Near Sogndal, western Norway

In the Nordic countries there is a whole style of brewing that has so far almost completely escaped the attention of beer enthusiasts, although some tips of the iceberg are showing above the surface here and there, if you look carefully. I'm referring to the traditional homebrewers, who have just about nothing in common with the new wave of US-inspired home brewers. What makes these brewers so interesting is that the beers they brew belong to styles that are almost completely unknown outside of these communities.

Some background

I suppose in some sort of subconscious way most people are aware that historically, in the countries north of the grain/grape divide, every household brewed its own beer. Eventually, of course, people started to buy their foodstuffs instead of producing them themselves, and as this happened homebrewed beer was gradually displaced by industrial beer. Except that, out in the countryside, homebrewing never went completely extinct, at least here in the Nordic countries.

We all know about homebrewing, of course, but this is something different. These people are not making porters, altbiers, or trippels. In fact, I would think that most of them are not even aware of the existence of these beer styles, because this is people who are continuing an older tradition. What they brew is the beer styles that have always been brewed in their local region, using the methods that have always been used there. Of course, the exact details of the styles and methods change slowly over time, in much the same way that language, fashion, cuisine, and everything else changes over time.

It was only gradually that I became aware of the existence of this tradition. I remember my own grandfather making his own beer. I tasted some of it as a child, but can barely remember what it tasted like, except that it didn't have much alcohol. I can also remember my father describing the brew as unusually potent, from which I deduce that he must have brewed more than one style. Later I read Michael Jackson's stories about visiting traditional brewers in western Norway, and about Finnish sahti. Later more stories followed.

It was only this summer, however, that I realized how widespread the phenomenon really is. Michael Jackson visited Voss (in Sogn), and seemed to claim that this sort of brewing was only done there. Anders Christensen has written about the brewing in Stjørdalen (in Trøndelag). Then there is my grandfather (in Sunnmøre). But this summer one of my uncles was telling me about how there were several home brewing guilds around his home town (Sogndal in Sogn), and I realized that this must be a lot more widespread that what's so far been described in what you could, I suppose, call "the beer literature".

Then, for Christmas, my wife gave me "Alle tiders øl", by Per Kølster (of Fuglbjerggaard brewery), a Danish book about beer. The last half of it is dedicated to the traditional Nordic brewers, and describes visits to such brewers in Denmark (Funen / Fyn), Sweden (Gotland), Norway (Trøndelag), Finland, and (surprisingly) Lithuania, where he goes to see how they brew their beers. And suddenly I realized that this was not just a Norwegian phenomenon, and also that this was really a single brewing tradition which had developed in different ways in different places.

About the beer

Svendborg, Funen, Denmark

The first surprise is that these brewers mostly malt their own grain, using traditional equipment and methods. The resulting malts are mostly darkish and mostly at least somewhat smoky. However, they will sometimes buy commercial malts to complement the traditional malts.

The second surprise is the yeast. Most of these brewers use ordinary baking yeast, of the sort that you use to bake bread. It produces CO2 and alcohol exactly as expected, and also lends some rather unusual flavours to the beer. This is a modern development, however, and one which hasn't occurred everywhere. In some places the brewers still maintain local yeast cultures shared between the brewers.

Thirdly, there is the juniper twigs. I knew them from sahti, but in fact nearly all of these brewers use them for both flavouring and some basic filtering. This is one of the pecularities that seem to indicate that there really is a shared origin for this tradition.

Below is a rough table summarizing the ingredients used by the different brewers. As you can see, there are quite a few similarities, and also some variation. The Lithuanian brew seems very different from the others, and the Danish traditions seems very modernized. Other than that, the commonalities are striking.

Where Fermentables Yeast Spice Denmark Commercial malts + sugar Brewer's yeast Commercial hops Sweden Home-made malts (partly smoked) Baker's yeast Commercial hops, juniper twigs Norway (PK) Home-made malts (partly smoked) + sugar Baker's yeast Pharmacy hops (Lupuli flos), juniper twigs Norway (MJ) Home-made malts (partly smoked) Local yeast Juniper twigs Norway (AC) Home-made malts (very smoked) Baker's yeast or lager yeast A little hops Finland Commercial malts + rye + sugar Baker's yeast Juniper twigs, a little hops Lithuania Home-made malts + sugar Local yeast Lots of hops

Where can I try it?

I'm not sure you can try it, actually. Sahti is probably the easiest to get hold of as it can be bought in some Finnish Alko stores and some pubs. It doesn't keep very well (very little hops), so I doubt it's found outside of Finland. There is a festival for Norwegian home brew in Stjørdalen, which is open to the public, but as it's arranged on the 26th of December you need to be fairly dedicated to go there. There is also a Norwegian micro beer called Ølve på Egge, which is not entirely dissimilar to these beers, but it's near-impossible to find. Other than that it seems you need to approach one of the brewers and ask nicely. How to find a brewer? I have no idea.

Helsinki cathedral

If you do get hold of one of these beers, you may be in for something of a shock. Sahti, for example, does not taste even remotely like any other beer I've tried. And as for the Norwegian Stjørdalsøl, one anecdote may illustrate. One such beer was entered for the Norwegian home brewing competition in 2009. It finished nearly last, and the judges (who had tried most beer styles in existence) put comments like "intensely smoky", "concentrated railroad tie" (lots of tar and creosote), "burnt rubber boot", etc on their judging sheets.

A discussion started after the competition on whether it was fair to give the beer such a harsh score when, the brewers claimed, it adhered so faithfully to the traditional style. The organizers' replies pretty much amounted to (a) nobody could verify that as nobody had tried this style of beer, and (b) it didn't do so well on the subjective part of the judging.

To me it seems a real shame that this extremely interesting beer tradition should be so obscure and unapproachable, but I'm not sure what can be done about it. It would be fantastic to see some of the Norwegian/Swedish/Danish microbrewers picking up on these styles in the way that the Finns have done with Sahti, but of course it's not entirely clear whether there would be much commercial demand for such a beer. What is clear is that I would dearly love to try it myself, if I could.

Update: It turns out that the Lithuanian variety is easily available in Vilnius.

Update 2: And the Norwegian variety is available outside of Trondheim.