In browsing through Holiday catalogs, especially fragrance catalogs, I always become keenly focused on the joie de vivre of beer.  Spices, herbs, and floral notes bring to mind the most seductive brews on the planet.  I see names like Sensuous, Fuel for Life, Intense Euphoria, and Essential, and cannot help thinking about how beer has been man’s "Joy of Life" for ten thousand years.  As I flip through the pages, my eyes are drawn to Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door Collection and I think about the first trademark registered through theTrade Mark Registration Act of 1875, the Red Triangle that represents Bass Pale Ale.  My mind digresses with the color red and I picture the Red Beer Wagon of Sinebrychoff Brewery.  

Red Wagon & Horses of Sinebrychoff When Nikolai Sinebrychoff was granted land from the Imperial Reconstruction Committee in Finland in 1819, he received approval to build the city’s focal point, a brewery that would satisfy the most basic needs of the people in this newly established capital city of Finland, Helsinki.  Horses were originally used as beasts of burden to transport logs from Suomenlinna to Hietalahti, and these equine giants soon became an integral part of brewery operations, delivering beer and driving the two-stone malting mill with their muscular power.  By 1890, stables had expanded to house 60 draught horses; but the trials of war, a slipping economy, and a new paradigm shift gradually eroded at the necessity for equine-driven power.  The horses and wagons briefly disappeared in the late 1940s. By the 1960s, they were resurrected, serving as mascots in the traditional delivery of Koff beer, a leading brand name in the beverage portfolio of Oy Sinebrychoff Ab.  In 1992, Sinebrychoff moved brewing operations to Kerava, Finland, 30 kilometers north of Helsinki.

Adriean Brouwer's Scene at the Inn The Sinebrychoff Brewery has endured through 190 years of European history and is possibly the oldest brewery in Northern Europe.  Through the adept management of Nikolai and Paul Sinebrychoff the Elder, and then Paul the Younger, the brewery grew from its humble beginnings to a massively successful establishment employing 230 people by 1888, then valued at over 1.3 million Finnish markka.  Respectable surroundings, designed in the Empire style by Architect Jean Wik, were built, including the home of the Sinebrychoff family, built in 1842, that eventually became the Sinebrychoff Art Museum.  After the marriage of Paul the Younger to actress Fannie Grahn in 1883, the couple used their substantial brewery wealth to acquire a collection of art that included paintings, furniture, porcelain, and silver, featuring the old masters of Finland that could rival any collection housed in palaces throughout Europe.

Edourd Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergere This year, in celebration of the 190th anniversary of the Sinebrychoff Brewery, Sinebrychoff Art Museum and the Estonian Kadriorg Art Museum have joined forces to present the Joys of Life Exhibition:  Dutch and Flemish Art from the Golden Age, an exhibit running from the 11th of September through the 31st of December (2009).  This tribute includes typical subjects and scenes from 17th Century art – paintings of Dutch and Flemish taverns and alehouses, bawdy country life, peasant genre and elegant banquets centered around beer and drink, as well as clay pipes, wine glasses and tankards.

Dirck Hals: Merry Party in a Tavern The artworks feature such masters as Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Adriaen Brouwer, David Teniers, Adriaen Ostade, Anthonie Palamedesz, and Dirck Hals.  Additional works from the National Museum of Finland, Ostrobothnian Museum, Gösta Serlachius Art Museum and some private collectors add to the celebration.  

 Sinebrychoff PorterIf you have the opportunity to feed your eyes at the Joys of Life Exhibition, seize the opportunity to quench your thirst with the liquid bread pouring out of Oy Sinebrychoff Ab.  Not only does Sinebrychoff brew such widely distributed beers as Koff Lager and Karhu, but also World Class beers such as Sinebrychoff Baltic Porter, Koff Velvet III and Kaura Herbed/Spiced Beer.  As dark Winter beers, Baltic Porter and Velvet III display a complexity that releases layers of aroma, while titillating your tongue with flavors of chocolate liqueur, roasted bitterness, espresso, dark rum and molasses.  Kaura lager leaps at you with honey, herbs and spices and a bitter, yet sweet, finish. 

 For a gentle release, Sinebrychoff Krouvi, a Roggenbier of 5.2%, comes at your palate with flavors of Belgian Witbier – sweet with rye spiciness, and a gentle overlay of nutmeg, coriander and bitter orange. It finishes as dry as an English ale, with a touch of lingering wheat.  That’s art at its finest.

Cheers! 

-- by Carolyn Smagalski

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