Kyro Distillery

Sign reads: Isokyrön Dairy Cooperative

We drove from Jyväskylä to Vaasa with the intent of stopping at an old church in Isokyrö. The church has a unique series of wall paintings dating back to 1560. An unknown painter used ochre and smoky grey colors mixed with limewater. The three lines of paintings depict separate Bible stories. The top line shows the time from the creation to Moses breaking the tablets. The second line is about Jesus’s life and the third is the gospels and church festivals. In 1666 the vicar had them covered with whitewash because he considered them primitive and unorthodox. They remained covered for 200 years until they were revealed following their discovery in some old documents. Another story says they were again covered during World War II to prevent their desecration by invading Russians or Nazis. We were anxious to see the church and the paintings, but another opportunity intervened.

We saw a sign suggesting we stop for a tour and tasting at the Kyrö Distillery. Just a short detour off the main road took us to the distillery where we were greeted by Kelli. She informed us that an English tour would start in about half an hour, but then convinced her boss that she could lead us on a special tour if we agreed to a rushed version. We were totally on board with that as it was already almost 5:00 and we still had another 40 kilometers to our hotel.

It was here the boys came up with the idea

Kelli turned out to be the best tour guide. She has a great sense of humor about herself and the distillery and told stories about her boss we won’t repeat here in case he reads this. She started us with a bit of history of the region. During the Great Northern War between Russia and Sweden, a great battle was fought on this site. 20,000 Russians were surrounded by half that many Swedes and Finns who proceeded to wipe out this Russian army. Russia would eventually win the war, but the Finns remember this battle with pride. Kelli told us that they found a cannonball on the farm just recently, so the past still lives.

She then took us inside the distillery and shared its origin story. In 2013, five friends were sitting in the sauna wondering about the fact that while Finland is the leading consumer of rye bread in the world, they don’t use this grain to make whiskey. When the ideas still seemed good the next day, they decided that the derelict dairy across the river would make a good place to have a distillery. They set to work and soon had a single malt rye whiskey that won prizes.

You can purchase your own barrel

However, they needed some income while waiting the three years required for their rye to age so they decided to make some gin because it doesn’t need aging. After a search on Google and many trials they finally developed a recipe they liked which they entered in a London world competition. Their Napue gin earned first prize and orders for 100,000 bottles. Since they only had 3000 bottles on hand they overtaxed themselves to meet the demand while were doing everything by hand.

Today, they are fully mechanized with new equipment to meet the demand as they continue to produce the best gin in the world. Their rye is doing quite well, too. After we finished the tour, Kelli made us drinks and we continued to chat with her as we relaxed on their deck. Finnish law prevents them from selling bottles on site, but we promise to bring some home to share with our good friends.

Now they have a real bottling machine

Earlier bottling and labeling machine

Before leaving, we met Juha, who makes beautiful jewelry which he sells from his shop at the distillery. We learned that he has a degree from Washington University in St. Louis and has one relative living in Hillsboro, Oregon, and another who has a restaurant we promised to try in Seaside, Oregon, Finn’s Fish House. Cherie bought one of his lovely pendants.

The "seal" of approval

We then headed to our hotel near Vaasa, dinner at a nearby burger joint, and an attempt at a good night’s sleep in our non-air-conditioned rooms. It is a bit warm and muggy here by the seaside.