Jaloviina Kaski review

Jaloviina aka “Jallu”, is a traditional Finnish cut brandy. The Finnish Jaloviina, also known as Brännvin is a cut brandy with strong taste and just a little bit of sugar. The brandy used for “Jallu” is French cognac. Altia, a Finnish government owned company, started making Jaloviina in 1932, ever since the prohibition ended. The traditional “Jallu” is sold over half a million bottles per year in Finland. Jaloviina and Jallu are registered trademarks owned by Altia. “Jallu” is especially good for making cocktails.

Jaloviina is an exceptional booze, a mix of cognac and spirit, which is manufactured only in Finland. Cut cognacs have a special place in Finnish history. Big part of the cognacs coming to Finland were cut ever since the late 1800’s.

Jaloviina Kaski is a special release by Altia. The traditional “Jallu” with a bit lower ABV level and with tar and smoke influence. Well, actually the smoke is hardly detectable but the tar influence is evident. Besides Jaloviina Kaski, there are actually three different Finnish cut brandys at the moment:

• One star Jaloviina: 38% alcohol per volume level
• Three star Jaloviina: 40% ABV
• Jaloviina Extra: 41% ABV (containing some older cognacs)

And Jaloviina Kaski has the lowest ABV level, with 30%. I really would have liked it better with similar kind of ABV as the 1 or 3 star Jallu, but it’s okay like this too. Just not as good as the traditional Jaloviina.

Scoring

I have to use the same scale as with beers, from one to ten. This is in no way the same kind of scale as it is with whisky. This is the scale for more mediocre booze. And in that scale, any kind of “Jallu” does well: