| Norway was once a country without
any craft beer. Perhaps this is the main reason Kjetil Jikiun
found craft beers so captivating during layovers in the U.S.
while flying as a pilot for a major European airline. It certainly
influenced his homebrewing hobby, to the point where he decided
to open up his own brewery in 2002 under the theme of “the
uncompromising brewery.” “Essentially, we started
with a noncommercial idea, with the intention to make new
beer styles and better quality beers available to the public,”
explained Jikiun. “We started in a garage with homemade
equipment created from dairy tanks and scrap metal. Basically,
our aim at Nøgne Ø has been
to brew authentic beer, and anything we make should be true
to its original style.” It should also be noted that
all of the beers are unfiltered and are conditioned in the
bottle or keg.
The brewery name itself means “barren isle” and
is pronounced “nug-ne oh.” It is taken from the
first two lines of the poem Terje Vigen by Henrik Ibsen, one
of Norway’s most famous poets. Ibsen was originally
from the town of Grimstad, where the brewery is located.
Initially, Nøgne Ø brewed only American- and
British-style beers, which were later followed by Belgian-style
beers. These days, Jikiun and the brewery are striking out
toward new horizons, using such diverse ingredients as heather
honey, spruce shoots, rhubarb and lingonberries for unique
ales with a distinctive Norwegian touch.
| The authorities told Nøgne Ø to close
its website or lose its license to brew. |
While Jikiun’s original intent was to have a local
brewery, it never worked out that way, as a great deal of
the production is shipped out of the country. This includes
a few Danish beers brewed under contract, such as Mikkeller
and Bere Here (previously made by Ølfabrikken). At
present, some 50 percent is exported to 14 different countries,
with the remainder going to major Norwegian cities such as
Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim.
Nøgne Ø brews nearly 30 different beers throughout
the year. Since a core value at the brewery is diversity,
many of these beers reflect the use of new ingredients or
approaches. Three are Christmas ales, varying from 4.75% abv
to 8.5% abv, with only one of them spiced, while another one
is an Easter ale at 7.5% abv made with wheat malt. More popular
varieties include a pale ale, a brown ale, an amber ale, an
IPA, an imperial brown ale, a porter and an imperial stout.
While the portfolio of beers has increased, production has
ramped up at an even greater rate. In 2003, it was a mere
300 hectoliters, rising to 800 hectoliters in 2005 and then
to 2,500 hectoliters in 2008. Estimated production for 2009
is 2,800 hectoliters. However, Jikiun told me they do not
wish to get much bigger and will instead direct efforts at
strengthening the knowledge of, and demand for, craft beer
in Norway.
Initially, all ingredients were imported. However, the brewery
has recently started working with the Norwegian government
to find barley types suitable for Norwegian climates. The
barley grown in Norway will be malted at the brewery’s
own facility and used for brewing. A similar project has been
planned for using locally grown hops.
While this form of help from the government is welcome, the
fact that beer taxes are so high makes the beer quite expensive.
In fact, it is cheaper to buy Nøgne Ø in the
U.S., and even in Japan, than in Norway.
Another obstacle to brewing operations in Norway is that
commercials, PR and even information about alcoholic beverages
are banned in the country. In fact, the authorities told Nøgne
Ø to close its website or lose its license to brew.
However, Nøgne Ø found that a site for export
promotion was acceptable and therefore switched to an English-language
site on a dot-com domain with a U.S. server, which is perfectly
legal. Fortunately, nearly all Norwegians read English.
Despite its location in rural southern Norway, the brewery
has become quite multicultural. In addition to the majority
of employees, who are Norwegian, there are also employees
from Burma, Croatia, Malaysia, Sweden and the U.S. Jikiun
himself already has a fair amount of international exposure,
having participated in a guest brew at Stone Brewing Company
in Southern California and at Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales in
Michigan in 2008, as well as at Shiga Kogen Beer in Japan
in early 2009.
“I believe we have been the main factor in changing
Norwegian beer culture,” Jikiun told me. “When
we started, there were no real Norwegian craft breweries around,
nor were there many imported beers available. This has changed
radically. Now there are around 100 imported beers available,
and at least four or five craft breweries in the country.”
Until a promotion about two years ago, Jikiun often flew
between Tokyo and Copenhagen. During his short stays in Tokyo,
he became enamored with saké, a distant cousin of beer.
He has devoted a great deal of effort to learning how to brew
it, and starting next year Nøgne Ø will become
the first brewer of saké in Europe. |
