One of my favorite things to do when traveling is to visit craft breweries and get a taste of the local culture and community.
After five flights, missing luggage, and a 36 hour travel ‘day’, we finally arrived to our first stop on our Scandinavian vacation – Helsinki. It was only a short stay, so after sleeping for about 16 hours we decided to venture out to visit some local places of interest, including three out of four breweries that had been on my list.
Helsinki is a very walkable city, and it was great to walk around in fresh air rather than the 90 degree temps and humidity we left in Nashville. We visited the Old Market Hall where there were local food offerings, the Helsinki Cathedral where we took the obligatory selfies, and an old church overlooking the dock.
Bryggeri
First on my list of breweries to visit in Helsinki was Bryggeri. The beer selection at Bryggeri was ample, with something on tap for beer drinkers of all tastes (they even had a seasonal special Rose for those inclined).
I went with the IPA while the Mrs went with the Pilsner.
After ordering beers we went and sat out in the beer garden for an hour or so and watched the world go by (and folks admiring the copper tank).
Teerenpeli
After our visit to Bryggeri we walked through the streets of Helsinki to Teerenpeli, the oldest brewery in Helsinki. The actual bar area was small and most of the beers were written in Finnish so we didn’t have any idea of what these related to in English. However the friendly bar staff were more than happy to let us know what our favorite styles of beer were and then gave us recommendations.
I again went with the IPA and the Mrs went with a Vienna lager (which was a little heavy on the malt for my liking).
The bar was busy, as was their outdoor area, but we managed to find a table tucked away next to the display of brewing equipment where we could appreciate the atmosphere.
Brewdog
I’d never visited a Brewdog location before and after a 15 minute walk we found our spot. After all the walking we did we were pretty hungry so we opted for a pizza with garlic bread (which was amazing).
One of the things we really liked about Brewdog was that it was dog friendly. When we walked in we were greeted by two dogs who were more than happy to introduce themselves.
We ordered a couple of beers, an IPA and a lager, and to say that they were refreshing was an understatement. We must have walk several miles during the day and these two beers were much needed.
Brewdog is located in a cool old building, and the atmosphere inside was laid back with both locals and tourists mingling.
There were so many breweries in Helsinki that we could have visited, but we only had a short time spend there before our next destination. Helsinki was a great place with friendly people who take their craft beer seriously. We can’t wait to come back!
Next stop: Stockholm.
