Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, lonkero, also called long drink, refers to a ready mixed drink made from

gin Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink flavoured with juniper berries and other botanical ingredients. Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe. The modern gin was modified in Flanders and the Netherlands ...

and, most commonly,

grapefruit The grapefruit (''Citrus'' × ''paradisi'') is a subtropical citrus tree known for its relatively large, sour to semi-sweet, somewhat bitter fruit. The flesh of the fruit is segmented and varies in color from pale yellow to dark red. Grapefru ...

soda, although other long drink flavours include

cranberry Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines up to long and in height; they have slender stems that are not th ...

raspberry The raspberry is the edible fruit of several plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the Rosaceae, rose family, most of which are in the subgenus ''Rubus#Modern classification, Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Ras ...

and

lime Lime most commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Bo ...

. In Finland, lonkero is available in stores and restaurants, where it can be on draught, bottle or can.

History

In 1952, Finland was preparing to receive increased numbers of visitors connected to the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

. As a compromise following the Finnish

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

(1919–1932), the country was living with a strict state-controlled alcohol policy. In order to help vendors facing a wave of foreign customers, the state allowed some liberalization;

Alko Alko Inc is the national alcoholic beverage retailing monopoly in Finland. It is the only store in the country which retails beer over 8% ABV, wine (except in vineyards) and spirits. Alcoholic beverages are also sold in licensed restaurants an ...

holiliike, the national alcoholic beverage retailing monopoly, introduced two brands of pre-mixed, bottled,

ready to drink Ready to drink (often known as RTD) packaged beverages are those sold in a prepared form, ready for consumption. Examples include iced tea (prepared using tea leaves and fruit juice) and alcopops (prepared by mixing alcoholic beverages with fru ...

long drinks. These were the Gin Long Drink (gin with grapefruit) and the Brandy Long Drink (

brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured ...

with

Pommac Pommac is the brand name for a carbonated soft drink made by Carlsberg Group, Carlsberg Sverige AB of fruits and berries. It is matured in oak aging barrel, barrels for three months. The name comes from "Pommery", referring to Champagne (wine), C ...

), then co-manufactured with

Hartwall Hartwall Ltd is a beverage company based in Helsinki, Finland. It was founded in 1836. Its drinks range includes Jaffa (soft drink)#Hartwall Jaffa, Jaffa, Pommac and Novelle waters. The company also owns the licence for manufacturing and sellin ...

. The latter product was discontinued in the 1970s, after which the term long drink became primarily associated with the gin-and-grapefruit beverage in Finland. Until Finland joined the European Union in 1995, the production of long drink was strictly controlled by the government. After joining the EU the government was no longer allowed to control the production, and this led to the birth of several long drink brands by different companies. Some experimented with using lemon, orange or other flavors instead of grapefruit. Others started manufacturing mild long drinks based on

fermentation Fermentation is a type of anaerobic metabolism which harnesses the redox potential of the reactants to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and organic end products. Organic molecules, such as glucose or other sugars, are catabolized and reduce ...

rather than on adding spirits. The same composition can be achieved by diluting a 10%

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the Fermented drink, fermented Apple juice, juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and Ireland. The United Kingdom has the world's highest ...

into 5% with water and gin and grapefruit flavors, and the 5.5% product can be sold in grocery stores. The 2000s saw the reintroduction of the brandy long drink, now manufactured by

Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas is a Finnish brewery and a soft drinks company based in Laitila. It was founded in 1995 and now the company owns several brands, such as: Kukko beers, OIVA ciders, Kievari beers and Wanhanajan Limonaadi lemonades. ...

Since 2000

In the Finnish state retail monopoly alcohol store

, since 2007

Hartwall Original Long Drink Hartwall Original Long Drink (stylised as oriGINal) is a brand of long drink produced by the Finnish brewery Hartwall. Hartwall first produced long drink in 1952 when Alko ordered Gin Long Drink and Brandy Long Drink from the brewery. Hartwall ...

has been the most popular product sold by the store, outselling

Koskenkorva Koskenkorva Viina (also known simply as Koskenkorva or ''Kossu'') is a traditional clear spirit drink (38%) in Finland, produced by Anora Group at the Koskenkorva distillery in Ilmajoki and bottled in Rajamäki (village), Rajamäki, Nurmijärvi ...

, one of the oldest Finnish spirits. Fermented lonkero beverages are sold in ordinary grocery stores under various names like "gin lonkero" or "grapefruit lonkero". The original mixed gin beverages were only sold at Alko due to higher alcohol content (5.5% alc/vol) and the fact that only Alko was allowed to sell non-fermented alcohol until 2018 when the alcohol legislation was changed.

Global marketing

Long drinks in the Finnish style have been commercially produced and marketed in other nations, including the United States, China, Japan, and Taiwan.

Name origin

The name "lonkero" comes from the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

term "

long drink A long drink or tall drink is an alcoholic mixed drink with a relatively large volume (>, frequently ). The phrase "long drink" is also sometimes used to refer specifically to the Finnish long drink, also known as a lonkero. A long drink will ha ...

", per the similar pronunciation to the word "long", but more adapted to the pronunciation of the

Finnish language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic languages, Finnic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official langu ...

, which prompted producers to use the word as part of their marketing. The Finnish word "lonkero" literally means "

tentacle In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...

" but the apparent double meaning is purely coincidental. As the drink is also popular in

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

, the Finnish name has been adopted into colloquial

Estonian language Estonian ( ) is a Finnic language and the official language of Estonia. It is written in the Latin script and is the first language of the majority of the country's population; it is also an official language of the European Union. Estonian is sp ...

as .

References

External links