Lab set up by Noma chef tries new flavours to persuade country's wine drinkers to choose beer with their meal

Plants, berries, nuts, fungi — the ingredients are carefully laid out on a workbench on board the Nordic Food Lab's houseboat HQ in Copenhagen harbour.

Set up by Noma's head chef, René Redzepi, and the gastronomic entrepreneur Claus Meyer back in 2008, the lab was intended to push the boundaries of Nordic cuisine. Five years later and the same ambition remains – only this time the team is turning to drink. Sensory scientist and lab director Michael Bom Frøst is contemplating one of the most enjoyable projects of his career: creating beers using the latest innovations, with the backing of Denmark's biggest brewer, Carlsberg.

"Beer has been a particular interest of mine for some time," says Frøst, who has even contributed to a Danish beer vocabulary guide, to "help connoisseurs verbalise their enjoyment — just as wine drinkers can". So when Carlsberg approached the lab, it was not hard to come to a deal.

"We want to promote the idea of beer with fine dining as an alternative to wine and help get a better selection of these in Denmark's top restaurants," says Morten Ibsen, master brewer at Carlsberg's speciality brand, Jacobsen, who will work with Frøst to develop the new beers.

Frøst and his team will collect plants, spices and other raw materials to combine and develop new flavours. "Woodruff is already used to flavour beer in Berlin, so I want to make syrup out of that. Then there's nuts, juniper, bee larvae, fungi – and that's just the starting point." Is there anything he wouldn't put in a beer? "No … but I'm sure we'll discover things that won't taste so good. Only one in every 20 or 30 combinations we try will work."

Seaweed has already been slated for a porter. "To tie in with the centenary of the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen this summer, I'd like to try something with an ocean theme," says Ibsen. "We're looking for a suitable seaweed to give some interesting notes."

The Nordic Food Lab's houseboat headquarters

Frøst will also be experimenting with processes. "In Asia, fungi are sometimes used to make sake," he says, "so I want to look at food-safe fungus-fermenting methods, which could lead to interesting flavour and aroma opportunities."

Ibsen and Frøst will run micro-trials on the Nordic Food Lab houseboat before conducting test brews at Carlsberg's research centre in Copenhagen. The plan is to roll out at least one limited edition beer a year to be sold in speciality shops, Jacobsen's Copenhagen brand store, and restaurants. But persuading diners to choose beer over wine with their meal is likely to be a challenge.

"There's been a snobbishness about beer in Denmark," says Ibsen, "with everyone wanting to drink wine and even doctors telling patients that a glass of red a day is good for them."

Many have embraced this message with gusto and a recent health report showed Danes among the highest drinkers in Europe, consuming 11 litres of pure alcohol per person a year.

"Things are changing, slowly, and there's an increasing focus on health and not drinking too much," says Ibsen. "With beer, you consume less and the alcoholic content is lower."

A recent survey confirmed that beer has the lowest percentage proof of any alcoholic drink and contains fewer calories per millilitre than wine.

At present, premium beers account for just 18% of the global beer market but represent 32% of its value, according to the industry research organisation Canadean). Carlsberg hopes to inspire more Danes to associate beer with gastronomy by focusing on speciality brews and allying themselves with the Nordic Food Lab and their Michelin-starred Noma heritage. How much the beer will cost and whether restaurants will be happy to promote it in favour of ultra-profitable, heavily marked-up wine is another matter.

Either way, for Frøst, it's an opportunity to flex his sensory muscles in a new arena. "We'll have to be careful and watch our palate, avoiding strong foods and coffee for a few hours before we do any tastings," he says. But the sacrifice will be worth it: "I don't get to go out and drink beer much any more. Only now I'll have to!"