The opportunity to go to Finland does not present itself that readily or often, however Avril and I had the opportunity to do just that with a ski trip to Finland. This also allowed us the opportunity to consume beer within the Arctic Circle. The Finns have a funny attitude to alcohol and are well known for drinking vast quantities of it but being sulky at the same time. It is also very expensive. Some joy was to be had at the supermarket and a range of ales were seen. The main beers that we saw were Karhu, Lapin Kulta and Koff. They have grading system based on Roman numerals representing different strengths:

I-beer 0,0% - 2,8%
II-beer 2,8% – 3,7%
III-beer 3,7% - 4,7%
IVA-beer 4,8% - 5,2%
IVB-beer 5,2% - 8,0%
III was seen most often although there was a bit of I about in the offie too.

On the first day, we decided to reward ourselves at Palovartija, at the summit of Levi Ski Hill. This place was a quaint wooden shack, but done in a rather touristy way, so in fact a very pedestrian array was available and I think I ended up having to drink Heineken or something. Still, the surroundings were very nice and it was outdoors, so not all bad!

On the third day, we stopped in at Alpine Cafe, the big restaurant at the bottom of the World Cup run, and sat outside on the terrace. It was alright, but again local beer was in short supply and I ended up having some sort of Heineken which was not particularly authentic. It was however quite a nice place to sit and drink. At the bottom of the ski runs, in the village is Tanja at Zero Point. This is essentially an indoor cafeteria and nothing to write home about. The beer selection was a little better here, solely because it was a bit larger.

Yet another cafeteria style place was visited on the Thursday. This was the Draivi at the foot of one of the runs at the side of the mountain. I distinctly remember ordering some piss weak Karhu here, and in the end we stayed for more than one. The views here are quite good too with people coming down the hill. Apparently the wine selection isn't bad either.

On the last day and finally an independent bar! An old Finnish lady runs an unnamed bar in a wooden shack at the base of Itärinteet at the foot of Lift 7b, with a limited selection of drinks and snacks. Pleasingly however, they do have authentic Finnish refreshments and so some ice cold bottles of Karhu/Lapin Kulta were consumed whilst sitting at a couple of picnic tables outside. The toilets were rather basic - individual wooden sheds with a 'drop'. Later on we found the relative civilisation but extreme blandness of another cafeteria, the Sivakka at the bottom of another of the lifts. This one was quite nice and we had a few more lagers from their bar.

After getting down the hill, we decided to go for some apres ski beers in the famous Wanha Hullo Poro pub. In contrast to many of the other places, this was quite lively and a little rough around the edges and the selection of beer was actually quite good. I ended up having a quite interesting Koff or Karhu that was darker than the by that time quite familiar offerings. It was however a decent place to, at last, have something that resembled a pub a little more closely. We went to Norway and Sweden by car the following day but alas, no ale stops presented themselves. Still, a reasonable trip and nice to sample some Finish ale.