Finland’s utility this week to hitch NATO is an indication of tense occasions. And for one brewery, that is an excellent cause to say “otan olutta” – Finnish for “I’ll have a beer.”
Olaf Brewing, a small brewery close to the Finland-Russia border, has rolled out a brand new lager known as OTAN, a play on the Finnish expression and the French acronym for the safety alliance it seeks to hitch.
“Our brewery and our hometown lies only 50 km from the border to Russia, and naturally after their attack on Ukraine you look to Russia being so close with new eyes,” Petteri Vänttinen, Olaf’s chief govt, mentioned in an e-mail to The Washington Post, including that he hoped Finland joins the alliance and that membership “will continue peaceful times in our country and city.”
The brewery launched the beer days earlier than Finland and Sweden submitted their functions to hitch NATO, an alliance of 30 international locations initially fashioned in 1949 to counterbalance the facility of the Soviet Union. Finnish membership would add 800 miles to the alliance’s border with Russia. Analysts say the bids of each Nordic international locations might additional pressure relations with Russia, which has opposed NATO’s enlargement alongside its borders.
For greater than 70 years, Finland and Sweden remained nonaligned for their very own causes. But when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, sentiment shifted among the many international locations’ leaders and residents. Seventy-six p.c of Finns now assist NATO membership, in line with a current ballot.
Vänttinen mentioned his beer’s reputation displays that change. Since the OTAN beer was launched on Monday, “our sales email has been flooded with orders from Finland and from abroad,” Vänttinen mentioned. “We sell the [beer] at our taproom in Savonlinna and people are driving long distances within Finland to buy it.”
Vänttinen mentioned he’ll proceed to promote the lager “at least for the summer season 2022.” In an interview with the Associated Press, Vänttinen described OTAN as having “a taste of security, with a hint of freedom.”
Vänttinen mentioned Savonlinna, the place his brewery is situated, has “always been at the borderlands between east and west” as a result of of its proximity to Russia’s western border and famous the Soviet Union’s 1939 invasion of Finland. “My 91-year old grandmother still remembers Savonlinna being bombed by Russians during [World War II] so I am well aware of the history of the city and country at war not very long ago,” Vänttinen wrote.
“So we think joining NATO is a good decision and after good decisions it is normal to have a beer, right?” he added.