Around the World in 20 Drinks: Finland

Finland seems a good place to finish our global booze jaunt – besides their sheltering of Santa in Lapland for so many years, the fact that they celebrated the end of their ill-fated attempt at prohibition in 1932 with a literal countdown to 5/4/32 at 10am tells us that these are our kind of people.

Exhibit A: Kukko beer, one of the more ethical and inclusive products we’ve featured in this column. The Finnish brewery’s drinks are produced in a plant powered entirely by wind turbines so the whales and pandas are happy, and all but one of the beers are gluten free which keeps the intolerant among us happy. Crucially, reports suggest that the loss of gluten and the lack of deadly carbon emissions haven’t impacted unduly on the finished product. As anyone who has ever chewed on a piece of gluten-free toast with the taste and texture of a bathmat will tell you, that is easier said than done.

When it’s time for something stronger, the Finns break out the Lakkalikööri. It’s a spirit based on the cloudberry, a frankly odd fruit that looks like a cross between a tomato and Sloth from 80s kids’ classic The Goonies. It’s a sweet and interesting drink, we’re told, but there’s very little else to report. It's the standard suspicious pale spirit – interesting for the first few then all of a sudden questions start being asked about whether reindeer can fly. Besides, it’s not like you can make it at home or anything like that.

That’s where Sima comes in. Finnish mead with a little bit of a sparkling edge, it’s a low-percentage hooch that combines honey, lemon, water, yeast and a plastic bottle. Chuck in a few raisins, and when they rise to the top a couple of days later you’ve got yourself… well, some cloudy and slightly suspicious booze. Perfect if you need a late gift direct from Santa himself, and, as this column has shown over the last year-and-a-half, you could do a whole lot worse.