Ægir Bryggeri is 5 years old

Located in scenic Flåm, in Sogn og Fjordane county on the Norwegian west coast, Ægir Bryggeri will celebrate its 5 year anniversary on Saturday June 30th, 2012. This post is a small tribute to a great brewpub and the people behind it.

Ægir Bryggeri - the original brewpub - is 5 years old this June

The Ægir story starts back in 2004, when American design consultant Evan Lewis and his Norwegian wife, Aud Melås, decided to move from California back to her native Flåm. It was the fulfillment of a dream for both of them; she wanted to run a hotel and restaurant business while Evan, who had been a homebrewer since the age of 17, wanted to turn his hobby into a full-time profession.

After a couple of years of constructions, the Flåmsbrygga hotel and restaurant opened up, followed in June 2007 by the brewpub, housed in a beautiful, Norse dragon-style, wooden building right next to the hotel.

Named after the brewer of the gods in Norse mythology, Ægir Bryggeri started out as a small 10 hl brewpub with a capacity of 1,400 hl beer per year. A simple bottling facility was installed too, allowing them to distribute Ægir beers outside Flåm. In those days craft beer was still in its infancy in Norway, even the best beer bars only sold craft beer on bottle, not on draft, so a bottling line was essential for wider distribution.

Ægir India Pale Ale @ Olympen

My first experience with Ægir didn't come until early 2009, when Olympen in Oslo received bottles of Ægir India Pale Ale. American in style with a fresh hop profile and a good malt body, it really impressed me. Later that year, more Ægir beers would turn up in the capital and I became particularly fond of the Sumbel Porter which was a rich and tasty porter that seemed "bigger" than its 4.7% abv should indicate.

In September 2009, Ægir Bryggeri was one of three breweries invited to the second Grünerløkka Øl & Mat festival in Oslo. Along with Nøgne Ø and HaandBryggeriet they made a huge impact on the visitors, many who had never tried Norwegian craft beer on draft before. I managed to get in a few words with Evan Lewis before the festival got too crowded, and he told me in glowing terms about his beautiful brewpub back in Flåm, tempting me to make a visit to see for myself.

Later that fall, Ægir launched the first commercially available barley wine in Norway, a rich and full bodied beer of 13.2% abv called Tors Hammer. It showed a nice balance between a rich malt body and a massive hop bitterness.

It was about this time that Evan realized he needed help to run the day to day operations at the brewery, so in October 2009 he employed Dave Gardonio, a brewer from Toronto, Canada, as his assistant brewer at Ægir.

Ægir brewers Alex Poulsen (left) and Dave Gardonio (right)
- at Håndverkerstuene Cask Ale Festival 2012

Now that Dave was there to help with the brewing, Evan was faced with another and more serious problem: Capacity! Demand was outpacing Ægir brewing capacity, so Evan had to make a tough choice - either start declining new orders, to keep existing customers happy, or somehow quickly increase the brewing capacity. Fortunately, he decided on the latter.

The easiest way for a small brewery to quickly increase its capacity is to contract brew their most popular beers at a larger brewery, like those famous Danish gypsy brewers Mikkeller and Beer Here. And, just like Mikkeller, Evan decided to have his most popular beers brewed at De Proefbrouwerij in Lochristi, Belgium. Starting in the spring 2010, De Proef took over the brewing and bottling of all the 4.7% abv ales (Sumbel Porter, Rallar Amber, Bøyla Blond) as well as the very popular Ægir India Pale Ale. Only draft beer and speciality beers were still brewed at the brewpub in Flåm.

On my first visit to Ægir, in May 2010, I was stunned by the great location of the brewery, right next to the cruise ship pier in Flåm, with mountains on three sides and the fjord on the fourth. I also fell in love with the beautiful architecture of the brewpub, both its Norse dragon style exterior and its rustic interior, where a massive, central fireplace brought my thoughts back to the typical Norse homes of a thousand years ago.

The central fireplace at Ægir brewpub in Flåm.

At the brewpub I got to parallel taste bottles from De Proef and beers brewed at the brewpub in Flåm. It was easy to tell the difference, both the color and flavor profile differed between the locally brewed India Pale Ale and the one brewed in Belgium. Even though Evan was worried about this difference, there was no way back and over the next two years the contract brews helped Ægir expand into new markets and get a more solid financial footing.

Ægir started exporting beers to Finland and they signed contracts with Norgesgruppen and with Coop to sell the Ægir 4.7% abv beers in their grocery stores. The government controlled Vinmonopolet chain of liquor stores also got interested and started selling the stronger Ægir beers, such as Tors Hammer, India Pale Ale, Natt Imperial Porter, Harvest Ale and more recently the Skumring Dubbel and Lindisfarne Scotch Ale in their shops.

Autumn 2010 was a busy time for Evan, first he drove to Oslo with a van full of beers for the third edition of Grünerløkka Øl & Mat festival at the tail end of August. With four beers on draft and many new bottled beers, including the Harvest Ale, his stand was a very popular one. Two weeks later he returned to Oslo for the first Cask Ale Festival in Norway, held at the Håndverkerstuene beer restaurant.

Evan Lewis behind the beer taps of the Ægir stand
- at Grünerløkka Øl & Mat festival 2010

Along with BrewDog, HaandBryggeriet and Nøgne Ø, Ægir attended with four different cask conditioned ales. Most visitors had probably never tasted cask conditioned ales before, so this festival really was a groundbreaking event.

On the second day, the festival ended with a sold out and highly successful Beer Maker's Dinner. Here each brewery had chosen a beer that the kitchen paired with food. Ægir chose a brand new beer, the Lynchburg Natt - a Bourbon barrel aged version of their awesome Natt Imperial Porter. This was the highlight of the night for me, perfectly mathcing the slow cooked pork dish it was served with.

Entering 2011, after a highly successful year of triple-digit sales growth (115%), Evan started toying with the idea of constructing a new and larger brewery in Flåm, to bring back the contract beers from Belgium. He had already found a plot of land for building a 510 m² warehouse, right next to the highway through Flåm, so he decided to expand the warehouse plans to 1,200 m² and incorporate a new brewery.

As work on the new brewery got under way, Ægir continued to contract brew their regular beers at De Proef while experimenting with new recipes at the brewpub in Flåm. One of these were inspired by an old German beer style: Roggenbier. This beer is made from a grain bill of about half barley malt and equal portions of wheat and rye malts. It was a surprisingly rich and fruity beer which took some getting used to but became a personal favorite spring 2011, when it was available on draft at several places in Oslo. Ægir also released a rye based pale ale, called RyePA, which sported a lovely hop aroma.

2011 saw Ægir brew some collaboration beers. Such as the Fenrir amber ale brewed at Amundsen Bryggeri & Spiseri in Oslo and a doppelbock, called Kollaborator, brewed together with Nøgne Ø. The latter was brewed both at Ægir and at Nøgne Ø, after the same recipe, and the two batches were released simultaneously to allow people to parallel taste them.

The malt silo in place outside the new Ægir brewery in Flåm.

By late fall the building complex for the new brewery and warehouse was ready to be used, though it would still take some months to get the brewery installed because the tanks, kettle and brewery equipment were being made in and shipped from Canada. The only part not made in Canada is the high tech bottling line which is of German make.

In addition to brewing beer, Ægir has also decided to play with distilled spirits and has invested in a 180-litre multi column still of German construction. With this still they produced a batch of aqvavit, bottled as Ægir Yggdrasil Akevitt in December 2011. Expect more to be made in 2012 and look for it at Vinmonopolet this fall.

Spring and early summer 2012, saw the new brewery come together in Flåm and the termination of the contract with De Proef. The new brewery can produce 280 hL of wort per day, up from 20 hL at the brewpub, or close to 8,000 hL per year. The limiting factor now is the number of fermentors and storage tanks, where Ægir starts out with six 70 hL fermentors and two 70 hL clearing (conditioning) tanks. To increase capacity, Ægir may in the future install up to three more 70 hL fermentors and two large 140 hL storage tanks, the largest that will fit inside the new building, which would bring the total capacity up to 35,000 hL per year.

Coinciding with the 5 year anniversary party, on June 30th, Ægir will officially open their brand new brewery complex in Flåm. Mayor in Aurland, Noralv Distad, will officiate the opening and Ægir has promised tours of the new brewery, entertainment, grilled food and beer tastings. So, if you're anywhere near Flåm at the end of June, do stop by at Ægir for the best birthday party this summer.

Ægir has come a long way in only five years and who knows what the next five will bring. I look forward to follow their progress and enjoy more great beer hailing from Flåm in the years to come.

Cheers & happy birthday, Ægir!

Ægir Sumbel Porter
- a delicious 4.7% abv beer

Photos from Ægir in Flåm: May 2010 and April 2012.

Ægir Bryggeri - beer for gods

Beautifully located between steep mountains at the innermost part of the Aurlandsfjord, a southern arm of the famous Sognefjord on the west coast of Norway, the small community of Flåm has attracted tourists for centuries and still is a popular stop for cruise ships going up the Sognefjord. Flåm is also the end station of the 20 km long Flåmsbana railway line, known as the most beautiful train ride in Norway, going between Flåm at sea level and the Myrdal Station on the Bergen Line at 866 m above sea level.

Flåmsbrygga where large cruise ships arrive in summer.

Besides its breathtaking natural attractions, Flåm also offers a world class brewery - Ægir Bryggeri - which this post will be about.

The small start

Back in 2004, American design consultant Evan Lewis and his Norwegian wife, Aud Melås, decided to move from California back to her native Flåm in Norway. It was part of a dream for both, she wanted to run a hotel and restaurant business while Evan, who had been a homebrewer since the age of 17, dreamed of turning his hobby into a profession.

Ægir brewery and pub in Flåm.

After a couple of years of constructions, the Flåmsbrygga hotel and restaurant opened up, followed in the summer 2007 by the brewpub, housed in a beautiful, Norse dragon-style, wooden building next to the hotel.

Named after the brewer of the gods in Norse mythology, Ægir Bryggeri was a small 10 hl brewpub with a capacity of 1,400 hl beer per year. A simple bottling facility was installed too, to allow Ægir to distribute their beer outside Flåm. In those days craft beer was still in its infancy in Norway, even the best beer bars only sold craft beer on bottle, not on draft, so a bottling line was essential for wider distribution.

The impressive growth

Thanks to some very good, high quality base beers, such as the crisp Bøyla Blonde Ale, the tasty Sumbel Porter and the American style India Pale Ale, and the great atmosphere of the brewpub, Ægir experienced a phenomenal growth and almost instant recognition in Norwegian beer circles - it has been voted the Best Brewpub in Norway every year since 2008 by the 100 thousand members of Norøl and Norbrygg!

Because of the rapid growth, Evan hired brewer Dave Gardonio from Toronto, Canada, to help out with the daily operations at Ægir. By the end of 2009, Ægir sold 60% of their beer outside Flåm and there was no way they could keep up with the growing demand at their essentially brewpub-sized brewery. They would either have to refuse more orders or come up with a plan for how to meet the growing demand.

In Early 2010, Evan decided to "outsource" his most popular bottled beers, to have them brewed on contract at another brewery, to save the Ægir brewing capacity for making draft beers and for experimenting with new beers. He chose to have his bottled beers brewed at De Proefbrouwerij, a world famous contract brewery in Lochristi, Belgium, that already had craft brewing legends such as Mikkeller and BrewDog as clients.

View of the central fireplace at the Ægir pub in Flåm.

On my previous visit to Ægir, in May 2010, they had just received the first bottles of India Pale Ale from De Proef and Evan admitted it was difficult to exactly reproduce the aroma and flavor of the Flåm brewed original. But after some tweeking and feedback to De Proef, green light was given and bottled Ægir beers started to arrive from Belgium.

And the exceptional growth continued, both the bottled beers and now also kegged beers took off like never before in Norway. New beer bars, selling craft beer on draft, appeared in all the bigger cities. A few restaurants even did the unheard thing of pairing dishes with beer on their food menus! In the span of 2010, Ægir beer sales grew by a staggering 115%!

Ægir Natt Imperial Porter - a personal favorite.

Thanks to contracting out the brewing of Rallar Amber Ale, Sumbel Porter, India Pale Ale and other Ægir fixtures, Ægir had time to play around with new recipes too, introducing new beers from their brewpub - such as the Roggenbier (draft only) and the tasty Natt Imperial Porter - a personal favorite. They also barrel aged the latter, creating the very popular Lynchburg Natt.

A new brewery takes shap

With their continued growth, it became obvious to Evan that they not only should but could, thanks to the financial strength of a popular brand, bring their bottled beer production back to Flåm. Plan for a 510 m² warehouse in Flåm was redrawn and expanded to a 1,200 m² building, to house both the planned warehouse, a brand new brewery, a small distillery and a new bottling line.

The new 1,200 m² Ægir Bryggeri complex in Flåm.

A plot of land on the banks of the Flåmselvi river, on the south side of the E16 highway through Flåm, was selected for the new brewery complex and construction work started in 2011. By the time of my recent visit, in April 2012, the large building was finished and the warehouse and a 180-litre distillery was already in use.

The new brewery will consist of a 35 hl four-vessel brewhouse from Newlands Systems Inc in Canada, with six 70 hl fermenters and two similar sized conditioning tanks, giving Ægir an initial brewing capacity of 8,000 hl per year - about six times higher than the brewpub. And they have enough space to expand the brewing capacity up to 35,000 hl/yr!

Outlooks for 2012

Most of the tanks and the bottling line have arrived in Flåm, but still awaits final assembly at the new brewery. Right now it looks like the brewery installation will take place in May 2012, so we may see the first Ægir beers roll out of the new brewery in time for their 5 year anniversary. Taking the production of their bottled beers back to Flåm, after two years of contract brewing in Belgium, would be a great way to celebrate five years in the brewing business.

In the meantime, the old brewpub is brewing at full steam to fill up orders from Vinmonopolet and other beer thirsty clients. Vinmonopolet, the Norwegian government owned chain of liquor stores, wanted a Norwegian brewed Abbey Dubbel style of beer and Ægir rose to the task, taking inspiration from their very popular Ægir Julebrygg (green label), and created Ægir Skumring Dubbel - a 7% sweet, spicy and fruity dubbel. Ægir will also get their Scotch Ale listed at Vinmonopolet later this year, so that's even more great news.

Ægir Skumring Dubbel - a tasty new beer.

In addition to brewing beer, Ægir is also experimenting with their own distillery. Expect more types of akvavit to be bottled and ready for Christmas (an important akvavit season in Norway) this year.

As mentioned above, this summer Ægir Bryggeri will celebrate their 5 year anniversary. Expect news of a big party to be published soon. If you're in Norway at the end of June you may wish to consider a trip to Flåm :)

Getting there

Visiting Ægir and Flåm may seem like a daunting task, it does look fairly remote when you look at a map of Norway. But it's truly worth it, the trip to Flåm will take you through some of the most scenic parts of Norway, with long fjords, waterfalls and steep mountain sides hiding deep valleys. 

View from the train on Flåmsbana.

As briefly mentioned, at the start of this post, there are several modes of transport that can get you to Flåm. Many visitors will come by the sea, on big cruise ships, and in that case you're all set. If you're in Bergen during the summer season you could also take the Fjord1 ferries, they connect many communities on the west coast and also stops at Flåmsbrygga.

If the sea is not your thing you still have two choices - either to come by rail or by road.

There are daily trains going between Oslo and Bergen, following the Bergen Line across the mountains and stopping at the Myrland Station. There you will have to get off and take the Flåmsbana train which departs hourly in the summer season and takes you down to Flåm in less than an hour.

If you decide on driving, it's a two and a half hour or 166 km long trip along the E16 highway from Bergen. From Oslo it's between 330 and 350 km, depending on the specific route you take, the longer (E16) is actually the shortest in time - taking about four and a half hours to drive.

The best time to visit is in May-June, before the onset of tourist season and the large cruise ships, or in the early fall when the tourists have left. Then Flåm returns to a tranquil place and the brewpub becomes less crowded.

Photo sets from Ægir and Flåm can be found at Flickr: May 2010 and April 2012.