Sauna in a 10,000-liter whiskey barrel: step inside this unique retreat!

What an impressive sight: barley fields swaying in the wind and next to them, the Koskenkorva distillery, a building rich in tradition.

“Unfortunately, I must admit that we don’t own the distillery, even though we share the same name,” Jaakko Koskenkorva chuckles and begins to recount the history of his family farm.

Jaakko’s ancestor Juho Kuhna bought the surrounding lands in 1870 and developed them into a notable grain and cattle farm.

“Here on the plains, it’s often said that land is stronger than blood, so the family named themselves Koskenkorva, after the farm. Juho’s son Mauno Koskenkorva continued to run the farm and worked as an inspector at the distillery next door at the same time. Mauno was my grandfather,” Jaakko explains.

The whiskey sauna is located in Koskenkorva village, Ilmajoki, Finland. The sauna belongs to the Koskenkorva family: Jaakko and Sari, their children Siiri, Taimi, Kaapo, and Hiski, and their Spanish Water Dog, Olavi.

The whiskey sauna’s stove is a high-quality Parra stove made in Teuva. Jaakko and his father Martti heat it with birch, pine, or alder sourced from their own forest. The benches are curved to match the barrel’s shape.

Taking a sauna is a thorough and diverse affair in these parts. In fact, the Koskenkorvas have four different saunas. Moreover, they’re not just for the family: guests can also enjoy the superb steam of each sauna by reservation.

In the Ikisauna, you can enjoy an atmosphere akin to a traditional smoke sauna, powered by an Iki stove. The Aitokiuassauna, which only needs to be heated up once for the entire sauna session, requires five hours of heating but can accommodate up to 30 people at a time. The mobile Ilmastosauna, made just for fun, is made from a recycled waste paper collection container, and its stove is also recycled.

After taking a sauna, the old ladle is dried on the terrace. It got its dark patina over the years in the smoke sauna.

The whiskey sauna, which will be heated up today, got its name because it served as a whiskey barrel at Alko’s (Finland’s national alcohol monopoly) Salmisaari factory until 1999. It could hold up to 10,000 liters of that noble beverage.

However, the exact age of the barrel is not known.

“The whiskey was used to make a drink mix called Lion Blend. When the Salmisaari factory closed, a man from Koskenkorva bought the barrel and built a sauna from it,” Jaakko recounts the history of the astonishing round building.

The whiskey barrel is made of oak, as is tradition. Its place of manufacture is believed to be France.

The foundation of the sauna was assembled on the site of an old outhouse. Before moving the barrel, the Koskenkorvas laid a gravel bed and placed sturdy foundation stones with a tractor as its base. The stones were taken from the stone foundation of the old house.

“One side of the barrel sauna borders the forest, which fits a sauna that we think has a somewhat mushroom-like shape. It’s as if it were a forest troll’s sauna,” Sari Koskenkorva says.

Usually, the family’s children or Jaakko diligently heat up the sauna, occasionally assisted by their overly enthusiastic dog Olavi. All that’s missing is for the furry friend to carry the kindling to the stove himself.

The time it takes to heat up the sauna is so short that the family often bathes in the whiskey on a whim.

The comforting warmth of the sauna immeasurably valuable, they say—so much so that they don’t even keep a thermometer in the sauna.

The Ikisauna’s door is from an old farmhand’s cottage. Its carvings were made by farmhands.

The peg coat racks on the Ikisauna’s porch were installed by Jaakko’s father. The Ikisauna was previously used as a smoke sauna.

Sauna-goers can cool off in a cold well, where the water temperature varies between eight and ten degrees Celsius. It is also Olavi’s favorite spot on the hottest summer days. In such cold water, sauna-goers can literally be refreshed. The sauna water isn’t heated up either, and even the garden shower water runs at well temperature.

“It’s not all shivering in icy waters here, because you do get to bathe in the large hot tub in the garden, whose water we heat with a wood stove. The children can start water fights in an instant, and sometimes Jaakko and I might also get carried away,” Sari says.

The family transports everything they need for the sauna with a milk cart—a remnant of the old cattle farm.

It’s quite a sight every time the Koskenkorvas have a sauna, as each family member wears striped sauna clothing designed to mimic the swimwear and wrestling outfits from the old days. They can also wear these garments when taking sauna snacks across the garden with their milk cart or lingering outside to admire the sun setting behind the grain fields.

Jaakko and Sari have already gotten dressed in their own sauna clothes.

“Our sauna sessions last as long as they last, and there’s no need for watches to measure time. The benches circling the whiskey sauna are made for unhurried chatting. We sit in a circle, talking and laughing, never being able to stay quiet. It seems that Hiski is the most enthusiastic sauna-goer among us, because he always stays on the benches the longest. He must have inherited good sauna genes from the Koskenkorva men,” Jaakko reflects.

Jaakko and Sari enjoying sauna snacks on the Ikisauna’s porch. The Ikisauna is the first of the four saunas, built in 1995.

According to a persistent local legend, there’s a pipe leading directly from the distillery to the villagers.

“As for our sauna, I have to dispel that legend, but such a pipe does indeed lead to the property itself,” Jaakko jokes.

The whiskey sauna is also used by Koskenkorvan Trahteeri, a company that offers event services and accommodation. All the saunas can be enjoyed on open sauna days. The path to the sauna is neatly paved, and in winter, the family puts rugs on the paths to prevent slipping.