In Finland we have this thing called pussikalja, bag beer. Go to grocery store, buy beer, put them in a bag and go out to drink them. It’s like picnic, where there’s only beer on the menu. And no picnic blanket. And nothing to eat. No disposable tableware. Which makes bag beer an act for environment, if you want to see it that way.

Bag beer usually takes place in the evening. Remember that grocery stores, kiosks and gas stations are not allowed sell beer after 9 PM. A classic location for bag beering is a park, beach, dock or rocks by the sea. My favourite places would be Sinebrychoff park, Tokoi beach, Mustikkamaa rocks, and Parrulaituri dock in Kalasatama.

Then which beer is suitable for bag beer? Any beer! A bulk lager or an artisan craft beer, a non-alcoholic version or one of the stronger ones that they sell only in the state monopoly Alko. I picked some of my favourite micro breweries from the shelf of a Lidl: Koodari and Lomittaja (the intensively staring faces) by Ruosniemi Brewery are my favourites – not least due to the fact that the brewers are my friends and because they dare to have also female faces on their labels (and not in a sexual context). Mufloni by Beer Hunters is from Pori, like Ruosniemi, and I’ve tasted and liked their beers in micro brewery festivals. Sori Brewing is founded by two Finnish guys, and operating in Tallinn, Estonia, because the bureaucracy of Finnish alcohol practises got on their nerves. Geographically Sori Brewing is closer to Helsinki than the other two Pori-based breweries.

When you’re done with your bag beer, there are a couple of options on what to do with the empty bottles:

a) Do not break the bottles. Just don’t.

b) Take the bottles next to a public trash bin. Don’t ditch them into trash bin, just leave them outside. A bottle collector will be pleased.

c) Take the empty bottles back to grocery store, put them into recycling machine and enjoy the deposit.