“And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11).
We all know this, of course. And Norwegian craft brewery Færder Mikrobryggeri decided to brew one beer named after all the three gifts as their seasonal offering. Gull, Røkelse and Myrra in Norwegian.
Røkelse, frankincense, has a Norwegian name with association to smoke, so this beer had to have some smoke malt. It ended up at the top of the list at the most comprehensive Christmas beer tasting, hosted by regional newspaper Adresseavisen.
Færder Mikrobryggeri is a family business, with Mathias Krüger as head brewer. He is educated as a medical doctor, put has put his career on hold to follow his passion for brewing. His parents are also very involved in the business.
You’d be very lucky to find a set of these beers now, but other Færder beers are broadly available in Norway and on the Color Line ferries between Norway and Denmark. And during the summer moths, they have a pub in the back yard of the brewery in Tønsberg, a town about an hour by train from Oslo. And it’s right by the railway station.
But do we really all know this? We all know Luke’s account of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at the inn, but we tend to ignore what your quote says: that Jesus was born in a house, since Mary and Joseph were already permanently resident in Bethlehem, not travellers from Nazareth. We’ve also decided that because there were three gifts, there were three gift-givers, even though there’s nothing in the text to suggest this.
Nice idea though. I fancy some frankincense beer.
It is entirely possible to enjoy the beers without any religious associations. But it is an Advent calendar. After all.