Oslo Beer City 2013

While 2012 was the year the beer scene really exploded here in Oslo, with good craft beer appearing in many old pubs across the city and new dedicated beer pubs and brewpubs opening up, things have not slowed down since my last post on this topic half a year ago. So here's an update from spring 2013.

A glass of Scream Ale at the newly opened Crowbar 

Beer Palace
Address: Holmens Gate 3
Opened: 6 April 1993, renovated fall 2012 and reopened 14 November 2012
Type: Beer bar
Taps: 23 (about half with craft beer)

After extensive renovations and some structural changes, including rebuilding the bar upstairs, Beer Palace reopened in November 2012 with an extended draft beer menu and even more focus on beer related events, including beer tastings. The place now sports more than twenty tap lines and usually half of those are with good quality craft beer. The selection of bottled beer has also been expanded, with bottles from all over the world in beer coolers both upstairs and downstairs.

But I'm not all happy with the new layout. Two long shuffleboards and the extended bar take up very much space on the second floor, reducing the seating capacity and making it difficult to enter or leave on busy nights, when everyone flocks to the bar and blocks the staircase.

Still, the dedication to good beer is evident and I've enjoyed some really great craft beer on draft since they reopened, such as Nøgne Ø Two Captains IPA, Ugly Duck Imperial Vanilla Coffe Porter, Emelisse Rauchbier, Boulevard Pale Ale and Ægir Lindisfarne.

The upstairs bar the Beer Palace with shutters down

BRU: Vulkan Pub
Address: Maridalsveien 13 (next to Mathallen)
Opens: Spring or summer 2013
Type: Beer pub

This pub is owned and will be operated by the people behind Ølakademiet, who also run the Øltorget pub in Mathallen and the old Akersberget restaurant just up the hill. The pub was originally scheduled to open back in November 2012 but work has taken longer than expected, with practically no progress over the winter.

A March 7 status update on Facebook said that work has resumed and that the pub will offer about 300 types of beer, both international and Norwegian, of high quality. But no opening date has been posted yet for what will probably become the smallest pub in Oslo, only 19 square meters large!

Crowbar, The Crow or Kråka bryggeri
- the hot new brewpub in Oslo

Crowbar Bryggeri
Address: Torggata 32
Opened: 13 December 2012
Type: Brewpub
Taps: 20

There is still some confusion about its name, which is listed as Crowbar & Bryggeri in official registers, because people working there and the glassware says "Crow" while the employee t-shirts actually has "Kråka" (Norwegian for crow) printed on them. Anyhow, the brewpub, which had an unofficial opening last December, officially opened up on January 13, 2013, with a big party and the cutting of the ribbon performed by Petter Nome - the leader of the Bryggeri- og drikkevareforeningen (Norwegian trades union for breweries).

When I first heard about it, I got the feeling that they would only have 5-6 beers, just their own, on draft. That turned out to be far from the truth, the Crow has an amazing (for Oslo) 20 tap lines! On any given day, the lowest numbers - usually from 1 to 5 or 6 - will be with their own beer, though the owner, Erk Potur, hopes they can stock up enough kegged beer to actually have taps 1-10 with their own beer. The rest of the tap lines carry guest beer from craft breweries in Europe and the US. I've already enjoyed draft beer from Rogue Ales, Thornbridge, BrewDog, Evil Twin, Mikkeller, Nøgne Ø, Ægir and HaandBryggeriet at Crowbar!

Because the place is still very young, it may not have settled yet and there are some issues they're still working on, such as the food part. But it seems they'll keep a focus on grilled food, ordered and served on the second floor, where guests get a good view of the micro brewery and bar below.

Brewmaster Dave Gardonio is still experimenting with recipes to create a good line-up for the brewpub, he has made a couple of very good Experimental IPAs (with three different high alpha hops) as well as a German-style Roggen bier (rye beer), a very tasty strong red ale and a strong mild.

After just a few months in the business Crowbar attracts many beer thirsty visitors and is usually packed during weekends, so the best time for a visit is early in the week or shortly after the daily 3 pm opening.

Opening night at Crowbar with an impressive 20 draft beers

Grünerløkka Brygghus
Address: Thorvald Meyers Gate 30 B
Opened: 8 October 2010
Type: Gastropub
Taps: 8

Finally, after three years of talk, this popular pub on Grünerløkka will soon start brewing its own beer. According to a recent Facebook entry and this Ølportalen blog post, they will take over the old 700 liter test brewery from Lervig Aktiebryggeri in Stavanger. It will be installed in the backyard of Villa Import, owned by Jan "Mr Grünerløkka" Vardøen who also owns the Grünerløkka Brygghus. By the way, this backyard is also where the annual Grünerløkka Mat- og Mikrobrygg festival has been held since 2009.

Up until now their "house beers" have been brewed by selected Norwegian craft breweries, such as Nøgne Ø (Kjell Pop Single Hop IPA) and Kinn Bryggeri (Løkka Haust og Løkka Svarthumle). Now, with the help of former Nøgne Ø and Møllebyen Mikrobryggeri brewer, David Dudek, the plan is to install the new brewery and have it up and running before the summer. Of course, there are many pitfalls so we can just cross our fingers and hope that the installation goes smoothly.

The backyard where Grünerløkka Brygghus will install their
brewery is also used for an annual food & beer festival

Nydalen Bryggeri & Spiseri
Address: Nydalsveien 30A, Nydalen
Opens: Summer 2013
Type: Brewpub & brewery

Nydalen Bryggeri & Spiseri is a brand new brewery that will open up in the old Bølgen & Moi restaurant in Nydalen, Oslo. It has the same owners as the Amundsen Bryggeri & Spiseri brewpub, and the plan seems to be to use the new brewery more as a production brewery because of its larger (1000 liter) capacity.

The brewery will be in the capable hands of brewmaster John Hudson, currently at Schouskjelleren Mikrobryggeri, who will start working in Nydalen in May. His first task will be to install the new brewery and get it operational, which may take a couple of months, but by mid summer the Nydalen district of Oslo should have its own brewery.

As the "Spiseri" part of the name suggests, the brewery will also have an attached pub where you can enjoy the local beer along with some food.


Schouskjelleren Mikrobryggeri
Address: Trondheimsveien 2, Grünerløkka
Opened: 1 October 2010
Type: Brewpub
Taps: 14

After two and a half years and 250 batches of beer, Schouskjelleren brewmaster John Hudson has decided to move on, to start brewing at the new Nydalen Bryggeri. His replacement, Luca Saccomandi, is an Italian brewer who worked for brewery Le Baladin when he got the offer to brew in Norway. He'll move to Oslo in April and take over the brewing at Schouskjelleren when John Hudson moves on in May.

How the change of brewers will affect Schouskjelleren brewpub is hard to tell, hopefully the new brewer will keep making some of the old classics - such as Thunderbear Stout, Empress of India and Garden of Eden - while also making his own, signature beers.

Before John Hudson leaves Schouskjelleren he'll brew one last collaboration beer, with René Hansen from Det Lille Bryggeri in Denmark. Hansen will come to Oslo on March 26th, but what kind of beer he plans to brew is still a well kept secret. Currently, Schouskjelleren has another of its collaboration beers on draft - batch 250, a 7.5% heather blossoms and heather honey scotch ale brewed with Dave Gardonio from Crowbar & Bryggeri.

The owner of Schouskjelleren, Nevzat Arikan, is also working on plans for a new 1000 liter production brewery next to Schouskjelleren, but this brewery will probably not be operational until the fall or late 2013. In the meantime, Schouskjelleren may continue to brew and bottle some of their beer at other breweries, like they did in 2012 with Empress of India (brewed at Herslev Bryghus in Denmark) and the Juleøl (brewed at Dugges in Sweden).

The vaulted brick ceiling of the beer hall at Schouskjelleren

The Whisky Bar
Address: Rådhusgata 28, Kvadraturen
Opened: 12 May 2010
Type: Restaurant, beer and whisky bar
Taps: 12

While already a fine beer and whisky bar when it opened up summer 2010, The Whisky Bar has just upped the stakes by installing a new 7-tap beer tower, bringing the total number of draft beers up to a dozen (plus some industrial lagers I decline to include in the count).

According to the bartender I spoke with, they sell a lot of craft beer from breweries such as Ægir, HaandBryggeriet, BrewDog and Magic Rock, so there is a surprisingly good rotation of kegs - when I was there they served BrewDog Punk IPA, HaandBryggeriet Fyr & flamme, Ægir India Pale Ale, Svaneke Den Udødelige Hest Porter, Magic Rock Dark Star Stout and Lexington Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, to name a few.

And because their customers keep asking for more exciting draft beer, The Whisky Bar plans to install another 7-tap beer tower later this spring. That is, if they can find space for it in the small bar. So keep an eye on The Whisky Bar!

The new 7-tap beer tower at The Whisky Bar.

Here are the links to the original post and the update.

Enjoying Polar Beers in Tromsø

Tromsø may not be known for its beer scene, though many Norwegians will know it as the hometown of the only major brewery in northern Norway, but when I got the opportunity to visit this small city, some 300 kilometers north of the Arctic circle, I jumped at the chance.

Tromsø harbor with Tromsø Bridge seen in the distance.

Tromsø
With a population of 70 thousand, Tromsø is the largest city in northern Norway and the second largest in the world north of the Arctic circle (after Murmansk in Russia). It's located at 69.9 degrees North on the island of Tromsøya, in the Tromsøysundet strait.

Though human habitation can be traced back several thousand years, Tromsø remained a small and insignificant settlement until it received its city charter from King Christian VII in 1794. At that time only about 80 people lived on the island!

The young "city" quickly rose in importance. The Diocese of Hålogaland was created in 1804 and Arctic hunting, from Novaya Zemlya to Canada, started up around 1820. By 1850, Tromsø was the major center of Arctic hunting, overtaking the former center of Hammerfest, and the city was trading from Arkhangelsk in Russia to Bordeaux in France.

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Tromsø was also used as a port to the Arctic by famous polar explorers such as Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen and Umberto Nobile who often recruited their crew here. In 1927, the Northern Lights Observatory was founded in Tromsø, starting the tradition for polar and atmospheric studies for which the University of Tromsø is well known today.

During World War II, the Norwegian parliament and royal family escaped from Oslo and ended up in Tromsø, making it the de facto capital of free Norway for three weeks until they had to flee the country in June 1940.

Since 1960 the city has been connected to the mainland via the Tromsøbrua bridge, which has become a major landmark seen from all over the city. Not far from the mainland end of the bridge you'll find the most famous building in the region, the Arctic Cathedral built in 1964-65.

Today, most tourists come to Tromsø either for the midnight sun, during the short summer months, or to ski or go on a northern lights safari during the long, dark winters. Many of them arrive on the famous Hurtigruten ferries that go between Bergen and Kirkenes. Because few other places north of the Arctic circle has such a good infrastructure of roads, airport and ferry connections, along with hotels to stay at, Tromsø has also been proposed as a future Olympic Games site!

In the 19th century, Tromsø received the nickname "Paris of the North", probably because the visitors from the south of Norway and from Europe found the citizens fairly civilized and even sophisticated. One of the civilized things the city has offered its visitors for 135 years is its own beer: Mack.

View of downtown Tromsø from Tromsø Bridge.

The Mack story
It was in this frontier boom town of the mid 19th century that German baker Georg Mack settled down to start a bakery. In 1842, the year the very first pilsner was brewed in Bohemia, his wife bore him a son, Ludwig Markus Mack. While it was Georg's wish that his son would someday take over the bakery, and Ludwig did actually apprentice as a baker, he was destined for something else.

At the time Tromsø lacked one of the most essential things that even the smallest German village had: A brewery. So in the 1870s, the young Ludwig started thinking about founding a brewery in Tromsø. He managed to raise some money and put all of his own savings into the project and in the autumn of 1877 he could proudly declare his L. Macks Ølbryggeri for opened. It was and still is the northernmost brewery in the world, a fact the brewery proudly displays on their beer bottles and glasses.

What is now known as Mack Bryggeri is still a family owned brewery, one of only three in Norway, led by Harald Bredrup - the 5th generation. Until August 2012 the brewery was located on Storgata in the heart of Tromsø, but the need for expansion, combined with local politicians who would not allow the brewery to modify its historical buildings, forced Mack to find a new location. They got an offer they couldn't refuse from the municipality of Nordkjosbotn, about an hour by car south of Tromsø, where a brand new brewery was constructed and opened up in September 2012. Thus, after 135 years Mack Bryggeri severed the ties with its birth city and moved some 70 kilometer to the south.

The Ludwig Mack Brygghus micro brewery.

While most of the old brewery buildings in Tromsø have been sold, some of it will be used for the 2014 Chess Olympiad, the Ølhallen brewery tap and a new micro brewery (the old test plant), named Ludwig Mack Brygghus, will remain at the Storgata location.

Naturally, Mack is still a dominant force on the Tromsø beer scene, as most of the draft beer served here are from Mack. To check out the selection and varity I had singled out three places beforehand: Ølhallen, Blå Rock Café and Skarven Kro.

Ølhallen
Storgata 4
Opening hours: 10-18 (Mon-Fri), 09-18 (Saturday) and closed Sundays.

The oldest pub in Tromsø, Ølhallen, actually celebrated its 85th anniversary on the first night of my visit, with a special beer session in the evening led by a journalist from a local newspaper. During this event they served the micro brewed Mack Judas Yeast on draft, a unique beer brewed with both wheat ale and pilsner yeast.

Ølhallen, which is Norwegian for "beer hall", was founded in 1928 as the official brewery tap for Mack Bryggeri and located in the basement of a neoclassical building erected in 1890 as home for the brewery founder, Ludwig Mack.

A clawless and stuffed polar bear
- on guard at Ølhallen in Tromsø

Normally, only open from 10 am to 6 pm, Ølhallen feels like a "brown" city pub and in many ways it is. The interior is slightly worn, from the clawless, stuffed polar bear to the brown, wooden furniture. And when I arrived at noon one day, it seemed the regulars were of the slightly worn type too. It's still a nice place to visit, with lots of polar memorabilia on the walls and a corner table named in honor of an old regular who also happen to be one of the most famous huntsmen from the 20th century - Henry Rudi (1899-1970).

For the moment, Ølhallen only has the regular Mack lager beers and a few types of bottled beer - including a few from Nøgne Ø, so it's not a place to get your beer muscles flexed. However, this is supposed to change. According to the bartender, they will soon start to carry draft beer from the 1000 liter micro brewery next door - Ludwig Mack Brygghus.

All in all I found Ølhallen to be a fairly nice and quiet place, where you can always find a spare table to sit down and read a newspaper while enjoying a draft beer. The main problem is the opening hours and the fact that they don't serve any food, which means you've got to squeeze in a visit between lunch and the 6 o'clock closing time - not much time to enjoy the atmosphere and (hopefully soon) more exciting micro brews.

If you exit Ølhallen and go past the micro brewery you'll find the best beer shop in Tromsø, named Kjeller 5, which is also located in an old Mack Bryggeri building.

Blå Rock Cafe
Strandgata 14
Opening hours: 11:30-01:30 (Mon-Thu), 11:30-03 (Fri & Sat) and 13-00:30 (Sun)

The appropriately named Blå Rock Café in Tromsø.

Founded in 1991 and located in a pale blue painted, wooden building in Strandgata, Blå Rock Café ("blå" means "blue" in Norwegian) has the best selection of draft beer of the pubs I visited in Tromsø. As the name implies, this place is all about rock, attracting a fairly young and often rock, punk or metal oriented audience, from time to time they even host concerts there. So, the place may feel a bit noisy for a quiet conversation, but the atmosphere is very laid back and the bartender knowledgeable about beer - so it's certainly worth a visit if you're looking for good beer.

Unlike Ølhallen, Blå Rock Café is open all night, closing well after midnight all days. On the night of my visit, they served Marston's Oyster Stout, Erdinger Hefe Weizen and a really fresh Samuel Adams Boston Lager on draft, in addition to the regular draft beers from Mack. They also had a micro brew on draft, from the test plant at Mack brewery: Mack Vinterland - a fruity and well made 6.5% IPA. On bottle, Blå Rock Café had some thirty types, including Flying Dog Gonzo and a number of not so exciting British ales.

I really enjoyed the rock atmosphere of the place, listening to Iggy Pop or Velvet Underground, while drinking some good beer. Another plus compared to Ølhallen is that Blå Rock Café also serves hot food, so you can have your lunch or dinner there.

Skarven Kro
Strandtorget 1
Opens: 11:00 every day

Vertshuset Skarven near the harbor in Tromsø.

While neither Ølhallen nor Blå Rock Café will impress the casual visitor with their bottled beer menus, there is a place at Strandtorget that will: Vertshuset Skarven. This is a multi faceted business spread over two floors in two different buildings, a yellow wooden building and, closer to the quay, a white brick and plaster building from 1908. The yellow building houses Biffhuset and Skarven Bar while the white brick building houses the Arctandria seafood restaurant on the second floor and a nice pub on the first.

This pub, named Skarven Kro, has a simple lunch menu and only Mack beer on draft, but on bottle I counted more than 70 different types; from great breweries like De Molen and Emelisse in the Netherlands, Struise and Cantillon in Belgium and Mikkeller and Amager in Denmark. Of Norwegian craft beer they sported a great selection from HaandBryggeriet, Nøgne Ø and Ægir. Even two days were not enough for me to get through all the interesting bottled beers!

The downside was that the guys working in the bar didn't really have knowledge about or even interest in the beer they sold, so I could not ask for any recommendations with the fish casserole I had one day or with the bacalao the next. Skarven Kro is also the most touristy of the places I visited in Tromsø, even though many locals come here too, so both Ølhallen and Blå Rock Café felt more authentic. Still, with such a nice bottled beer menu I can't avoid but recommend a visit to this pub, if you know your beer.


The bartender at Blå Rock Café, when asked about other good beer pubs in Tromsø, suggested Circa in Storgata. But I never got the chance to visit that place. Still, my first visit to Tromsø really whetted my appetite for more - both sightseeing, food and micro brews. I will surely be back, when the Ludwig Mack Brygghus is up and running. And when the weather is a bit warmer than in February :)

The micro brewed Mack Vinterland IPA
- full of tropical fruit flavors.

For more photos from my Tromsø visit see this Flickr collection.

Grünerløkka mat- og mikrobrygg festival

On August 24 and 25, 2012, Grünlerløkka mat- og mikrobrygg festival was held for the fifth year running. After a humble start in September 2008, on the pavement outside Parkteatret, this has become a very popular and well known food and beer festival in the Norwegian capital. This blog post is a brief report from the opening day this year.

Early visitors at the 2012 festival, before it got crowded.

The festival
Except for the first year, when the festival was held outside Parkteatret, the festival is held in the back yard of Café Vespa, in Københavngata 4, just north of Sofienbergparken in Oslo. It's arranged by the Jan Vardøen-owned Grünerløkka Brygghus gastropub.

As its Norwegian name implies, "mat- og mikrobrygg" meaning "food and micro brew", this festival is all about good quality food and beer. However, because of limited exposure to the food selection this year (there were looong lines by the time I became hungry) I will keep to the "micro brew" part of the festival in this report.

This year saw a couple of changes at the festival. First and foremost, you couldn't pay with cash or credit card at the beer or food stalls anymore, but had to use tokens. The tokens were purchased at the entrance, for 300 NOK you got 10 tokens. This is a sensible change, because it should take less time at the head of a queue to transer two tokens for a beer than to find the correct amount of cash or even use a credit card to pay. However, the execution was a bit flawed since you had to return to the entrance and line up with those waiting to get in. Thus, it could easily take 10-15 minutes to obtain more tokens, which ruined the gain of quicker service at the beer stalls.

The other change was that the organizer, learning from last year, had erected big party tents to let visitors take cover in case of rain. And this proved to be a good precaution, because we got some rain this year too! It was also said that the gate would close when the festival area was full, to avoid the crowded atmosphere and long queues of last year. This turned out to be the case, but in my view they did so a bit late because the festival area was already very crowded by the time I saw the big gate closing. This had several bad effects.

• The line of people for the restroom was constantly long, forcing you to plan well ahead so that you could line up in time to relieve yourself. Or else you would have to do like some did, run for the park! 

• The crowded area also made it near impossible to sit down to eat or get some rest, since all the seating space were taken. And those seated always ran the risk of getting beer poured down their necks from people bumping into each other as they tried to pass behind the back of those seated.

Aside from these issues, the festival was a resounding success with a record number of craft breweries attending, nine in all bringing draft beer as well as bottled beer. Visitors could choose from more than 40 beers on draft and a lot more on bottle, including many new and rare beers. It was certainly enough to keep even the most hardened beer geek occupied for two full days.

Here follows an alphabetical list of the attending breweries.

Amundsen Bryggeri & Spiseri
Oslo based brewpub Amundsen Bryggeri & Spiseri, which opened up in February 2011, attended the festival for the first time this year. They brought along three draft beers, the 4.7% hefeweizen Hveteøl, the 4.6% Pale Ale and the brand new 7% black IPA called Black Bird. The latter was a really smooth and hoppy black ale.

BrewDog
Scottish punk brewers BrewDog had stand at the festival, manned by their importer - Cask Norway, serving some of the most interesting beers at the festival. On draft they offered Punk IPA, Hardcore IPA and 5 AM Saint, all excellent beers but these days fairly common. Even in Oslo. It was the bottle menu that attracted my attention, with three novelties: Abstrakt AB:10 - an 11.5% imperial brown ale aged on wine barrels from Malaga, International Arms Race - a 7.5% Flying Dog collaboration beer,  and Dog A - a 15.2% imperial stout brewed with vanilla, coffee and naga chili!

Hornbeer
Like BrewDog, nobody from the Danish brewery Hornbeer were actually present at the festival. Instead, their Norwegian importer Beer Enthusiast manned a stand serving some draft beers from Hornbeer, including the tasty 11% Caribbean Rumstout and the 9.3% Hophorn black IPA.

HaandBryggeriet
From Drammen, west of Oslo, HaandBryggeriet has attended all of the five festivals so far. This year Ole Richard Lund and Rune Eriksen represented the brewery, and they brought along some well known draft beers, including the popular 6.2% Fyr & Flamme IPA and the massive 11% Odin's Tipple imperial stout. On bottle they brought along two new ones, the smooth and nicely roasted 6.5% Sundvolden Porter (only released in 3360 bottles) and the 8.2% Fatlagret Porter - a porter aged on akevitt barrels, just like the old Akevitt Porter.

HaandBryggeriet Sundvolden Porter
- brewed for Sundvolden Hotel

Kinn Bryggeri
Based in Florø in Sogn og Fjordane, on the west coast of Norway, Kinn Bryggeri is less than three years old but already among the top breweries in Norway. Like last year, founder and brewer Espen Lothe showed up with a number of outstanding draft beers. Including the 9.5% Bøvelen abbey tripel and the 10% Svartekunst imperial stout.

Midtfyns Bryghus
Danish brewery Midtfyns Bryghus attended because they had another engagement in Oslo. Its owner, Eddie Szweda, manned the stand, serving several great draft beers. Including the awesome X Porter (originally brewed with Menno Olivier from De Molen) and the brand new 5.9% American Pale Ale with Wasabi and Ginger - fittingly served with a sushi taster!

Nøgne Ø
The oldest and most successful Norwegian craft brewery, Nøgne Ø, is also a veteran of this festival, and this year they brought several new beers with them. On draft they offered a potent pilsenser, the 9% Imperial Python Pilsner, as well as the 6.5% White IPA - a collaboration with Bad Attitude brewed in Switzerland. They also served the new batch of Pumpkin Ale from tap, which tasted very different from the one last year and seemed a bit thin.

Sundbytunet
Bryggerikjelleren at Sundbytunet is the domain of the old Nøgne Ø brewer, Frank Werme. Since opening up less than a year ago he has already attended several beer festivals and made a collaboration beer with Italian brewer Teo Musso from Le Baladin. At Grünerløkka, Frank brought with him several excellent draft beers - including the 6.7% Emmigrant IPA and the 6.5% Vinterporter. The last one is a gem of a porter, smooth and tasty.

Ægir Bryggeri
Based in Flåm in Sogn og Fjordane, on the west coast of Norway, Ægir Bryggeri is a veteran at this festival, attending for the 4th year running. This year, founder Evan Lewis stayed home to attend matters with his brand new brewery complex which opened up for the 5 year anniversary in June. This year, Ægir brought along a brand new beer, called Dirty Blonde. From what I heard, this 4,7% ale was made by aging the regular Bøyla Blonde Ale in an old Lynchburg bourbon barrel. The result was fruity and good. They also offered Sumbel Porter on draft and a new batch of Lynchburg Natt on bottle.

It can also be mentioned that Brooklyn Brewery had a stand, serving one draft beer.

Concluding remarks
Grünerløkka mat- og mikrobrygg festival is still the best craft beer festival in Oslo, 2012 had an even more impressive list of breweries and beer than last year. Its friendly atmosphere and good location makes it a great place for people to come and discover beer.

The 2012 festival also revealed some problems that have to be addressed.

1. The current location has become too small for such a popular festival, causing crammed conditions and long queues at the few restrooms available. It would be nice to have seating space for all visitors.
2. Tokens should be sold at more than one location, or at least be moved away from the entrance, allowing those already inside to more easily purchase tokens.

But these are minor issues. Overall, the festival was arranged in an excellent manner by the people at Grünerløkka Brygghus and I send my warmest thanks to everyone involved - also the brewers and breweries. Thank you very much for this year!

Ægir Dirty Blonde on draft at the festival.

More photos from the festival can be found at Flickr.

Midtfyns Bryghus at Amundsen

On Thursday August 23, 2012, Erik Nielsen and Eddie Szweda of Midtfyns Bryghus visited the brewpub Amundsen Bryggeri & Spiseri in Oslo, to brew a special beer and give a beer tasting. This blog post is a brief summary of that eventful day and night.

Midtfyns Bryghus at Amundsen in Oslo.

Midtfyns Bryghus
Midtfyns Bryghus was founded in late 2004 in Brobyværk, on the island of Funen (Fyn) in Denmark. The first beer was released in March of the following year, but the brewery struggled to make a profit - hardly selling for a million Danish crowns in its first year of operation. It wasn't until Eddie Szweda took over the reins in November 2006 that things started to get better for the small brewery.

Eddie Szweda is a US expat who is married to a Danish woman and has lived in Denmark for the last 19 years, speaking the language fluently. When he took over the brewery, he changed the way Midtfyns Bryghus brewed their beers and completely revamped the beer lineup, introducing a number of exciting new beer styles. Over the next few years, Midtfyns Bryghus would consistenly be named one of the top craft breweries in Denmark, and they've won the "Årets ølnyhed" (best new beer of the year) competition, hosted by the Danish Beer Enthusiasts, three times:

- For 2007 with Midtfyns Imperial Stout
- For 2009 with Midtfyns Chili Tripel
- For 2010 with Midtfyns Rough Snuff

No other Danish brewery has won this competition three times.

Brewing Rough Snuff
Rough Snuff is a remarkable beer, in many ways. It was originally created by home brewer Erik Nielsen and made with real snuff (snus). Eddie Szweda got to taste it and liked the beer so much that he asked Erik to brew a full batch at Midtfyns Bryghus, which he duly did. And it turned out really well. However, shortly after being voted the best new beer in 2010, Rough Snuff was banned by the Danish authorities because it was brewed with real snuff, which is illegal according to EU regulations. Thus, a Rough Snuff II was created, brewed without the use of snuff, and this is the beer you'll find in most beer shops and bars today - not the long gone original.

Tom Alfred Øimo and Erik Nielsen brewing up to something

This legal business was the reason why Erik Nielsen and Eddie Szweda decided to make a trip across Skagerak and visit Oslo in August 2012 - to brew Rough Snuff according to the original recipe, in a non EU country. That latter part is crucial here, the beer in itself is illegal to brew in the European Union, but it can be brewed elsewhere and still be sold within the EU.

On August 23, the brewer at Amundsen, Tom Alfred Øimo, opened up his 500 litre brewhouse to welcome Erik Nielsen for a memorable Rough Snuff brewing session. Using real snuff. This batch should be ready in time for the Oslo Ølfestival in early October, but it will not be bottled only sold from keg.

Erik Nielsen, by the way, now has his own contract brewery, Ø-Bryg.

Beer Tasting
Eddie Szweda is an experienced beer tasting leader, according to beerticker.dk he holds some 160 beer tastings annually and has so far had more than 10 thousand people at his tastings! So, it was only natural to add a beer tasting event to the program at Amundsen. Thus, with Rough Snuff fermenting happily a few feet away, some fourty guests turned up for the Midtfyns Bryghus beer tasting at 7 o'clock.

Eddie Szweda of Midtfyns Bryghus

The plan was to taste five different beers, three from keg and two from bottle, but because two of the kegs had gone bad we ended up with only one beer on keg - the Wasabi and Ginger pale ale - plus an extra beer on bottle, the Gleipner:

• Midtfyns American Pale Ale with Wasabi and Ginger (5.9% pale ale)
• Midtfyns Ale (6.5% ESb)
• Midtfyns Chili Triple (9.3% abbey tripel)
• Midtfyns / De Molen X Porter (8% imperial porter)
• Midtfyns Gleipner (9.2% black ipa)
• Midtfyns Barley Wine (10%)

For some reason or other, the largely Norwegian audience felt more comfortable with English, so despite being fluent in Danish - a sister language to Norwegian - Eddie Szweda held the beer tasting in English but with Danish terms liberally used throughout. He started by telling us about the brewery, that Midtfyns Bryghus makes batches of 800-1100 litre and that all of their bottles have been manually filled and capped. At most they can bottle 9,000 bottles per week. That's craft brewing for you!

Another thing he was very proud of was the beer brewed for the 100 year anniversary of the Danish Blind Socity. It was a brown ale which came in bottles with blank labels, they carried not text whatsover. Except for braille. Thus, a normal seeing could not tell what kind of beer it was, only a blind with knowledge of braille!

Midtfyns Wasabi and Ginger Pale Ale

The beer tasting started with a brand new beer, the American Pale Ale with Wasabi and Ginger. Eddie Szweda got the idea for this beer while enjoying a meal of sushi with a tasteless Japanese lager, which didn't really stand up to the food. After playing around with some ingredients he ended up with a mildly hopped American pale ale, spiced with wasabi and ginger.

The beer poured a cloudy orange color with a white head. It had a mild spicy aroma, with a green apple fruitiness and hints of ginger. It had a nice, light mouthfeel with a soft carbonation. The taste was fruity too, with a mild ginger flavor and some herbal spiciness. The wasabi added a mild hot touch at the very end, but very subtle. This is a surprisingly balanced and good ale, and it does go really well with sushi.

As for the other beers at the tasting, Midtfyns Ale, Gleipner and Barley Wine were of the more average kind, but still pleasant to drink. The highlights for me, in addition to the wasabi and ginger pale ale, were the Chili Tripel and the X Porter.

The Chili Tripel is an awesome abbey tripel, with all the right fruits and yeasty spices but with a surprisingly warm touch from the chili at the very end. The high alcohol is well concealed making this a very drinkable beer. Eddie Szweda told us that the Chili Tripel is their best selling beer, accounting for 22% of Midtfyns' annual sales.

The X Porter, originally made with dutch brewer Menno Olivier from Bouwerij de Molen, after the Copenhagen Beer Festival 2010, is a silky smooth imperial porter with a lovely "dark aroma" of roasted malts, licorice and chocolate and a rich taste of coffee, cocoa and mild caramel. It's a rich and delicious beer. 

At the end of the night, Eddie Szweda walked around answering questions and asking what people thought of the various beers he had presented during the tasting. I can safely say I had a great time, enjoying some excellent beers from Midtfyns.

Thank you very much to Amundsen, Beer Enthusiast, Erik Nielsen and Eddie Szweda for making this a great night!


More photos from the brewing session and beer tasting can be found at Flickr.

Norwegian beer festivals

That the beer revolution is well under way in Norway is beyond doubt, the last few years have seen a number of small scale breweries start up all over the country, the major cities have witnessed an explosion of good beer bars and brewpubs (see Oslo Beer City for an illustration), beer tastings and beer maker's dinners are hosted frequently and, what this post is about, a number of great beer festivals have started up or will debut this fall.

True, we have had beer festivals for a number of years, but of the tasteless kind (pun intended), sponsored by the big lager breweries competing for recognition and higher market shares by releasing cool looking brands which taste exactly the same as all their other beers - nothing. No, the type of festival I'm referring to is of a new kind, where small scale breweries present a wide selection of beer styles to an audience interested in exploring new flavors. That's what a beer festival should be all about, not cool posters or fancy packaging.

Head brewer Jens Maudal of HaandBryggeriet
- at the 2008 beer festival at Parkteatret 

The first beer festival

The first serious beer festival in Oslo (and in Norway, that I'm aware of) took place on the last Saturday in September 2008, outside Parkteatret at Grünerløkka. Only one brewery attended, HaandBryggeriet, but it was the first time anyone in Oslo had been treated to Norwegian craft beer on tap.

And what a debut it was! HaandBryggeriet had brought along kegs of Dobbel Dose and Dark Force - their two strongest beers at the time - in addition to a number of bottled types. Everything sold out in a few hours. The event was a big success, with lots of visitors getting their first taste of craft beer. This pointed the way to a brighter future for draft beer in Oslo and for beer festivals in general.

The early years 2009-2011

In 2009, another important beer festival started up - the biannual Ølfestival at Nærbø. Nærbø is a small community on Jæren in Rogaland county on the south west coast of Norway, and it was the local beer club - Nærbø ølklubb - that came up with the idea to arrange a festival there. I didn't go so I don't know which breweries attended, but the festival seems to have gone really well since it was held again in 2011.

2010 saw the first Cask Ale Festival arranged in Norway. Hosted by the Håndverkerstuene beer restaurant in Oslo, this 2-day festival in mid September showcased cask conditioned ales from Norwegian breweries Nøgne Ø, Ægir and HaandBryggeriet, but also from the then far less known Scottish brewery BrewDog! The festival ended with an amazing beer maker's dinner, where one beer from each brewery was paired with a dish.

In 2011, in addition to Nærbø Ølfestival (where Nøgne Ø, Ægir and Danish brewery Midtfyns attended, see report here) and Grünerløkka mat- & mikrobrygg, a new festival started at the luxurious Aker Brygge in Oslo: Oslo Ølfestival. This was a more high profile festival with ten breweries attending, both the large ones - such as Ringnes and Hansa Borg - but also some smaller breweries such as Nøgne Ø, Ægir and the Amundsen Bryggeri & Spiseri brewpub.

2012 - the year of the beer festivals

If 2009-2011 were promising years for beer festivals in Norway, 2012 will be a watershed year changing our perception of beer festivals forever. Both with respect to what a beer festival should be like and how many you can arrange in a small country like Norway.

The standout festival so far in 2012 was the awesome Haand Craft Beer Festival held at the new HaandBryggeriet brewery in Drammen, on May 4 and 5.

Arranged after the same mold as Alvinne Craft Beer Festival in Belgium and Borefts in the Netherlands, Haand 2012 was attended by some of the most exciting craft breweries in Europe - from Nøgne Ø and Kinn in Norway, to Närke from Sweden, Magic Rock from England, LoverBeer from Italy, Alvinne from Belgium and Emelisse and De Molen from the Netherlands. Many of the brewers stood behind the taps, serving beers and talking with their visitors. Combined with delicious beer food and a big outdoor beer tent, it was simply perfect. And a massive success.

Närke Kulturbryggeri at Haand Craft Beer Festival 2012.

Though we may already have had the best festival of the year and even have the 2012 Caskfestival behind us, there are still some very interesting festivals coming up this fall. Including two brand new ones.

Let's take a closer look at the remaining festivals of 2012.

Kongsberg Ølfestival

Honestly, Kongsberg is not the place I would expect a good beer festival to show up. Still, this small town is famous for its annual Kongsberg Jazzfestival, hosted here since 1964, so they sure know how to arrange big festivals. 

For the very first food & beer festival, hosted at Christians Kjeller, they've got a very nice line-up, offering guests a choice of 200 different beers! The food is of the short traveled type, prepared upstairs at Restaurant Opsalhgården.

Dates: 10 & 11 August 2012
Location: Christians Kjeller, Kirkegata 10 in Kongsberg
Hours: 16-20 (Friday), 12-20 (Saturday)
Entrance: Free
Attending breweries:

1. HaandBryggeriet (Drammen)
2. Kinn Bryggeri (Florø)
3. Lervig Aktiebryggeri (Stavanger)
4. Schouskjelleren Mikrobryggeri (Oslo)
5. Nøgne Ø - Det Kompromissløse Bryggeri (Grimstad)
6. Aass (Drammen)

Aass is actually a big lager brewery, but it's still independent and family owned. Founded in Drammen in 1834, Aass is the oldest brewery in existence in Norway and the brewery has some decent pilsner and vienna style lagers, even a bock, in their portfolio. Still, the most interesting beers at the festival will come from the first five breweries.

Note that Schouskjelleren will not have their own stand, among the breweries, but will take over all the taps in the bar.

Grünerløkka mat- og mikrobrygg festival

This year will mark the 5th anniversary of this great food & beer festival, first arranged outside Parkteatret in September 2008 but since then in the backyard of Café Vespa, just north of Sofienbergparken in Oslo.

The festival is arranged by Grünerløkka Brygghus, which is owned by Mr Grünerløkka - Jan Vardøen - who usually stands behind a large grill, barbecuing selfmade and tasty sausages. Last year the festival also had a stand from Den Blinde Ku, selling great artisan cheese.

Dates: 24 & 25 August 2012
Location: Københavngata 4, in the backyard of Café Vespa
Hours: 16-23 (Friday) and 13-23 (Saturday)
Entrance: Free
Attending breweries:

1. Amundsen Bryggeri & Spiseri (Oslo)
2. Nøgne Ø - Det Kompromissløse Bryggeri (Grimstad)
3. Ægir Bryggeri (Flåm)

At this point (July 30) these are the known breweries, but more will probably be added over the next couple of weeks. For later updates check out the festival's own Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/415083568513025/

Grünerløkka mat- og mikrobrygg 2012
- official festival poster

Bergen Ølfestival

Bergen has a flourishing beer scene with some of the best beer pubs in Norway (e.g. Henrik øl & vinstove, Baran Café and Hanne på Høyden), and a number of very good and active homebrewers and beer bloggers. They really deserve their own beer festival. Now they've got it! 

Bergen Ølfestival will be arranged for the very first time this September, with the best Norwegian breweries attending. If you find yourself somewhere on the Norwegian west coast in early September, do make a visit to Bergen and its brand new beer festival.

Dates: 7 & 8 September 2012

Location: Bryggen, Bergen

Hours: 12-20 (both days)

Entrance: Free

Attending breweries:

1. HaandBryggeriet (Drammen)
2. Kinn Bryggeri (Florø)
3. Lervig Aktiebryggeri (Stavanger)
4. Nøgne Ø - Det Kompromissløse Bryggeri (Grimstad)
5. Ægir Bryggeri (Flåm)

This is a nice cross section of east, south and west Norway that should really impress visitors to the festival. For more and updated information, check out their Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/389315764457145/

Oslo Ølfestival

This is a high profile festival hosted at the luxurious Aker Brygge area in Oslo, with the two major Norwegian breweries - Ringnes and Hansa Borg - involved. Last year, when the festival was first held, the organizers had still found space for some of the smaller breweries too, such as Ægir, Nøgne Ø and Amundsen, so even a serious beer lover could find good beers at the festival.

This year some 28 bars, pubs and restaurants at Aker Brygge and the neighboring Tjuvholmen - for instance Beer Palace and Bar1 - are involved in the festival, in one way or another, but the main focus for beer seems to be at the ØlMesse tent where you'll get beer tasters, can meet and talk to brewers and listen to talks about beer and brewing.

Dates: 4-6 October 2012

Location: Aker Brygge and Tjuvholmen in Oslo

Hours: 15-20 (Thursday & Friday), 13-20 (Saturday)

Entrance: Kr 150,- to the ØlMesse tent, which includes 5 tasters.

Attending breweries:

1. Amundsen Bryggeri & Spiseri (Oslo)
2. Hansa Borg (Bergen)
3. Lervig Aktiebryggeri (Stavanger)
4. Nøgne Ø - Det Kompromissløse Bryggeri (Grimstad)
5. Ringnes (Oslo)
6. Ægir Bryggeri (Flåm)
7. Aass (Drammen)

In addition to these breweries, Cask Norway will attend to promote their imported beers - such as BrewDog from Scotland.

Concluding remarks

As if all these beer festivals weren't enough to give people a taste of good beer, many other types of festivals, in particular music related, have started inviting breweries to provide good draft beer to their visitors.

A few months ago the brewmaster from Mack in Tromsø, Rune Lennart Andreassen, was asked to brew a special festival beer for Buktafestivalen - a local music festival - and ended up making a 900 liter batch of pale ale flavored with fresh ginger.

Schouskjelleren Mikrobryggeri in Oslo sold their own beer at the June 29+30 Kollen music festival in Holmenkollen and will sell beer at the upcoming Øyafestivalen music festival on August 7-11.

The days are long gone when festival goers would be satisfied with a tasteless lager, in 2012 quality beer has broken through in so many arenas - challenging the domain of the lager giants.

Keep those craft beer taps flowing.

Klostergården - garden of the monks

It was Marymass in the Year of the Lord 1207, a group of robe clad and clean shaven men had gathered on a small island in the long fjord that passes by Trondheim and turns north into the Trønder heartland of Norway. These men, brothers of the Cistercian order, had been sent out to found a new monastery. This is the story of what they founded and the rich legacy they left behind, in the garden of the monks.

A pebbled beach on Tautra island in the Trondheimsfjord.

A visit to Tautra

As part of a general tour of Nord-Trøndelag county, in the geographical centre of Norway, a visit to the small island of Tautra, in Frosta municipality, is highly recommended. Not only for its natural beauty, the bird sanctuary or for its long history, but because of the tranquility you can only find on such a small island. The island is 3.5 km long and never more than 1 km wide, covering an area of just 1.5 square km, and only 50 people actually live on the island. But you can still find a place to spend the night, eat hearty rustic dishes and enjoy locally brewed beer: Klostergården. I'll tell more about this place later.

In order to get to Tautra you really need a car, as there is no public transport going all the way out. Heading up the E6 highway you need to turn off at a place called Åsen, located roughly halfway between Stjørdal in the south and Levanger in the north. If you're coming for Trondheim Værnes Airport, it's 25 km to drive to Åsen. When reaching Åsen, turn off the E6 onto the smaller 753 highway towards Frosta (should be a hard left turn if you come from Værnes). Follow 753 for about 22 km, at which point you will probably have seen several signs directing you to Tautra. Exit the 753 onto the smaller county road 67. After 1.5 km you'll reach the causeway bridge across to Tautra. This is a narrow, 1-lane bridge, so watch out for oncoming traffic. At the middle of the bridge you have to break for a gate which will open automatically once you're close to it. When across the bridge, hold right and follow signs to Klostergården.

The main building of Klostergården at Tautra.

To book a room at Klostergården, you can either call or send an email to ask for vacancies, contact information can be found at http://klostergardentautra.no/

Weekends can be rather full, so the best time to visit is on weekdays from Monday to Thursday.

Before returning to my own visit in July 2012, we need to pick up the thread from the introduction (if history is not your fancy, skip the next section and 800 years of history at your own peril) ...

The history of Tautra

On March 25, 1207, a group of Cisterian monks founded a monastery on Tautra or Tuterø, as it is also known. We don't know where they were sent out from, it may have been from Lyse Kloster near Bergen or from Munkeby near Levanger.

What we do know is that by placing their monastery on Tautra the monks made a good choice that would see their abbey prosper for the next three centuries. The reason why Tautra was such a good choice is three-fold. Primarily, an island provides isolation and safety - an important aspect in those days, which is clearly recognized in the name they gave the monastery: Monasterium sancta maria de tuta insula or Monastery of St Mary on the Secure Island. Secondly, by chosing a small island in the Trondheimsfjord they found a place with a milder micro climate than what is normal for Trøndelag, sea water damping the weather extremes. Finally, they chose an island located close to the old Norse power centre in Trøndelag: Frostating. Located less than 4 km inland, from the shore across from Tautra, the Thing Hill at Frosta was were the laws uniting the eight Trønder counties were made during the Viking era. Two centuries later, when the monks arrived, Frosta was still very much at the heart of Trøndelag.

The Cistercian order is known for its hard working brothers and sister, and the monks at Tautra were no exception. They constructed a large stone church and many buildings out of wood, a common building material in Trøndelag. They cultivated gardens, planting herbs and other useful plants, and must quickly have become a source of knowledge and trade for local farmers in Trøndelag.

At its height of influence, Tautra abbey controlled as many as 130 farms in Trøndelag, including the land of the former Munkeby abbey. But Tautra remained small, especially compared to abbeys elsewhere in Europe, with living quarters for at most 30 monks.

We don't know that much about life at the abbey, but the monks seem to have made it through the horrors of the Black Death in 1349 - which probably killed as much as half the population in Norway - without serious problems, because the abbey continued to prosper until the 16th century.

Things started to go wrong in 1510, when they received a new abbot from Denmark - Mathias Henrikssøn. He soon lost the job, for unknown reasons, but returned to the abbey again in 1531. This time he ruined the monastery and gave away its land to local nobleman Niels Lykke. However, Niels Lykke was in conflict with the mighty Archbishop Olav Engelbregtsson, who soon confiscated the monastery and had Mr Lykke executed in 1535. But this didn't last long either, because in 1537 the winds of the Protestant reformation swept across the kingdom, forcing the Archbishop and all monks to flee the country. The monastery and its lands were again confiscated, this time by the Crown.

Ruins of the stone church of the former Tautra Abbey.

Over the next few centuries, the monastery fell into disrepair, its stone buildings were used as a stone quarry for building fortresses in Trondheim. Later, in the 18th century, stones were also taken away and used to build the foundations of a new farm house nearby, a farm called Tautra Nordre.

In 1846, what was left of the ruins were purchased by a wealthy citizen and given to the newly founded Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments. They still preserve the ruins and have erected information boards next to it to educate visitors about its long history.

Tautra today

Today the island of Tautra isn't as isolated as it once was, because in 1979 a 2.3 km long causeway bridge was constructed between the island and the mainland. This allows the inhabitants of Tautra to drive over to Frosta, on the mainland, to do their shopping. And, vice versa, it allows bird spotters, tourists and visitors to Klostergården to come by car.

However, this causeway bridge turned out to be a mixed blessing to the creatures on the island. For the humans it was all well, but the colony of birds - so long used to safe isolation - was soon targeted by predators, such as foxes and cats, crossing over from the mainland on the bridge. To solve this problem, an automatic gate was constructed at the middle of the bridge. This gate only allows cars to pass through, not any 2- or 4-legged.

Most of the people living on Tautra are farmers, but one family has taken a different route. In 1994 the then 35 year old Ståle Harald Anderssen decided to renovate the old farm buildings at Tautra Nordre and take up the old art of the monks - growing herbs, fruit and other plants. He also decided to open a bed & breakfast, to offer visitors a place to stay while they explored the old ruins and the local produce. Klostergården was born.

In 2009, his son Jørn returned with a young familiy and a bunch of ideas on how to further develop Klostergården. One of the things he suggested was brewing beer, something the old monks at the abbey surely must have done. Thus Klostergården Håndbryggeri was born, with Jørn as the brewer. Brewing small 200 liter batches, Jørn ferments the beer on 600 liter stainless steel tanks formerly used to store milk.

The five tap handles at the Klostergården café on Tautra.

Today, Klostergården Håndbryggeri brews more than a dozen different types of beer - from light pale ales, via bitters and ambers to dark imperial stouts and potent barley wines.

All of the beers are made available on draft at the Klostergården café which is another reason why you really should have dinner here. The beers (only those of 4.7% abv or lower, due to Norwegian laws) are also sold in bottles at the farm shop, along with other local products such as juice and jam of Aronia berries, cheese and honey.

The beers of Klostergården Håndbryggeri

During my visit to Klostergården, the café had five different beers on tap. Naturally, I had to try them all :) The five beers were:

1. Klostergården Amber (4.5%): A well made but fairly mild amber. It had a nice malt profile with some toasted notes.
2. Klostergården Bitter (4.5%): Even for a bitter I found this too thin, lacking in taste and aroma.
3. Klostergården Blond (4.7%): This Belgian-style blond had a nice fruity aroma with spice notes, but was a bit thin in the body and short.
4. Klostergården Pale Ale (4.5%): A fairly hoppy pale ale, slightly too thin to support the bitterness.
5. Klostergården Sommerøl (4.7%): A light bodied, well hopped and fruity summer ale. Really nice.

Fortunately, Klostergården had two stronger beers availlable on kegs, which they served at the café later in the evening:

1. Klostergården Imperial Stout (9.3%): Pitch black, with a rich coffee and chocolate aroma. Full bodied with a silky smooth mouthfeel. It had a strong roasted taste and was fairly dry.
2. Klostergården Barley Wine (9.7%): Dark brown, with a sweet barley wine aroma. Full bodied, creamy and sweet. Good bitter finish with some lingering sweetness in the aftertaste. 

The 9.3% abv Klostergården Imperial Stout.

Unlike the mild, shop strength ales, the last two were both full bodied and assertive beers. The Barley Wine, by the way, was actually from 2010 - having been cellared for two years.

When I had the chance to talk with Ståle Anderssen he mentioned that they were also experimenting with hops, growing several varietals in a field behind the ruins. He didn't know what kind, as that is the domain of his son - the brewer. Ståle said it's still too early to tell if these experiments will result in any good aroma hops, but if they do, the good hops will end up in beers from Klostergården Håndbryggeri.

I think that would be really awesome and a great way to continue the gardening legacy of the Cisterian monks who left these shores so suddenly, almost five hundred years ago.

The brothers would have been proud.

Klostergården hop trellies.

Photos from my visit on Tautra can be found at Flickr.

The smoked beers of Hegra

During a recent trip to Nord-Trøndelag county, in the middle of Norway, I got the chance to visit a farm brewery at Hegra, near the town of Stjørdal, a region famous for an old style of smoked beer that is only brewed in this part of Norway: Stjørdalsøl.

Skaarraadalen såinnhus at Granås Gård in Hegra.

While at Hegra I also got to learn about såinnhus, einelaug and the strange rules for kilning malt. This is a brief account of my visit there on a rainy day in July 2012.

Stjørdalsøl vs Hegra Maltøl

For those beer geeks living in Oslo or other places in the south of Norway, the Stjørdalsøl has reached an almost mythical status. Everyone seems to know something about it, a few even know someone who has tasted it and fewer still have actually held a glass of this strange brew in their hands. Indeed, this is a rare beer and it seldom travels far from its birthplace in Stjørdal or Hegra.

What sets this beer apart from most others is that tradition demands that you kiln your own malt using a wood fired oven to heat things up. It is this process which imparts the famous smoke character to the finished beer. Few modern brewers or breweries ever concern themselves with kilning malt, so in that respect this is much more of an artisanal tradition than even the most manual of craft breweries.

Even though it's probably best known as Stjørdalsøl, this beer is mainly brewed in Hegra - a small community of 860 people about ten minutes drive east of downtown Stjørdal. Those brewers living her prefer the term Maltøl or Hegra Maltøl, to signify that the beer has more to do with good malt and Hegra than with the town of Stjørdal. I will therefore use that term from now on, since most of the farms brewing this beer - including the one I visited - are located in Hegra.

Morten Granås and Skaarraadalen Såinnhuslag

Because I was planning this trip together with a small group of beer lovers, it made sense to hunt down an authority on the elusive Hegra Maltøl. We were so fortunate to come across the name of Morten Granås.

Morten Granås talking about Hegra Maltøl.

Born in Hegra in 1937, John Morten Granås learned the art of kilning malt and brewing traditional Hegra Maltøl from his father. They brewed together until 1967, when his father passed away.

After taking over the old family farm, Granås Gård, Morten continued to brew beer. In 1987 he formed the Skaarraadalen såinnhuslag, together with 8 friends, and they constructed their own "såinnhus" at the farm of Granås Gård.

A "såinnhus" is a local term for a building where you dry the malt and, usually, brew beer. It's common to have 5-10 persons join up in a såinnhuslag, where each take turn kilning the malt and brewing the beer. A typical såinnhus will have openings under the roof, to let out the smoke during the kilning process - which may cause all kinds of confusion for the local fire department (see the Kilning rules further down).

In 2004, Morten Granås became the first in Norway to receive a license to commercially serve homebrewed beer to guests at his farm. He has since then made a good business out of hosting small and large groups of visitors, giving them a tour of the såinnhus and a taste of his beers, accompanied by local food.

Kilning malt at Granås Gård

At Granås Gård, the now retired Morten Granås met us out in the yard. He started the tour by taking us to the såinnhus, where he talked about how the malt was made.

To create his malt, Morten Granås buys cereal from Felleskjøpet - either a 6-row barley from the most recent harvest or 2-row barley from last year. About 150 kg of cereal is soaked in cold water over night, triggering the germination process. When the cereal sprouts small shots it's time to arrest the development by kilning the malt.

But before anyone can start kilning the malt, there's a set ot rules, hanging on the wall of the såinnhus, that must be followed. Loosely translated they say

Before starting up the fire the following agencies must be contacted:

* 110 - the [fire] central at Namsos (number and name must be given).
* The air traffic control at Værnes [airport].

Good luck brewing!
Chief of the Fire department in Stjørdal, 20.06.2006
Arnljot Berget

The "basin" for kilning malt in the såinnhus at Granås Gård.

And the reason is simply that the smoke coming out of the såinnhus during the kilning process will make it look on fire!

For the kilning process, a special "basin" has been constructed out of fire proof brick stones, with an oven in the middle. Dry wood of Grey Alder is set on fire inside the oven, generating heat and smoke.

The smoke leaks out into the basin but is trapped under perforated wooden boards put over the top of the basin, almost like a lid on a kettle. The small holes in the boards are too small for the grain to fall through but large enough for smoke to drift up.

On top of these wooden boards, the sprouting cereal is laid out. Usually about 150 kg of cereal is malted at a time, which results in a depth of 5-10 cm on top of the wooden boards. The heat and smoke from below will then drift up through the holes in the boards, slowly kilning the malt and adding a rich smoke flavor.

It takes about 15-20 hours to kiln the malt, and Morten Granås says he stops when he hears the first cereal pop - like popcorn. The result is typically 135 kg of smoked malt, when starting out with 150 kg cereal, which is not too roasted or heavily smoked.

The making of Hegra Maltøl

Morten Granås told us that when he wants to brew a beer, he typically makes a blend of malts made over several years, to even out differences due to weather, cereal and other factors that give the malt its character.

He typically uses 20 kg of smoked malt for his 70 liter batches. The ground malt is then boiled with "einlaug", which is water boiled with branches of juniper. This imparts both color and flavor to the beer, as well as conserving the beer.

When it comes to the type of yeast used to brew the Hegra Maltøl, Morten Granås uses the ordinary baking yeast that I remember from my grandmother's baking heydays - the blue packaged 50 gram block of dry yeast meant for bread (and beer, supposedly, but not for sugary doughs).

The beer is brewed and fermented in the såinnhus, but matures in a cold storage elsewhere on the farm. He brews differently depending on the season, for Christmas the beer is usually darker and stronger while for harvest he prefers a refreshing golden brown ale of lower gravity. But in both cases, he wants a balanced beer where malt sweetness and the smoke is in harmony. Under no circumstances should the beer taste burnt, or of creosote as some of the Stjørdaløl ales have been known to taste.

Hegra Maltøl at Granås Gård.

After the tour of the såinnhus we sat down with Morten Granås in Masstua, the cozy log house built next to the main building at Granås Gård. It is here that he receives groups of visitors. He brought out a fresh sample of one of his lighter beers, a golden brown batch of strength 6% abv, brewed in early June with malt from 2009, 2010 and 2011. It was a surprisingly refreshing and elegant beer with a fruity character and a mild smoke aroma and flavor, milder than many smoked beers from Bamberg but still clearly a smoked beer.

At the end of our visit, he told us that when he started brewing there had only been 3-4 såinnhuslag teams in all of Hegra. Today there are 42, brewing an impressive range of Maltøl - from pitch black, high alcohol beers, tasting of creosote, to elegant, golden brown ales you can drink all night.

The future of Hegra Maltøl thus seems secure, even after Morten Granås hangs up his brewing fork for the last time. Which hopefully won't be for a number of years yet!

Tusen takk for omvisning og maltølet!

How to visit Granås Gård

To book a visit with beer tasting, you need to be part of a group of at least 10 persons and at most 45. Make sure to book 14 days ahead of time as he may have other appointments or may need to brew more beer for your visit. Booking can be done directly with Morten Granås at

email: morten.granas@ntebb.no
telephone: 47 74 80 23 96
mobile: +47 971 22 985

Getting to Granås Gård requires a car, unless you come as part of a large group in a tour bus. If you fly to Trondheim Værnes Airport, which is in Stjørdal, I would recommend renting the car there (you'll find both Avis, Hertz, Europcar, Sixt and Budget at the airport).

From the airport or from Stjørdal, it's just a short 10 minutes drive to get to Hegra. Simply turn off the E6 highway, just north of the airport and south of downtown Stjørdal, onto the E14. Follow the E14 for about 10 km, until you see the church in Hegra. By the church, turn left onto the smaller 752 and follow it for 1 km. You should then see a wooden portal on the left, leading to a narrow gravel road up to Granås Gård.

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Photos from the visit to Granås Gård can be found in this Flickr set.