A cloudy, unhopped farmhouse ale flavoured with juniper, sweet and startlingly banana-like from the yeast. It has been brewed in Häme since the Middle Ages, filtered through juniper twigs in a hollowed wooden trough, and the EU protects it as a traditional speciality.
Home brewing of alcohol is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the unboiled wort that defines sahti is a spoilage risk that the traditional process manages by drinking the beer within days.
What goes into it
- barley malt, often with rye
- juniper twigs and berries
- baking yeast
- water
How it is made
The mash is made with juniper-infused water and then run off through a bed of juniper twigs packed into a hollowed log called a kuurna, which filters it and flavours it at once. Crucially the wort is not boiled, so no hops are used and the beer stays hazy and sweet. It ferments warm with baker’s yeast, which produces the banana esters, and is drunk young and unfiltered.
How long it takes: about a week, and drunk within a fortnight
How it is eaten
At room temperature from a mug, at weddings and midsummer, with rye bread and smoked fish.
History
Brewed in Häme since the Middle Ages and filtered through juniper twigs in a hollowed wooden trough; the EU protects it as a traditional speciality.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sahti?
Sahti is a wine & spirit from Finland: cloudy unhopped farmhouse ale flavoured with juniper, sweet and banana-like. Brewed in Häme since the Middle Ages and filtered through juniper twigs in a hollowed wooden trough; the EU protects it as a traditional speciality.
How is Sahti made?
The mash is made with juniper-infused water and then run off through a bed of juniper twigs packed into a hollowed log called a kuurna, which filters it and flavours it at once. Crucially the wort is not boiled, so no hops are used and the beer stays hazy and sweet. It ferments warm with baker’s yeast, which produces the banana esters, and is drunk young and unfiltered. It takes about a week, and drunk within a fortnight.
Can I make Sahti at home?
No, and the atlas gives no method for it. Home brewing of alcohol is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the unboiled wort that defines sahti is a spoilage risk that the traditional process manages by drinking the beer within days.
What goes into Sahti?
Barley malt, often with rye, juniper twigs and berries, baking yeast, water.
How is Sahti eaten?
At room temperature from a mug, at weddings and midsummer, with rye bread and smoked fish.
