Norske mikrobryggerier 15 – Norwegian micro breweries 15 – Klostergården Håndbryggeri

 

 

(English summary at the end)

Alle mikrobryggerier er ikke velsignet med en flott beliggenhet, selv om det ikke nødvendigvis har betydning for kvaliteten på ølet. Det brygges mye godt øl i anonyme industriområder der det er lite aktuelt å innrede et lokale for skjenking av brygget.

Samtidig er det en utfordring å skille seg ut. Det er mange som brygger de samme øltypene, og selv om original design på etiketten og lokal oppslutning kan bidra til salget, er det jo flott om man har en historie å fortelle og kan knytte øl til historie, tradisjoner og lokal mat.

Klostergården Håndbryggeri fyller alle kriterier for hvordan disse faktorene bidrar til å skape unike produkter.

Beliggenheten er øya Tautra, som har broforbindelse med Frosta, Trøndelags kjøkkenhage. På eiendommen er det til og med en klosterruin som viser forhistorien for dette kulturlandskapet. Ved siden av gårdsdrift konserverer man frukt, bær og grønnsaker. Det tilbys overnatting, og det er servering av mat og drikke både innendørs og utendørs.

 Brygger Jørn Andersen kan by på en rekke ølsorter i butikkstyrke som man kan kjøpe med hjem. Wit, porter, pale ale, bitter og blond. Flotte øl, som kan måle seg med det beste av øl med denne styrkegraden.

Norsk alkohollovgivning gjør det ikke mulig å kjøpe med de mest spennede ølene – så de må man smake på stedet. En imperial stout hadde en flott lakriskarakter. En Dobbel IPA var velbalansert og forførende lettdrikkelig.

Men det som var verdt turen alene var en flaske Sorn, hentet opp fra kjelleren slik at den ikke skulle være kjøleskapskald. Jeg har ventet lenge på at noen skulle gjøre øl brygget på stjørdalsmalt mer tilgjengelig, og her er det endelig et slikt eksempel. 25% av malten i dette brygget er altså røykmalt fra Stjørdal. Det er klart at det setter sitt preg på ølet, men samtidig er det balansert. Røyk, sot og sødme gir en spesiell smaksprofil – håper at tilgangen på malt gir mulighet for å brygge dette i kvanta store nok til å tilby dette både til polutsalg og serveringssteder i regionen. Sorn er brygget i samarbeid med Inderøy Gårdsbryggeri. 

Den største utfordringen i dag er å få brygget nok øl til å få dekket etterspørselen. Nytt utstyr gjør at man kommer opp i batcher på 1000 liter mot dagens 350. Og for den tålmodige kan det opplyses at man også er i gang med eget brenneri, som planlegger lansering av whisky om tre år. Og innkjøp av eikefat gjør også at vi kan glede oss til fatlagrete øl i tiden fremover.

Jeg spiste ikke middag på stedet, men den nylagde fiskballen som raust ble servert som en smakebit fra kjøkkenet gjør at det absolutt står på programmet neste gang.

 

 

At the most scenic spot you can imagine, in the middel of the Trondheim fjord, with green meadows and monastery ruins, you find Klostergården Håndbryggeri. Besides farming and brewing, there is also a café, a shop with local food, including beer, and some rooms for rent.

Brewer Jørn Andersen offers a broad range of beers. The ones below 4.7 % ABV are available in the shop, the stronger beers have to be consumed on the premises.

This region has a long tradition of farmers brewing their own beers, malting barley grown on their own farm, smoking the malt to give a unique flavour. Klostergården brews their won version of this, adding 25% of this smoked malt in the Sorn beer. The result is, of course, a compromise – you do not get an over the top smoked beer, but a balanced, quite sweet brew with lots of character with plenty of smoke and soot both in aroma and palate.

Klostergården is approximately a one hour drive from the main North-South road between Trondheim and Northern Norway. It is well worth the time, and the accommodation is reasonably priced if you want to indulge in the stronger beers. Expanded capacity will hopefully give at least a regional distribution for the beers. And if you want something truly exotic, their first batch of whisky is maturing in oak barrels, due to be released in April 2016.

Norske mikrobryggerier 14 – Norwegian Micro Breweries 14 – Balder Brygg

Det er nå spennende bryggeplaner i så godt som alle fylker i Norge, og mange har tatt steget over i regulær produksjon. Det mest spennende fylket er vel det som mange hadde trodd var en bakevje i forhold til alkoholholding drikke, nemlig Sogn og Fjordane. Fra før har to av de fem veletablerte mikrobryggeriene med nasjonal distribusjon tilhold der, og så kommer Balder Brygg som et interessant tilskudd. Øystein Meland er en av ildsjelene bak, og han kan fortelle om lange hjemmebryggertradisjoner i Sogn, som gir godt grunnlag for å etablere et bryggeri.

Balder Brygg holder til i den vakre Leikanger ved Sognefjorden. De er, som de fleste bryggeriene her til lands, dratt i gang på dugnad av entusiaster. I dag har bryggeriet to ansatte på heltid, men regner med å øke dette når de i august har etablert anlegg for flasketapping og kan øke distribusjonen. Så langt har ølet blitt solgt i nærområdet og utvalgte steder ellers på Vestlandet, men man satser nå på å nå bredere ut. Det har også vært forespørsler fra Sverige om levering av fatøl.

Balder Brygg har valgt en nisje som skiller dem fra Kinn og Ægir. De brygger først og fremst lagerøl. Smakfulle lagerøl med ulik alkoholstyrke. Ærlig håndverkspreget øl med fin maltkarakter. Vel verdt å prøve, om det er Sognapils, Sognalager eller Vårøl. En porter har de også funnet plass til i sortimentet.

The new breweries in Norway are not confined to the bigger cities and towns, but are spread across the county. The region Sogn og Fjordane, famous for, you guessed it, its fjords, can already boast of being home to two of the big five among the Norwegian micro breweries, Ægir and Kinn. They also have an interesting newcomer, Balder Brygg, located among the orchards of Leikanger.

So far their beers have only been available on the west coast, but they go for national distribution.when they install a bottling line during the summer.

They focus of lager beers with a range of alcohol strength and character. But we are talking premium lagers here, with a rich malty character well balanced by hops.  They have a very decent porter in their range as well.

Chilling portraits from the last days of the DDR

When I try to be pretentious, I say that beer blogging at its best is also a lens through which we can view history, politics, travel, gastronomy or other aspects of human lives or society.

My beer photos tend to be of the optimistic kind, capturing places I am happy to visit, here or abroad.

There are other kinds of beer photos, with fog instead of sunlight, with poverty and despair instead of hope.

Der Spiegel presents a series of photos from a book by Harald Hauswald. The book, Ferner Osten or The Far East, is a portrait of the last years of the DDR. Grim and powerful images by one of the few photographers in East Germany with access to Kodak film.

Mainstream coverage of the Oslo brewpub scene

The Oslo beer scene was given four pages in one of the publications of the Aftenposten newspaper yesterday, with Crowbar prominently featured. It is also available online.

Berlin XXXV – Let’s pretend we’re in Munich

Cold and dry weather had been replaced by sleet and snow, and we didn’t really have much on the agenda before returning to the hotel to pick up our baggage. We had some time to spare, but the climatic conditions did not invite to find another cozy old inn at the end of an alley in the Nicolaivirtel.

The nearest option was a large establishment decorated in blue and white. The Berlin outpost of the famous Munich Hofbräuhaus, a stone’s throw from the Alexanderplatz at Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse.

This is a huge place, very quiet in mid-afternoon. A huge menu, not surprisingly with a pork bias. Eight beers on tap, plus a seasonal if you’re lucky.

Staff dressed up in Bavarian costumes, wooden benches and tables. Taped yodel and polkas when I was there, but there is live music every night.

This is probably crammed with stag parties and buses of tourists during hight season. Wikipedia tells me there are dozens of Hofbräu franchises around the globe, the one in Berlin one of the newest. Think McDonalds for adults.  And I suppose you are supposed to sing along, at least after midnight.

But the beer is good. Better than the standard Berlin beers. And there is outside seating when the weather allows.

Don’t miss the souvenir shop. I’m sure many have bought stuff there they have regretted when sobering up. But the rubber ducks in dirndl are awesome.

Berlin XXXIV – Broken German in the Berlin Bier Shop

In addition to the Berlin U-bahn, which is an underground network, there is also the S-bahn, which in the central areas of the city is elevated above street level, giving splendid views . Well, there is not much time to enjoy the view from Hauptbahnhof to Bellevue, it’s the next stop. Cross the bridge and walk up a short street, and you find the Berlin Bier Shop.

Bier jenseits des Mainstreams is the motto on their web page. Sure, you can stock up on all the bocks, helles, pils etc.  you’d want. But the reason to go here is for the more sophisticated stuff.

They cater for two types of customers: Germans who want interesting imports and tourists who want interesting German beers.  The imports include the big names from Denmark and the US.  Mikkeller sells well, the customers have often visited Copenhagen and know the price level. Slightly lower alcohol taxes and VAT equals more or less the cost of distribution, meaning you pay more or less the same for a bottle of Mikkeller as you would in Denmark. Students from the brewing college are eager to get new stuff coming in, particularly on-offs like the new yeast series.

For foreign visitors you are able to get some real treats. New beers from Berlin gypsy brewer Schoppe Bräu. Craft beers from the Czech Republic. I had some serious problems making up my mind. My suitcase was already bulging, and I knew I was in for a scolding from the Lufthansa check-in staff.

But I could not resist a barrel aged dark Gose. And a Berliner Weisse brewed with smoked malt. How is that for innovation?

Friendly and polite service. Once again my apologies for my German. The vocabulary is coming along fine, thank you. But the nuances of grammar and the use of the polite Sie instead of du leaves a lot to be desired. Other visitors don’t need to worry. They even use English on their web pages.

This is a must stop on a Berlin beer tour. A serious beer shop. Like Johnny’s Off Licence in Rome or Ølbutikken in Copenhagen.

Sweden top 100 beers – pale lagers all the way

Peter M. Eronson runs the Swedish beer blog Fat & Flaska, and he has published a list of the 100 best sellers in Sweden’s Systembolaget. The ranking reflect sales in Swedish Kronor, but the right column shows the volume in liters. The category includes beer, ciders and alcopops.

This shows, that, for all the talk about craft taking over the world, it is all about pale lagers. The only exceptions, Newcastle Brown Ale (64), Falcon Bayersk (65), Brooklyn Lager (74) and Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer (88) are not something I’d go out of my way for, either.

This also show the contrast between the Swedish and the Norwegian markets. The beers below 4.7 % would be sold in Norwegian supermarkets, so you’ll not find them in the Vinmonopolet stores. And the super strength lagers are hardly to be found here.  I suspect the Norwegian tramps either smuggle strong beer from Sweden or stick to vodka.

Call me a snob, but I pass on the red rhubarb flavoured cider (82).