Koskenkorva Viina

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A Koskenkorva bottle (50cl)

Koskenkorva Viina (also known simply as Koskenkorva, or Kossu) is the most common clear spirit drink (38%) in Finland, produced by Altia in the Koskenkorva distillery in Ilmajoki. The grain (barley) alcohol is produced using 200-step continuous distillation designed to produce high-purity industrial ethanol. The drink is produced by diluting this alcohol with spring water and a very small amount of sugar. As the alcohol is industrial ethanol made with continuous distillation, and does not require filtration, it is not a true vodka, and is never called such in Finnish. Instead, it is viina, simply "hard liquor", often used contextually similarily to the word "booze".

Besides the standard 38% near-unflavored there are several variants of Koskenkorva on the market, most notably the infamous Salmiakki Koskenkorva, better known as Salmiakkikossu or Salmari, which is salmiakki-flavored. Another variant is the same Koskenkorva with rye instead of barley, marketed under the same concept as Koskenkorva Viina Ruis. There also exists a vanilla variant called Vanilja Koskenkorva. The Koskenkorva Vodka is the same drink, but with 40% or 60% alcohol instead of the traditional 38%, as this brand is intended for foreign markets.

The Koskenkorva Viina bottle has a white label, with KOSKENKORVA VIINA in black, and a drawing of a scenery of fields with barns on them in light brown. The rye variant has a light brown field in pale, with the text RUIS. Salmiakki Koskenkorva has a completely different black label.

Kossu is at its best when it's cold, but can be also mixed for example with Coke (then it's called "Kossukola"), with Vichy mineral water ("Kossuvissy"), orange juice ("screwdriver") or Turkinpippuri (Salmiakkikossu, Salmari).

Finlandia Vodka, a vodka classified as "imported premium", is the same as Koskenkorva, except that sugar is not added. Altia sold this brand, intended for foreign markets, to the American Brown-Forman Corporation, but remains the sole producer of Finlandia Vodka at least until 2017.

The Altia Corporation is owned by the state of Finland. As an independent corporation, Altia would be free to relocate the distillery, if it were sold to a private investor. When the government considered selling the corporation, a popular movement grew to oppose this. The Koskenkorva distillery is the buyer of barley for the farmers in the area. Without the distillery, cultivating barley in the region would probably not happen.

Furthermore, Finnish people recognize Koskenkorva as one of the symbols of Finnishness. It would be unlikely that "foreign Koskenkorva" would be accepted by the Finnish home market. Ironically, many other vodka brands brandishing symbols of Finnishness, such as Leijona with the Lion of Finland or Suomi-Viina, are partially produced from Estonian or other foreign raw materials. Koskenkorva Viina, and its unsugared counterpart Finlandia Vodka are one of the few actually Finnish vodkas on the market.

[edit] Trivia

Koskenkorva is a small village - that belongs to municipality of Ilmajoki - in Finland that translates as "rapid's ear", or as "area near the rapids", but this latter (and, likely, more correct) version is only understood by people who know the dialect of the area.
The original name of the drink was Koskenkorvan viina — notice the genetive 'n' — "liquor of Koskenkorva". The name was changed recently into Koskenkorva viina "Koskenkorva liquor". Furthermore, even older labels had the original name in the partitive as KOSKENKORVAN VIINAA "(some) liquor of Koskenkorva".
Irwin Goodman's song repertoire included "Koskenkorvassa" ("In Koskenkorva"), where nearly every line is a double entendre interpretable as either a praise to either living in Koskenkorva village or being drunk of Koskenkorva Viina.
In the song The Land Of Ice And Snow, Timo Tolkki, guitarist and songwriter of the finnish heavy-metal band Stratovarius, describes Finland as the land "where Koskenkorva flows".