Karjala
Karjala
Karjala is one of the best-known and most culturally significant Finnish lagers – a golden, richly foaming and full-bodied lager from the house of Hartwall, the beverage company founded in Helsinki in 1836 and today part of Royal Unibrew, one of the most important beverage companies in the entire Nordic region. The story of Karjala beer begins in 1932 at the Sortavalan Panimo brewery in Sortavala, the then-capital of the Finnish region of Karelia – a territory that had to be ceded to the Soviet Union in the Winter War of 1940 and thereby took a permanent and deeply emotional place in the hearts of the Finnish people. When the evacuated Karelians were dispersed across Finland after the war, many of them carried with them the memory of their beloved home beer – and when Hartwall took over the brand and revived it, there grew from this the legendary popular saying «Karjala takaisin, vaikka pullo kerrallaan» – in English «Karelia back, even bottle by bottle» – which secured the beer its unmistakable emotional standing in Finnish brewing history and earned it the affectionate nickname «Evakkokalja» – «evacuee beer».
Karjala Export presents itself in a clear, golden-yellow tone with a strong white head, where a full-bodied, malt-forward aroma with selected hop notes gives way to a characterful, lightly bitter and balanced palate at 5.2% ABV that with its honest, grounded and unmistakably Nordic directness delivers exactly on the promise of its brand: a strong, high-quality lager with genuine character for honest beer friends who expect more from their beer than a mere thirst-quencher. Brewed from water, barley malt and hops according to the German Reinheitsgebot, Karjala stands for the plain, uncompromising and thoroughly Finnish conviction that a good beer needs no frills, no marketing promises and no distractions – only first-class ingredients and artisanal care.
As the long-standing main sponsor of Finnish ice hockey – one of the most sacred national sports of Finland – Karjala is inseparably linked with Finnish sporting culture and has stood since the legendary gold medal of the Finnish national team at the Ice Hockey World Championships in 1995 as a symbol of the indomitable Nordic spirit and Karelian resilience of a nation that may not be able to reclaim its Karelia, but has at least kept its characterful lager enjoyment for ever. Today Hartwall – and therefore Karjala – is part of the Danish Royal Unibrew group, yet this has in no way diminished the Finnish character and Nordic soul of the brand: Karjala remains what it has been since 1932 – the most honest, grounded and characterful Finnish lager, keeping the story of a lost land alive in every bottle.