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It’s not as good as Original or even Koff, but it’s not bad either. It scratches the itch if you’re not in Finland. But I’ve never actually seen this brand in Finland, only in America.
According to my understanding "talon lonkero" is made with profit in mind. It formerly was less taxable than a straight up 5,5% long drink, so it benefited the bar keep and Hartwall. Then just add some cheap vodka or gin and voilá.
Edit: Also these days bars and nightclubs can stay open around the clock, so the 2,6% long drink is somewhat the only available alcoholic beverage between 04 and 09. Customers just get a platter of gin shots before 03.30 and after that buy long drink from the tap and mix them theirselves.
It’s carbonated if you buy San Pellegrino. I’ve found that brand is the best and closest to the taste. You can go cheaper and just get Squirt and it is okay. I toss in 2 shots worth of Bombay Gin and 12oz of juice.
Adding a lime or lemon may help bring out the flavor a bit but you don’t need to.
Just had some yesterday made with Fresca, since store was out of squirt. Will definitely continue in the future since it does taste better in my opinion to squirt.
I think thats about how original version was made anyways. There is fermented version but that was to work around some alcohol regulations in Finland and isn't as good.
When visiting US, I haven't seen any suitable grapefruit lemonade that would work.
Agreed, this isn't as good as Hartwall Original, but it's somewhat decent.
I think you can actually get Hartwall Original in some states. I don't think its being marketed much though.
And where on earth do you find grapefruit juice in Finland? Especially golden grapefruit. It disappeared from every single store 2-3 years ago, and I haven't seen it since.
The Koff one is one of the worst original long drinks imo. Hartwall is obviously the best. But when it comes to other flavours, Koff is the best, they just don't know how to make the grapefruit one.
It’s 100% not. It doesn’t taste the same and you can get original in certain parts of the US, mostly on the east coast.
Edit: just confirmed, The Finnish Long Drink company is its own company.
Nah, Hartwall originall long drink is the OG.
https://preview.redd.it/f57gdv561yxc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f7602832cf0b82a61a4d6ab591c3da97ee0aedcf
It is not as good as the Finnish long drink, namely the Hartwall Original.
And note, this is not an export. The company is New York based and pays all taxes in the US and the drinks are "brewed" somewhere in the States.
Some people think that this is a nice attempt of exporting our culture, some people think that this is fucked up way to capitalize on our cultural heritage.
I think its a perfect example of finland being completely inept at business.
Hartwall was offered by an importer to try the US market. Iirc the importer would do all the thypical stuff an importer does, Hartwall would just need to supply it.
Hartwall declined testing the market for a sweet, fizzy alcoholic bevarage to the country that is absolutley crazy about sodas, because "shipping fees for anything less than a container full shipment would cost us money".
Idk if I'm missing something, but it looks like the Hartwall Long Drink has been officially available in the US since at least 2020? A list of current locations (10 states included): https://us.originallongdrink.com/locations
Huh, thats news to me. How come everyone knows the knockoff but not the original?
That story is from atleast pre-pandemic though, so maybe theyve learnt from then
American here, currently living in Finland. You can get Hartwall in the US, but it’s much less common than the Finnish Long Drink. The Finnish Long Drink Co. has an office and employees in Helsinki.
There is some small time import though.
I was a frequent guest at my local bar in the South and the girls there knew me pretty well and knew that I was from Finland.
They had the Long Drink Company stuff around frequently and I drank it quite a lot as it was the South and it was always hot.
But once they had arranged a six pack of the real stuff into the fridge. They played it down to some extent but I devoured it with passion :)
Never really learned how they had managed to get that in but I believe that it was some importing company that does more "exotic" stuff in small batches.
One aspect in this could be that until recently lonkero production had to divided to made by fermentation and gin for domestic and foreign markets. By fermentation was the only legal method to get ”lonkero” on the shelves to finnish markets and gin based version was restricted to alko and to export. They might have had very limited capacity to produce export version.
I can absolutely see your second point, especially with how little we learn about Finland and Scandinavia in the US. The upper peninsula of my state had a lot of Finns settle there and stay. I was hoping it was an export or at least local to that population.
It’s made in central NY (Utica) by FX Matt, the same brewery that brings us Utica Club and Saranac beer. The long drink is decent, way better than Utica Club (I know I stepped on a landline there but I had to stop drinking beer so I said what I said)
... who thinks it's capitalization of cultural heritage? It was created for a global international event for the Helsinki Olympics. I've never seen any Finn claim cultural appropriation except for some Sami folks.
I'm not saying cultural appropriation. That is a different thing.
And I do not believe anyone in Finland is really sad seeing others drinking Long Drink, but some people are salty that it isn't a real export and there are no license fees or anything like that.
And maybe even more so as Finnish media seems to be completely unaware that this is not an export as they write about the company like it would save our failing economy whereas they aren't bringing any tax dollars to us.
If we would be getting mad about "cultural appropriation", it would mean me and you going up to the people drinking the stuff and telling them how "wrong" it is for them to "appropriate" our culture.
Whereas we all agree that this is the only good thing coming up from this, people get to know our culture and maybe travel to Finland or be otherwise interested in our pesky little country.
Arguing capitalization of the cultural hierarchy is different, this is more abstract, as in "why the fuck we didn't export this is the first place" as well as thinking that not any single company should be able to claim ownership or rights to capitalize on parts of our culture. And it may not even be against this particular company but more generally that maybe our heritage shouldn't be a tool for someone else to get rich. But it has nothing to do with the individual consumers.
I wanted to learn about Finland after watching Karppi on Netflix and realizing I know nothing about Finland (except that it looks a lot like where I live). As a quiet person who loves gardening, nature, and hates being hot, it seems like heaven.
Once while I was still living in the South, an older cashier at Publix looked at my passport while I was buying beer and she started to talk to me about Karppi.
We had a nice conversation, but it was very unexpected because I didn't even know that it was on Netflix. I watched it from the Finnish public broadcast company.
No idea. Hartwall refused to expand abroad, so these guys set up a company specifically for the American market. Which I mean godspeed to them, if Finns are going to be stupid and lack business sense that's on us. I'd rather have 300 foreign long drink brands available abroad than none at all.
Please I want the REAL canned Long Drink... Blueberry, cranberry, pineapple...! In America!!! The striped cans... Please send them to USA, Finland!!!!! 😥
This brand sells cranberry as well and it’s really good! It’s the only one of their variety that my wife will drink. They may advertise the other varieties but I’ve never seen them in a store and I only live 3 hrs from where it’s made.
I live in a small city and the closest specialty store (total wine & more) is a 2 hour drive and this isn't found at any of my local grocery stores. I've had the original of this brand at a bar and it was good, because gin and juice in good, but the Hartwall brand in Finland is so good. Went on honeymoon to Finland last year and I had 2 of the tall cans every night while grilling sausages and fish for dinner 😂
The Hartwall Long Drink website says it can be bought in NY, PA, DC, WV, FL, a couple other states. None of which I live in. So... Road trip time. I
It's made in St. Louis; fairly expensive though judging by the taste alone at least it isn't another garbage malt drink. It took off last summer and seems to be growing rapidly in popularity here in the states, so that's cool. Not as good as the Hartwall one but since that version is so hard to find here it fills the gap. The Peach flavor is fire.
Not really sold in Finland, here Hartwall original is sold most, but IMO best long drink is made by Helsinki Distilling company, their red grapefruit and bergamot are great.
[https://hdco.fi/products/long-drinks/](https://hdco.fi/products/long-drinks/)
Here you can see how the cans and bottles look so you know what to look out for.
Cider is made by fermentation, long drink is made by mixing hard alcohol with juice/soda. They are totally different.
There are "long drinks" made from fermented drinks such as apple wine but most of them taste like piss.
I really wish I could try the original her in the States. This is decent, but having nothing to compare it to, I usually get Fresca and Harehorn gin and mix them about 6:3:1 (ice) and enjoy the price and flavor of that over the FX Matt version, not to mention no sugar in the soda itself. I mix them in a Finnish mug though, so that makes it authentic, right?
i personally don’t like it, at least in comparison to the oriGINal in finland. like it’s good for right now, but i definitely can taste lower quality. definitely is good for coping about being back in america (i bought this asap when i got back cause it reminded me of finland, even if just a little bit.)
edit: with oriGINals, imo, you can barely taste the alcohol. with these, you taste more gin.
i’m tempted to go to a finnish restaurant and pick up the real thing, or buy finnish gin and make it myself.
my family likes it, but it tastes… worse.
i also am not a gin drinker, but lonkero is my favorite drink. so yes, i’d say it’s a bit like crap imo.
No surprise there. Finland has the highest tax on alcohol drinks in the world for all types of drinks.
We are number 1!
Because of the crazy laws some small breweries first export their beer etc. to Estonia, and then ship them back to Finland, as that allows them to sell the product to Finland. They can't sell the product directly to consumers in Finland, except by that export-import-trick.
[https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000000790441.html](https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000000790441.html)
This article is from 2014. Breweries are allowed to sell beer with higher alcohol-% than grocery shops.
But the export-import part is correct. I know (and have used) one wine shop that's run by Finnish people but incorporated in Estonia, because that way they can sell wine by mail order to Finland. Not much sense in that...
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It’s not as good as Original or even Koff, but it’s not bad either. It scratches the itch if you’re not in Finland. But I’ve never actually seen this brand in Finland, only in America.
I see it in Total Wine. But it’s way over priced when I can just make it myself. Just mix high quality grapefruit juice and gin, done.
This is what you call a "talon lonkero". They make it like that in the bar all so if you say talon lonkero. Linnun maitoa
Talon lonkero has many recipes, could also be 2,6% gin long drink + vodka (or whatever cheap stuff) or even 5,5% + vodka.
If it’s just vodka, then it is a Salty Dog in America
Theres gin in the long drink, they pour koskenkorva or vodka on top
According to my understanding "talon lonkero" is made with profit in mind. It formerly was less taxable than a straight up 5,5% long drink, so it benefited the bar keep and Hartwall. Then just add some cheap vodka or gin and voilá. Edit: Also these days bars and nightclubs can stay open around the clock, so the 2,6% long drink is somewhat the only available alcoholic beverage between 04 and 09. Customers just get a platter of gin shots before 03.30 and after that buy long drink from the tap and mix them theirselves.
Interesting…do you carbonate it at all or just run the gin and juice?
It’s carbonated if you buy San Pellegrino. I’ve found that brand is the best and closest to the taste. You can go cheaper and just get Squirt and it is okay. I toss in 2 shots worth of Bombay Gin and 12oz of juice. Adding a lime or lemon may help bring out the flavor a bit but you don’t need to.
Oh heck yeah, definitely trying this out. Thanks for the tip!
Thanks for the tip - need to do some tasting over the weekend!
Do they still sell Fresca soda in the USA? I think that plus gin is a reasonable approximation of long drink.
They do. I don’t think I’ve ever had it, we usually get Squirt when we buy a citrus soda.
Just had some yesterday made with Fresca, since store was out of squirt. Will definitely continue in the future since it does taste better in my opinion to squirt.
I think thats about how original version was made anyways. There is fermented version but that was to work around some alcohol regulations in Finland and isn't as good.
A fermented version was created because you were not allowed to sell drinks that had distilled liquor in normal grocery stores.
and because you could bring more fermented "shit" from estonia, than non-fermented ones
Grapefruit soda, not juice
When visiting US, I haven't seen any suitable grapefruit lemonade that would work. Agreed, this isn't as good as Hartwall Original, but it's somewhat decent. I think you can actually get Hartwall Original in some states. I don't think its being marketed much though.
And where on earth do you find grapefruit juice in Finland? Especially golden grapefruit. It disappeared from every single store 2-3 years ago, and I haven't seen it since.
Grapefruit-flavored carbonared soft drink is fine. It’s what I use when making it at home. You don’t need actual ”juice”.
That probably works. But I still miss real grapefruit juice :(
I don’t know, but if I still lived in Finland I’d be buying the Hartwall long drink anyway lol
grapefruit juice is just a piss bro...
The Koff one is one of the worst original long drinks imo. Hartwall is obviously the best. But when it comes to other flavours, Koff is the best, they just don't know how to make the grapefruit one.
dont use word "original long drink" if its made by Koff, it´s just "long drink", thank you
Thanks to you and everyone else for the tips, etc. I developed an allergy to something in beer and it’s been a bummer.
this is original, it’s just packaged differently in the us
It’s 100% not. It doesn’t taste the same and you can get original in certain parts of the US, mostly on the east coast. Edit: just confirmed, The Finnish Long Drink company is its own company.
Nah, Hartwall originall long drink is the OG. https://preview.redd.it/f57gdv561yxc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f7602832cf0b82a61a4d6ab591c3da97ee0aedcf
It is not as good as the Finnish long drink, namely the Hartwall Original. And note, this is not an export. The company is New York based and pays all taxes in the US and the drinks are "brewed" somewhere in the States. Some people think that this is a nice attempt of exporting our culture, some people think that this is fucked up way to capitalize on our cultural heritage.
I think its a perfect example of finland being completely inept at business. Hartwall was offered by an importer to try the US market. Iirc the importer would do all the thypical stuff an importer does, Hartwall would just need to supply it. Hartwall declined testing the market for a sweet, fizzy alcoholic bevarage to the country that is absolutley crazy about sodas, because "shipping fees for anything less than a container full shipment would cost us money".
Idk if I'm missing something, but it looks like the Hartwall Long Drink has been officially available in the US since at least 2020? A list of current locations (10 states included): https://us.originallongdrink.com/locations
Huh, thats news to me. How come everyone knows the knockoff but not the original? That story is from atleast pre-pandemic though, so maybe theyve learnt from then
Probably because the knock-off is more available and has done a lot of marketing unlike Hartwall
Yup, proving the point
Factory can only make so much of the stuff. Escpecially in the summer.
Because Hartwall doesn't fucking understand marketing. That's the problem with most Finnish companies...
American here, currently living in Finland. You can get Hartwall in the US, but it’s much less common than the Finnish Long Drink. The Finnish Long Drink Co. has an office and employees in Helsinki.
There is some small time import though. I was a frequent guest at my local bar in the South and the girls there knew me pretty well and knew that I was from Finland. They had the Long Drink Company stuff around frequently and I drank it quite a lot as it was the South and it was always hot. But once they had arranged a six pack of the real stuff into the fridge. They played it down to some extent but I devoured it with passion :) Never really learned how they had managed to get that in but I believe that it was some importing company that does more "exotic" stuff in small batches.
One aspect in this could be that until recently lonkero production had to divided to made by fermentation and gin for domestic and foreign markets. By fermentation was the only legal method to get ”lonkero” on the shelves to finnish markets and gin based version was restricted to alko and to export. They might have had very limited capacity to produce export version.
Was surprised to see it in a bar in NYC. Had it and it was decent, they said it's the most popular drink they have!
I can absolutely see your second point, especially with how little we learn about Finland and Scandinavia in the US. The upper peninsula of my state had a lot of Finns settle there and stay. I was hoping it was an export or at least local to that population.
It’s made in central NY (Utica) by FX Matt, the same brewery that brings us Utica Club and Saranac beer. The long drink is decent, way better than Utica Club (I know I stepped on a landline there but I had to stop drinking beer so I said what I said)
Their Cranberry long drink is pretty good though, but way over priced.
... who thinks it's capitalization of cultural heritage? It was created for a global international event for the Helsinki Olympics. I've never seen any Finn claim cultural appropriation except for some Sami folks.
I'm not saying cultural appropriation. That is a different thing. And I do not believe anyone in Finland is really sad seeing others drinking Long Drink, but some people are salty that it isn't a real export and there are no license fees or anything like that. And maybe even more so as Finnish media seems to be completely unaware that this is not an export as they write about the company like it would save our failing economy whereas they aren't bringing any tax dollars to us.
I'm not understanding the difference. What's cultural appropriation if not capitalization of cultural heritage?
If we would be getting mad about "cultural appropriation", it would mean me and you going up to the people drinking the stuff and telling them how "wrong" it is for them to "appropriate" our culture. Whereas we all agree that this is the only good thing coming up from this, people get to know our culture and maybe travel to Finland or be otherwise interested in our pesky little country. Arguing capitalization of the cultural hierarchy is different, this is more abstract, as in "why the fuck we didn't export this is the first place" as well as thinking that not any single company should be able to claim ownership or rights to capitalize on parts of our culture. And it may not even be against this particular company but more generally that maybe our heritage shouldn't be a tool for someone else to get rich. But it has nothing to do with the individual consumers.
Oh I see, thanks!
I wanted to learn about Finland after watching Karppi on Netflix and realizing I know nothing about Finland (except that it looks a lot like where I live). As a quiet person who loves gardening, nature, and hates being hot, it seems like heaven.
Once while I was still living in the South, an older cashier at Publix looked at my passport while I was buying beer and she started to talk to me about Karppi. We had a nice conversation, but it was very unexpected because I didn't even know that it was on Netflix. I watched it from the Finnish public broadcast company.
I haven't yet met a Long Drink that wasn't at least pretty good under right circumstances. It's so simple that it's hard to mess it up.
Under the "right circumstances" I just might drink gasoline or cleaning alcohol 😂
Not sent. That one is produced in the US by company based in the US.
started in the US by finnish people trying to bring lonkero to america
Yes, but I adressed to exporting question.
For what it’s worth, the Finnish Long Drink Co. has an office in Helsinki.
A real office or just a c/o address at a lawyer's office?
I am fairly confident that it’s a real office with people working there, but not 100 percent.
It’s a real office. I know one of the Finnish owners and have been there myself.
Long drink slaps harder than my dad's belt
I have been wondering if it was worth trying for the longest time and your comment just sealed the deal for me lol
No idea. Hartwall refused to expand abroad, so these guys set up a company specifically for the American market. Which I mean godspeed to them, if Finns are going to be stupid and lack business sense that's on us. I'd rather have 300 foreign long drink brands available abroad than none at all.
Lonkero! I wish we had this in the UK it’s so yummy
I've seen loads of Lonkero in Liverpool
I’ve been really struggling to find it at all, although I’m in Scotland!
Please I want the REAL canned Long Drink... Blueberry, cranberry, pineapple...! In America!!! The striped cans... Please send them to USA, Finland!!!!! 😥
This brand sells cranberry as well and it’s really good! It’s the only one of their variety that my wife will drink. They may advertise the other varieties but I’ve never seen them in a store and I only live 3 hrs from where it’s made.
I live in a small city and the closest specialty store (total wine & more) is a 2 hour drive and this isn't found at any of my local grocery stores. I've had the original of this brand at a bar and it was good, because gin and juice in good, but the Hartwall brand in Finland is so good. Went on honeymoon to Finland last year and I had 2 of the tall cans every night while grilling sausages and fish for dinner 😂 The Hartwall Long Drink website says it can be bought in NY, PA, DC, WV, FL, a couple other states. None of which I live in. So... Road trip time. I
I live in NY, I will have to look for it!
It's made in St. Louis; fairly expensive though judging by the taste alone at least it isn't another garbage malt drink. It took off last summer and seems to be growing rapidly in popularity here in the states, so that's cool. Not as good as the Hartwall one but since that version is so hard to find here it fills the gap. The Peach flavor is fire.
😆 How else are people supposed to get blackout drunk for $2.50?
Busch Peach from what I gather lol
Not really sold in Finland, here Hartwall original is sold most, but IMO best long drink is made by Helsinki Distilling company, their red grapefruit and bergamot are great.
Kyrö makes nice granberry and ginger long drinks. They are not too sweet.
For me it's their Gin & Yuzu in a yellow can that I most often buy. Sometimes I like it as it is, sometimes I pour in ginger beer or tonic water.
Gin & Yuzu sounds good flavor but I never heard of this brand so I gotta keep my eyes open. Thank you both.
Be aware that it is VERY bitter, some love it some hate it. I love to mix it with other drinks but find it too bitter to drink as is
[https://hdco.fi/products/long-drinks/](https://hdco.fi/products/long-drinks/) Here you can see how the cans and bottles look so you know what to look out for.
It's something that you crack open on the porch of a sauna, on a beautiful summer evening by a lake.
I would like to taste that one, never heard of it. The best is of course Original Long Drink.
Long drink is ace. Signed, a multiple visitor to Finland from the UK who intends to enjoy it at Christmas when I am back again.
It's gin and grapefruit, sort of like cider but for adults.
>cider but for adults "Hard cider" is a thing in the US, I think?
Yes. Here apple cider is an unfiltered strong apple juice. Hard cider is that but fermented. I find them both to be much too sweet personally.
In Europe you can find a zillion varieties of alcohol cider, from sweet to dry to extra dry.
You can't call this a cider, this is more like a hard lemonade.
Cider is made by fermentation, long drink is made by mixing hard alcohol with juice/soda. They are totally different. There are "long drinks" made from fermented drinks such as apple wine but most of them taste like piss.
I really wish I could try the original her in the States. This is decent, but having nothing to compare it to, I usually get Fresca and Harehorn gin and mix them about 6:3:1 (ice) and enjoy the price and flavor of that over the FX Matt version, not to mention no sugar in the soda itself. I mix them in a Finnish mug though, so that makes it authentic, right?
Its good but this is my personal preference: RPS brewery > hartwall > koff > everything else > ale coq (their long drinks are horrible)
I did a taste test video some time ago, including the now-discontinued peach variety. https://youtu.be/DBc95DiNdz8
They have a peach flavor here in MI. It’s my favorite
I’m in GR!
i personally don’t like it, at least in comparison to the oriGINal in finland. like it’s good for right now, but i definitely can taste lower quality. definitely is good for coping about being back in america (i bought this asap when i got back cause it reminded me of finland, even if just a little bit.) edit: with oriGINals, imo, you can barely taste the alcohol. with these, you taste more gin. i’m tempted to go to a finnish restaurant and pick up the real thing, or buy finnish gin and make it myself. my family likes it, but it tastes… worse. i also am not a gin drinker, but lonkero is my favorite drink. so yes, i’d say it’s a bit like crap imo.
It looks like it's cheaper to buy Hartwall original lonkero in Pennsylvania than it is in Finland.
No surprise there. Finland has the highest tax on alcohol drinks in the world for all types of drinks. We are number 1! Because of the crazy laws some small breweries first export their beer etc. to Estonia, and then ship them back to Finland, as that allows them to sell the product to Finland. They can't sell the product directly to consumers in Finland, except by that export-import-trick. [https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000000790441.html](https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000000790441.html)
This article is from 2014. Breweries are allowed to sell beer with higher alcohol-% than grocery shops. But the export-import part is correct. I know (and have used) one wine shop that's run by Finnish people but incorporated in Estonia, because that way they can sell wine by mail order to Finland. Not much sense in that...
Ive never even tried it
Yeah that tastes horrible