Finland's Lapin Kulta set to make mark in UK

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Finland's best selling beer, Lapin Kulta, looks set to grow its presence in the UK. By Tom InnesAlthough northern Finland has a well-maintained road...

Finland's best selling beer, Lapin Kulta, looks set to grow its presence in the UK. By Tom Innes

Although northern Finland has a well-maintained road network, between November and April plenty of the locals opt to travel by river. As they whizz up the frozen Tornio River on Ski-doos, not all of them realise that they are on top of a key raw material for Finland's best-known and best-selling beer.

Lapin Kulta, literally translated as the Gold of Lapland, is made with water sourced from the river which flows past the brewery in Tornio. The beer is said to be the favourite of Santa Claus, who spends the close season at his HQ in the Finnish sector of Lapland.

The importance of the water used in brewing beer is often underestimated. Purity is seen as key by many brewers, and since the Tornio originates from melting glaciers deep inside the Arctic circle, Lapin Kulta's source is purer than most.

Beer has been brewed on the site since 1873 and branded as Lapin Kulta since the 1960s. The brewery was purchased in 1980 by Hartwall, Finland's biggest brewer that also has significant brewing interests in Russia and the Baltic states. British brewer Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) has recently purchased a 24 per cent stake in Hartwall. In the future this could lead to a wider distribution push in S&N's UK stronghold, but at the moment Lapin Kulta is doing very nicely in this country thanks to the efforts of Amathus, which has raised sales to around 100,000 hectolitres and secured listings in a number of key venues, especially in London.

Lapin Kulta also has a strong presence in other Northern European countries, notably Sweden, where it is the best-selling export beer.

Although most people might assume that vodka is the major drink of Finland, the country ranks 10th out of 17 in Europe for beer consumption, with 78 litres per person not that far behind the UK (95 litres in seventh), though trailing the top three of Czech Republic (159 litres) Ireland (128) and Germany (126). This is in spite of the country's high rate of duty of 89 pence per litre of beer, second only in Europe to Norway (£1.40). The UK is fourth on that list at 60p per litre, just behind the Irish (62p).

Partly for duty reasons, most of the beer produced for the domestic market is either 3.6 or 4.5 per cent ABV, as opposed to that exported to the UK (5.2 per cent).

As well as the glacial water, Lapin Kulta utilises Hallertau hops and produces a crisp and fresh beer which is unpasteurised. The most distinctive feature of its production is that all the staff who work in the brewing process are women. The reasons for this are partly historic and partly, according to company sources, because of women's higher standards of hygiene. Men play their part at all other stages of the proceedings except the brewing, but its is undeniably a unique selling point, even if the daily grind of brewing doesn't instantly become glamorous just because women are involved.