Good Times

Lots of great things happening these days, for me personally and for Lervig...

I have finally had a baby girl, Nina, she was born on the 4th of October... I guess I am lucky to have found a nice woman who would actually want to have my baby... But we are all happy and I feel really lucky to have found such a great partner and am very happy to have my own family now.

I have been nominated for a local prize here in Stavanger called Firsprangprisen which is given every year to a local person who has done something remarkable to build local patriotism.... I was chosen for the fact that locals are very proud of their local beer and the fact that we are getting more and more national attention for it. Which I am very honored and I am very grateful for being recognized... Even though I doubt I will win as the paper published a 2 page story on it and placed a very large photo of me drinking a beer. How can you give a guy a reward for being able to do what most guys only wish they can do....right?

The national newspaper Dagbladet has judged our jul øl to be the best in the butik øl class (4,7%) and we have underestimated the surge of sales,,, now one week after sales started for this years Christmas beers we are already sold out, and there is nothing I can do about it, unless they want a full batch to sell the week before Christmas. Here is the link to the test.

The Local paper, Rogalands Avis, has their own test written by their wine and foody critic Tøre Bruland, here he has given both of our Christmas beers and our Winter ale six out of six on the Norwegian dice scale... Which is also great for us and me personally as I was concerned how the class F (over 4,7%alc) beer would do in the public's eye as I wanted to make a different beer this year for Christmas, not just another caramel flavored stronger beer, which is the norm here for any other Christmas beer... I think I may do something different again next year... but happily most of that beer too is also been moved out of our warehouse to Vin-polet.

I am hopeful for the results of the Norges beste Øl, So far after the first round our best chance in the race is our Lucky Jack, I think this beer has a great shot because its is already available in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and beyond and the sales are going up every month. This beer is a great beer for all beer drinking levels as it is a a gateway beer for people who only drink pilsners and havent ventured into craft beer yet, this beer will surely get them on their way... It is my goal to get this beer widely available nationally and beyond to be competitive

with the pilsner market in price, but unmatched in it's flavor and quality. I am currently

brewing larger and larger volumes of this beer but never sacrificing on the quality...

Lervig is currently working on exporting Lucky Jack to Italy and Spain, perhaps Finland. Already in the last months we have begun to export to Sweden and lately we finally got a shipment off to Denmark to be hitting the shelves in Irma stores, This is the first time Irma has imported beer directly from a brewery, so I am very very hopeful for a great result there and I would be extremely proud to see my beers back on the shelves in Denmark. I want to eventually have one of the more accessible pale ales on the market in northern Europe, oh what the hell all of Europe... more to come in the near future for Lucky Jack.

Oh yeah...

Rye IPA is available from the Polet, finally, We are shipping a lot of it to Bergen these weeks so get ready up there.... Be sure to order it and tell the polet shops to put it on the shelves! I expect that it wont take too long to see it as a year round shelf lurker in the polet...

New batches are being brewed and are ready, the 3rd brew of Konrad stout is ready to go, and I must say it is the best one so far!

I think now I will as I stated last post, focus on solidifying the long term success of lervig and focusing on the production, getting it to be able to handle the growth it has seen already as well as the growth that I am anticipating. Remember that for every new beer we add that only makes it more difficult to keep up with demand on all the other products... and if you look back 1,5 years to the recent past of Lervig there where 4 beers, all of which were pilsner... we have come a long way, we are looking forward to the future...

Vote for Me!

I am happy and honored to be nominated as this years ølhund... I am not sure what this will do to my social status but I don't think it can hurt it....

Eating out in Stavanger.... Come on we can do better!

You know I like good beer, but that doesn't stop there, I am a bit of a foody, I love good food, good drink and good style. So After what I ate last night and having gone through this before... I have a question for Norway...

Why do you let so many horrible restaurants stay open by returning to them when the quality is so bad and the price is so ridiculously high?

Therefore I want to start my own honest review on eating establishments I visit. I will give you my honest opinion from my view.

I haven't gone out too much in Stavanger but I have gone out to most places and some are better than the others but mostly the level of food quality in town is low. But then there are a few that stand out and my head is spinning wondering why this place is still in operation...

Last night me and a few friends wanted to eat at Rena one of Stavangers more solid food establishments however we didn't have a table so we found a place nearby Amici... (Linked)

OMG!

We were greeted by an overly friendly plump middle eastern fellow, I think either turkish or Moroccan... He did try to play it off with his use of 'Grazie' now and then but it wasn't working for me of course. We were in seven persons and he made an effort to squeeze us into a table meant for 4. So far I appreciated his effort to please his customers.

Then we got the menu.

WTF? It read like this: (I can do it from memory because this is the time the fear set in, and if it were not for the shear amount of hunger we felt we would have left then and there)

All had their english translation below...

Antipasti -480 kr

Insalata caprasi 280 kr

Pasta del giorno 280 kr

Carne del giorno 280 kr

Pesce del giorno ?kr

I asked the waiter ( a polish lady) what the pesce del giorno is, she said ' it the fish of the day'... I think she figured I simply didn't understand what pesce del giorno meant, not that I wanted to know what the fish was that day... chuckle

We then had the attention of the plump middle eastern man again he came and made many of us move to different spots around the table so we can fit better to the environment around us (so the waiters can squeeze around our chairs )

The wine was brought and it was a fairly decent Nero di Avola from Sicily didn't catch the name it was too dark to read it. But it's hard to find a bad Italian wine...

The food, the man suggested that we all eat family style to make it easier on the kitchen. We all agreed that this was a good idea.

After a while came some cheeses and a few rolled up cuts of Salami piccante and some prosciutto. All pretty good. A little bit of insalata not so great too much cheap vinegar in it in my opinion...

Let the feast begin! And you know it's a top quality restaurant when they use plates from Ikea... The waiter brought out 4 plates with about one serving each per plate, a measly looking chicken thigh and leg with a few broiled potatoes, a plate of over cooked pasta (Penne with some pepperonata and what seems to be tomato sauce made from tomato paste and water... A plate of meatballs which were clearly bought in and horrible, covered in the same tomato paste and water sauce. And surprisingly edible plate of the pesce del giorno which my pregnant girlfriend kept for herself..

In the end we were thankful that they gave us such a small amount of food, we actually left most of it. the bill was under 3000 kr...

SUMMARY:

Overpriced and horrible food, overly friendly front man.... This place would not last a month in New York or London. I am sorry Stavanger people you need to stop going back to these places so unsuspecting foreigners like myself wont be so disappointed. Or simply so the advancement of good taste can evolve here in town. Take your pick.

Even though this place is one of the worst places I have ever ate at here in Stavanger, it is not on the top of my worst list... the worst of the worst here in stavanger is easily Emilios tapas house Absolute disappointment here, the worst thing is that the owner appeared to actually be Spanish, he should hang his head in shame for the trash he is passing off as tapas... and he should be arrested for robbing his customers... thats all I need to say about that place... don't go and I hope to see its early demise so that something good can arise in its place.

One of my favorite eats in town is India Tandori restaurant They are doing it right! Only thing I would change is the beer selection... They need some Lucky Jack to go with that great spicy food they serve up!

New stuff

A quick update on whats going on at Lervig these days:

new beers:

Lervig Jul a 6,5% Christmas beer, this years attempt at doing something new and different for a christmas beer, we have made a belgian style ale, it is medium bodied with lots of fruity esters from the Belgian Ale yeast, it also has been spiced with Star Anise and ginger. The beer is going to be packaged unfiltered and unpasteurized like all the Brewers reserve beers.

This years version of Lervig Winter Ale is in the bottle and ready for the winter. It is very simullar to last years version, but I have worked out a few things for the better and this years brew is smoother and the alcohol is well hidden.

Some of you may have tasted the new Rye IPA, it's not moving into the Vinmonoplet as fast as we had hoped but we are working on it and now it is pretty much in the hands of the vinmonoplet to get them in the stores. Feel free to ask your local polet for some! (Give them some pressure) Meanwhile you can find it around town here in Stavanger and perhaps soon it will be in Oslo and Bergen too. If you like flavor and hops this beer is for you. Check out what Tore Bruland has to say about the new Rye IPA ( Norsk).

I have brewed more Barely wine and soon I hope to get them into some barrels for aging. This time I will double the volume as I had last year to get them in the pollet.

In my life I am expecting to become a dad for the first time in about a week so I expect to be busy the next few months.

My plans for the future brews for Lervig are going to be to build on what we have and get the production dialed in and consistant, as well as improved qualtiy control.

I hope that the growth we have seen over the past few months will continue to climb. I am very excited to see where we can take this brewery too!

Update

Hello, I have been extremely busy this summer so I haven't been good at updating my blog.

So far this summer since my last update alot of new developments have happened:

We released the Konrad Stout to Vinmonopolet, this is a 10,4% Russian Impy stout. We have brewed about 3000L so we have a good supply for the rest of the year. It is also available on draft.

Another new beer we made a small batch of an IPA made with Rye Malt. This was well recieved and we have now brewed a larger amount for distribution.

Lervig went to the Copenhagen Beer Festival, we represented Stavanger with some of our beers, the Lucky Jack, White Dog, Konrad stout, and Rye IPA.

I traveled to Rome Italy to celebrate Ma Che Siete Venuta a fá's 10th anniversary party with a huge cruise from rome to Barcelona, on that ship were represented over 50 microbreweries from all over the world. Lervig was there with Lucky Jack and Rye IPA.

This year at Gladmat we released a new brand series ( White Dog , Lucky Jack) the Betty Brown, yep its a 4,7% Brown ale, I wanted to keep it low key but make it good, I get tired quicky when I drink beers with alot of caramel malts so I used less than most would when brewing a brown ale, i used more chocolate malt and brown malt to boost the chocolate flavor as well as nutty flavors from the malt, I decieded to go with Pacific Gem hops to help pull out more of the berry / forest flavors that these hops can provide. I am quite happy with the results and hope that our customers will be just as impressed with it as they were with the Lucky Jack.

I have brewed also a new beer for an upcoming homebrewers festival in Nærbø, it is very simular to the Lucky Jack except the Hops were all Nelson Savin and this beer turned out to be awesome! so look out for that soon.

Lervig has had 2 great months in sales it seems like things are starting to move in a positive direction around here! I really appreciate the support, and my soon to be born daughter Nina will be happy for the continued support in the future!

There are still many new things to develop this year!
Enjoy the Norwegian summer while it lasts!

Time for Consumers to Revolt?

Apparently I am not alone with my thoughts on the crap we are stuck to choose from here in Norwegian supermarkets, read the article below!

Grocery business dodges bullets : Views and News from Norway

www.newsinenglish.no

NEWS ANALYSIS: Norwegian grocery stores have the highest prices in Europe and the worst selection of goods, according to consumer advocates, and, reportedly, a government commission charged with finding out why. Food producers, retailers and wholesalers all blame each other, while Norwegian consumer.

more about me

here is a story about myself...but in Italian...

Thanks Paolo!

Kissmeyer's beer launch

Last week Anders Kissmeyer opened his new projects to tasting at Mikkellers Bar in Vesterbrø... Hopefully he will find success and produce more great beers in the future, I am very happy to have helped him with a small part of this launch, and so it seems we will have a cooperation for some more cotract brewing in the near future. http://beerticker.dk/kissmeyer-beer-nu-lanceret-31360

Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine

In a few weeks I will be taking a 10% barley wine out of the barrels it has been sitting in since early November, this beer will be filled into 33cl bottles and sold in april. More to come!

Team Building Brewing

Lervig's first team building experiment was completed yesterday when a group of Geophysicists from a local Oil drilling company bottled their own beer. The project began when the Lead Geophysicist came to the brewery to purchase some beer for himself. A week or so later he was back for more beer and to ask about the possiblity to produce some beer for his team. We had a meeting and a few beers later decided how to go about it.

My co worker and myself met his whole team at the Cardinal Pub in town and had arranged a beer tasting of 12 beers which cover a broad range of what beer is and what beer can be from Pilsner to a Smoked Impierial Stout. We had a fun filled eveing but before it was over the team had a better understanding for what beer is and how it is made. We also decided what sort of beer they desired to produce with our 800Liter system....

Two weeks later the team visited the brewery, with my help they were instructed on milling the malts, and mashing in the malt to start the brew, Many persons toured the rest of the brewery while enjoying our beers and some grilled food thanks to our friend Magne. After about 6 hours their beer was in the fermenter....

They ended up with over 1700 bottles of beer with their own label and fitting name 'Explore Me' as they are normaly an oil field exploring team and now they can add beer exploring to their list of discoveries

Guest Brew with Anders Kissmeyer...

My old Advisary and friend Anders Kissmeyer has been up here in Stavanger the past few days for a fun and interesting brew day. We have made what we think will be an exciting and tasty Smoked Baltic Porter. Since it was the first time for me smoking malt or smoking anything I was concered that the smokey character wasnt going to be noticable in the brew. I am happy to say it is there not over powering but firm and enjoyable in the flavor.

The beer is under fermentation and I think this beer can be ready to ship to Denmark in a few weeks. I of course plan to hold a few hunder liters here in norway and Anders can decide where the rest will go.

I have enjoyed the time I spent with Anders, he is alway willing to share his opinon and I respect his knowledge and professional experience. I look forward to brew with him in the future when possible. I wish Anders a big success with his new projects, he truly is a die hard brewer!

Another New Beer... In the tank

I finally got around to brewing an Imperial Stout. I had a long day cause I mashed in around 12,30 and I pushed my 800 L system with 300kg of malt... after a long and slow run off in the lauter tank I put 700Liters of 22.0P black wort into the tank.

I brewed it with:

Pilsner malt, Brown malt, Roasted Barley, Chocolate malt, Crystal malt, and Oatmeal with some candy sugar in there too.

I used mainly hop extract for the hopping and some late chinook, for an IBU of about 85, but I dont think it will be noticeable.

And here is a potential label if we bottle it... Name and look are not determined...

Winter ale Launch in Vinmonoplet next week

Lervig's new beer Winter Ale is a Strong ale which I brewed with about 150kg of raisins in about 4500L of this beer. I think this beer will age very well so I allowed a 5 year sell by date.
It is a dark copper colored beer and it has rich flavors from it's combonation of toasted caramel malts and and raison addition after boiling the wort. It's full flavored mouthfeel will pair perfectly with your hearty witner stews, or heartier food fare at the same time help keep you warm on a cold winter night.
Look for it in bars in Stavanger or in Vinmonoplotet stores!

Anders Kissmeyer in Norway

Anders (to the right) will be visiting Lervig wensday the 19th of January and we will brew a collaboration beer together. I think for Anders he is becoming quite known for his famous Smoked malted beers and what would be better than a 7,0% abv Smoked Baltic Porter. The beer will be divided and sold into Danmark and here in Norway. The beer should be available late febuary for shipment.

Wendsday evening Anders will be presenting himself and talking about his new brand "Kissmeyer Beer" at the Cardinal Pub in Stavanger.

Anders has had a long carreer starting with 16 years at Carlsberg, and then the last 10 years as a founder and brewmaster of Norrebrø Bryghus in Copenghagen.

Anders has been in my opinon one of the leading voices in Scandinavian craft brewing, and he has done his job at promoting great beer in Danmark and abroad.

Anders has been a present figure in the beer scene durring my years in Copenhagen brewing for Gourmet Bryggeriet, and we became closer due to the involvement of a good friend and brewer Shaun Hill pictured to the left, here they are displaying their Medals from the last World Beer Cup where some Norrebrø's beers won gold on some of the most competive catagories. The beer "Seven" a Russian Imperial stout was a collaboration between Shaun Hill-Norrebrø, Christain Skodval Andersen - Beer Here and more, the guys from Devil brewery, Mikkeller, Peter Sonne, Amager Bryghus, and Myself thus the name "SEVEN" for the seven breweries particapting. So i guess we may name this next guest brew "Two".... then again maybe not:-)