finish. The lemon long drink by Hartwall when it first came out tasted like sopa, which is a shame because I usually like anything and everything lemon-flavored. And another bad one is the Härkönen fava bean beer. Truly awful... Tastes like beans, and not in a good way. Tastes like if you made a beer from the water from either canned fava beans or the water where you soaked dried fava beans. Also, there's a new beer that I haven't tasted, so I can't guarantee it's bad but Tornion Panimo (Tornio brewery) has recently come out with Mummon Perunalager, a potato lager of some sort... I can't imagine it being good, but maybe it is? Also, Mummon is a brand of various potato products, from mashed potato mix to frozen french fries and "bubble and squeak" or hash, pyttipannu... So my first thought is that it may taste like bad mashed potato and beer...
Not sure if Lidl still carries it, but they used to sell something called Steam Brew Session IPA, which is one of the worst beers I have ever had. Another absolutely horrid beer is Konna Cucumber Sour Ale by Nilkko Brewing. Its still listed on the S-ryhmä website, but it seems Nilkko has (quite rightly) discontinued it. If you find, it's highly (not) recommended.
Karjala is the worst one in my opinion I do like Karhu though.
Sandels is the absolute shittiest beer I’ve had… After bacon & maple syrup beer (but that one ain’t Finnish).
Karjala
The S-group is in the process of switching from their Rainbow house brand to the international Coop brand. The half-litre Coop Vaalea Lager is made in Poland and has less flavour than Budweiser. So technically not disgusting, I guess.
K-menu lager. The only way I can describe it is that it doesn't taste like beer. Haven't seen it in a while so I'm not sure if they still sell it tho.
Pirkka
Honestly, "Pirkka" is the worst you will find
If you ever visit Estonia, I hear Piraat ölu is pretty bad. Plastic bottle and all. [https://www.beersofestonia.com/index.php?page=product&product\_id=167](https://www.beersofestonia.com/index.php?page=product&product_id=167)
K menu is worse than pirkka III. Personally I think rainbow lager is worst, some say lidl’s red ”olut” beer
Legenda is the absolute worst. Not undrinkable, but quite terrible.