Todd Alström
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Todd Alström
@toddalstrom.com
Founder of BeerAdvocate | alstrom.com
Having an early Monday beer (4,7% Helles Lager) at Helsinki Bryggeri, because why the hell not. 🍻🤘
June 23, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Reposted by Todd Alström
Congress, Now More Than Ever, We Need Your Cowardice
June 22, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by Todd Alström
Donald Trump just unilaterally bombed Iran. A masked gang is terrorizing our streets. America has rapidly devolved into an authoritarian state.

That's why, today, The Onion has purchased a full page ad in today's New York Times with a simple plea to Congress:

Sit back and do absolutely nothing.
June 22, 2025 at 2:36 PM
BRB. Going to kill slugs for extra beer money.
Cash for slime: Towns paying for dead slugs
This month, four Finnish cities are offering six euros per litre for dead Spanish slugs.
yle.fi
June 21, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Sunrise was at 03:53, sunset will be at 22:50, and last light at 00:42. That's roughly 19 hours of daylight here in Helsinki, Finland today.

But it's mostly cloudy and rainy, so I'm just going to declare kalsarikännit and call it a day.
June 21, 2025 at 12:37 PM
JD Vance is now manually blocked by 126,698 users and 770,831 users via lists, making him by far the top blocked account on Bluesky.
Congrats to @jd-vance-1.bsky.social for gaining 63,402 BLOCKS in the last 24 hours (and climbing)!

That currently puts the Vice President of the United States of America at the #2 most blocked account on Bluesky.

He'll probably reach #1 this weekend.

Source: clearsky.app
June 21, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Really enjoyed episode #422 of the @techdirt.com podcast w/ @mmasnick.bsky.social + @bencollins.bsky.social discussing the power of mockery, satire, and @theonion.com.

I even enjoyed when Ben sounded like a LinkedIn post:

"Lean into what you're good at...be unapologetic about it... embrace it."
Episode 422: The Political Power Of Mockery | Techdirt
Get more from Techdirt on Patreon
www.patreon.com
June 21, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Hyvää juhannusaattoa! ☀️🇫🇮
a group of people are dancing in a field in front of a large cross .
Alt: A group of weirdos dancing in a circle around a large cross made out of vines. What could go wrong?
media.tenor.com
June 20, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Touched some grass today. Kid insisted that we find and climb the hidden steps at Kaivopuisto. ❤️🇫🇮
June 19, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Someone just emailed me a list of 550+ recently closed breweries that aren't tagged on BeerAdvocate yet. Just to help. Amazing! But also damn.

UK+IE = 200+, US = 120+, AU = 50+, and then the rest are scattered across Europe and the rest of the world.

Applying updates now...
June 19, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Congrats to @jd-vance-1.bsky.social for gaining 63,402 BLOCKS in the last 24 hours (and climbing)!

That currently puts the Vice President of the United States of America at the #2 most blocked account on Bluesky.

He'll probably reach #1 this weekend.

Source: clearsky.app
June 19, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Happy Father's Day to those who celebrate on the 3rd Sunday in June.
June 15, 2025 at 10:20 AM
It's only June, but I'm already looking forward to winter in Finland.
June 4, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Martyn Cornell (RIP, 1952-2025) only wrote for BeerAdvocate magazine once, but I've very much enjoyed his work over the years. Here's his feature from issue #110 (March 2016):
Finding Mr. Fuggle: The Largely Mysterious History of England’s Two Greatest Hop Varieties
The history of British hop strains Goldings and Fuggles has long been shrouded in mystery. Will new evidence reveal the identities of the people who lent their names to this pair of influential variet...
www.beeradvocate.com
June 3, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Received the invoice for my recent day surgery here in Finland.

218,70 €
May 29, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Just deleted the Xe (currency exchange) app from my phone to save my sanity.
May 26, 2025 at 4:44 AM
Damn! Krusher, a 5.8% Extra Pale Ale brewed by Panimoyhtiö Tuju x Temperance Brewing and hopped with Krush, Mosaic, Columbus, and Centennial, is freaking awesome!

Light, crisp, fruity, floral, herbal, and dry. Should be a year-round offering.

Kippis! 🍻🤘
May 24, 2025 at 6:47 PM
From last night...

First post-surgery beer after nearly three weeks of no beer: Pumpattava Barbaari (5% Helles Lager) from Panimoyhtiö Tuju in Lappeenranta, Suomi!

Tuju has become one of my favorite breweries since moving to Finland. My dream is to do a collab with them one day.

Kippis! 🇫🇮🍻🤘
May 24, 2025 at 5:30 AM
"Norm!" Here's every single time that Norm Peterson walked into Cheers. (RIP: George Wendt)
Cheers | Every Time Norm Peterson Enters the Bar
YouTube video by Peacock
www.youtube.com
May 21, 2025 at 5:08 AM
Update: Took the bus to Porvoo on 12.05.2025 for a 2.5 hour surgery (more complicated than expected), but they let me pick and blend my own drugs during the procedure.

Entire thing will only cost me around 200€ + they covered 75% of my taxi back to Helsinki.

Still recovering, but doing good. 🤘
Heading to Espoo tomorrow for a pre-surgery appointment that was scheduled in September. It'll be interesting to find out the wait time for the actual surgery (non-urgent).

My experience with the Finnish healthcare system has be awesome so far. Very efficient. No complaints. Low to zero costs.
May 20, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Going to miss @kairyssdal.bsky.social on @marketplace.org's Make Me Smart podcast (his last show in next Thursday), but looking forward to where @kimberlyadams.bsky.social and @reema.bsky.social take the show.

Also glad to hear that Kai is exploring clear IPAs again.
Kai shares some news
And, another triple-A credit rating bites the dust.
www.marketplace.org
May 17, 2025 at 5:39 AM
This is a great listen from @npr.org’s Short Wave podcast for anyone trying to learn a second language as an adult (like me with Finnish).
Learning A Second Language As An Adult
Short Wave · Episode
open.spotify.com
May 16, 2025 at 5:16 AM