Norwegian maverick brewery Nøgne ø will be the first in Europe to start brewing sake. There have been rumours before, but now it’s official. They will use Italian rice for this.
Brewer Kjetil Jikiun says to nrk.no that they will consider to start growing rice in Norway for their sake production. Sure. There are readers (and journalists) who will believe anything.
If they make limited releases of sake, I’m sure the beer geek market will pay handsome prices for the bottles.
Does this have anything to do with their recent collaboration (Not So Mild) with the Japanese brewery Tamamura-Honten (Shiga Kogen)? I know they make beer and sake… Neat stuff regardless.
Yes, this collaboration was probably the inspiration. But they have had close contacts with the Japanese beer scene for a long time.
Nøgne Ø’s head brewer Kjetil’s fascination for Sake goes long way back in time. He has a house in Malaysia and are spending much time in Asia. The Tamamura-Honten calibration brew was just a coincidence.