Amager Bryghus has a grand tradition of inviting other breweries to do collaboration brews. At long last it was time to invite the Norwegians from Nøgne Ø. In the past decade both breweries have been on Ratebeer’s Top 100 Breweries in the world. And if we look at actual, physical breweries, there should be no discussion that they’re the two most respected breweries in Scandinavia.

They are two of my very favourite breweries in the world, and I’m really looking forward to taste the result of this brew day. But first things first. I arrived at the brewery at 10am. Mashing hadn’t even begun yet, but in their defense, Amager Bryghus’ brewer René had already brewed a batch of Hr. Frederiksen earlier that “day”.

We mashed in, and then the day went along as collaboration brew days at Amager Bryghus usually go. Their other brewer Andreas (who happens to be Norwegian himself) took over all the brewing work, with the occassional visit from the Nøgne Ø brewers Rune and Alf, while the rest of us sat around drinking beer and talking.

If I was actually a journalist and not just a beer loving blogger, I could probably get some very interesting behind-the-scenes stories out of these days, but then I don’t know if I would be invited again! We did talk about the breweries though. It’s not breaking news that Nøgne Ø are building a new brewery.

Two years ago, the big Hansa brewery bought a majority share of Nøgne Ø, and that has provided capital to expand. The new brewery is expected to open in August. You can follow the building of the new brewery on their website. In the more breaking news department, it sounds like Amager Bryghus is getting into more realistic considerations about a new brewery.

Amager Bryghus is in a rented site, in a basement, and is completely filled with fermentors meaning that they are at full capacity. And they have a real desire to be independent, to own their site, and especially to have a building that’s more ideal for brewing. Because of the low ceiling in the basement, they can only have a 1000 liter brewery and 1000 liter fermentors.

For lunch we had outrageous good spareribs, freshly made by Hot Dog John and there was no lack of fresh beer. Especially No Rice and Curry fresh on tap did very well to satisfy my need for easy drinking hoppy beer. We also had a selection of older Amager Bryghus beers from the archive. There was some good stuff, but although it was imperial stout and barley wine nothing that had really improved from getting older.

And suddenly, well into the afternoon, the brewing was finished and the beer was ready to be pitched yeast. The beer will be an Imperial Coffee Brown Ale that should hit 9%. It’s brewed with six kinds of malt, demerara sugar and lactose, and hopped with Chinook and Columbus. With Maris Otter as base malt, it sound very Nøgne Ø, and obviously also something that will suit Amager Bryghus very well.

After brewing was finished, we went to Ørsted Ølbar, to a tap takeover with both breweries. I must admit, I didn’t stay for too long, and the memories are getting a little blurred. But altogether, it was yet another great brew day at Amager Bryghus.