Osmotar

Osmotar is the Finnish goddess of beer and a female beer brewer. She was responsible for creating the first beer with the help of foxes, squirrels and martens.

Osmotar appears in the various stories of the origin of beer. She also gives advice to one of the Daughters of Pohjola in Kalevala poem number 23.

In Kalevala

A stanza from the 20th poem in Kalevala, where Osmotar is brewing beer.

"Osmotar, oluen seppä,

Kapo, kaljojen tekijä,

otti ohrasen jyviä,

kuusi ohrasen jyveä,

seitsemän humalan päätä,

vettä kauhoa kaheksan;

niin pani pa'an tulelle,

laittoi keiton kiehumahan.

Keitti ohraista olutta

kerkeän kesäisen päivän

nenässä utuisen niemen,

päässä saaren terhenisen,

puisen uuen uurtehesen,

korvon koivuisen sisähän.

"Osmotar, the beer-preparer,

Brewer of the drink refreshing,

Takes the golden grains of barley,

Taking six of barley-kernels,

Taking seven tips of hop-fruit,

Filling seven cups with water,

On the fire she sets the caldron,

Boils the barley, hops, and water,

Lets them steep, and seethe, and bubble

Brewing thus the beer delicious,

In the hottest days of summer,

On the foggy promontory,

On the island forest-covered;

Poured it into birch-wood barrels,

Into hogsheads made of oak-wood.