Norwegian Farmhouse Ale (Kveik)
Norwegian farmhouse ale, maltøl: the juniper-infused beers of western Norway's farms, fermented with kveik, a family of yeasts that works fast and hot. Strength, yeast and history.
Norway’s farmhouse ales go by the common name maltøl. Most are brewed from barley malt with juniper and fermented with kveik, the farm yeast of western Norway, and they range from pale and hazy to dark and strong. Only a few commercial examples exist.
Where it comes from
Kveik is the most common dialect word for yeast in the parts of Norway where these strains come from, and it goes back to the Old Norse kvikk, lively. Farm brewers kept their own yeast for generations, and when a brew went sour they fetched healthy yeast from a neighbouring farm. As farming modernised and beer could be bought, most farmhouse brewing died out, and its yeasts with it. On the west coast, from Hardanger in the south to Sunnmøre in the north, some cultures survived and are still in use; the beer writer Lars Marius Garshol keeps a public register of them.
The beers differ by valley. Heimabrygg, from Hardanger, Voss and Sogn, is usually dark and very strong, 8–12%, and its wort is boiled, often for hours. Kornøl, from Nordfjord and Sunnmøre, is pale, hazy and 6–8%, and traditionally unboiled. Stjørdalsøl, from Stjørdal, is deep red, brewed from home-made, heavily alder-smoked malt and usually fermented with bread yeast.
The yeast
A genome study published in 2018 found that kveik forms a genetically distinct group of domesticated brewing yeasts, fast to ferment. Ordinary brewer’s yeast usually makes off-flavours above 25 °C; kveik can work at up to about 43 °C without them.
Next to its neighbours
Its closest relatives are Finland’s sahti and Gotland’s gotlandsdricka: strong farmhouse ales flavoured with juniper and fermented with the brewer’s own or baker’s yeast.
Norwegian farmhouse ale in brief
- Norwegian name
- maltøl (also gårdsøl)
- Heimabrygg
- Hardanger, Voss and Sogn: dark and strong, boiled for hours
- Kornøl
- Nordfjord and Sunnmøre: pale and hazy, traditionally unboiled
- Stjørdalsøl
- Stjørdal: deep red, from home-made alder-smoked malt
- Style guidelines
- No BJCP or Brewers Association entry
Sources
Checked .
- Kveik — Wikipedia
- Beer in Norway — Wikipedia
- Traditional Norwegian Kveik Are a Genetically Distinct Group of Domesticated Saccharomyces cerevisiae Brewing Yeasts — Frontiers in Microbiology (Preiss et al., 2018)
- Farmhouse yeast registry: kveik — Lars Marius Garshol
