Born to be Wild

After several weeks of working with Markus Ott and Bjarne Olsen, I can safely say that we have a solid team of brewers at Søgaards Bryghus. Our production schedule is tighter and more effective than ever, and quality has improved as well. We work well as a team, and can handle just about anything that the brewery throws at us. Moreover, Markus and Bjarne are easygoing, intelligent people, and enjoyable to work with. After some of the struggles of the previous months, I appreciate working with them and look forward to some great brews in the future. We already have some interesting brainstorms in the pipe!

Markus Ott (left) and Bjarne Olsen  chatting over a beer.

Speaking of which, Aleburgh Wild Hop Ale will soon be ready to serve. "Aleburgh" is one of the original names for the city of Aalborg from several hundred years ago, presumed to mean "city by the stream" due to its proximity to the fjord. While Denmark does not cultivate hops, many plants grow wild throughout the country, and my friend Rasmus (from the local homebrewing society) and I picked hops from several of the large plants in Aalborg to brew something unique. Aleburgh Wild Hop Ale is a 5% pale ale, light in color and body with moderate bitterness and a unique flavor from the wild hops. These hops impart a flavor similar to German noble hops, but with more robust grassy and earthy notes. Also on the agenda are beers for the Christmas season. Batches of Søgaards Julebuk and Beer Here Jule IPA bubble away happily in their tanks right now.

Rasmus clipping a nice bunch of hops near the stadium.

With the brewery properly staffed and functioning well, I've been able to relax more and even take some holiday time. My mother came to visit recently, and really enjoyed her time in Aalborg. After her visit here, she and I took a short trip through Berlin and Munich, including a stop at Oktoberfest for a Maß of Augustiner Edelstoff and a delicious snack of Steckerlnfisch. My dad and his wife came to visit a week later, and I of course introduced my dad to some of the excellent cask beer at the Wharf. It was great to see some of my family again, and I look forward to spending more time with them when I visit Chicago for Christmas.

Ein Prosit! My mom and I at Oktoberfest.

I'm really starting to feel at home here, both at the brewery and here in Denmark in general. Now that work is more relaxed, I can see more of the country and work on creating more great beers. Until next time!

Execute!

Sorry for the long time between updates, everybody. August proved to be a major challenge, as our bottling facility encountered hardware difficulties and our original choice for second brewer decided that Søgaards wasn't the right place for him.

However, two new brewers have now joined me at Søgaards: Bjarne Olsen, formerly of Thisted Bryghus, and Markus Ott, who brings a significant amount of brewing experience from Germany. Bjarne will manage packaging operations once he's gained some additional training, and Markus will help me run the brewery and cellar. Both have already proven themselves skilled and extremely helpful, and have already boosted our production capacity and quality. With brewing work spread across a larger number of experienced staff, I should be able to breathe a bit easier.

Brewing Beer Here Hopfix and drinking
Executioner IPA: A good Saturday night, all in all!

Not that I haven't taken time to work on interesting projects, of course! I recently collaborated with Christian Skovdal Andersen of Beer Here on a new creation: Executioner IPA, brewed for one of his favorite bars in Rome, Mastro Titta. It's styled after the "West Coast" style of IPA in the US, making it very dry and bitter while maintaining a huge hop flavor and aroma. We used all pale malts with a smattering of light crystal malt for the grain base, then combined that with a large dose of Amarillo, Centennial and Citra hops. The result: A 7% IPA, pale as a pilsner and just as dry, but with a huge hop aroma and lots of fruity, floral flavor. We celebrated the release of this beer with a small party at Søgaards Bryghus, featuring the band Christian sponsors, Morten Skou Andersen. Executioner IPA proved dangerously easy to drink, after a few of my friends started nodding off towards the end of the night! We're already on our way to brew a second batch, since the first is in high demand - this one will feature Galena hops in the dry-hopping, which should give it an interesting addition of pineapple and lime notes.

A good likeness of me, albeit a tad heavy on the back hair.

Another project in the works: A wet-hopped beer, using fresh hops gathered from hop plants growing wild around the Aalborg area! My friend Rassmus and I will be gathering some hops from some of the larger plants growing here in Vejgaard this weekend, so I'll be posting about the expedition in the near future. It should prove an interesting experiment, and a valuable exploration into the possibilities of brewing in Denmark.

Brewing hasn't occupied 100% of my time in Denmark, of course. I've become involved with Platform 4 and Hal9K, two hacker/makerspace groups working in buildings in the old industrial harbor. Both groups are heavily invested in artistic and technical projects, and regularly hold excellent concerts and performances. Recent highlights include a 10th-anniversary concert for European electronic label Ad Noiseam, and a concert featuring Europe's largest Tesla coil for the "Aalborg i Rødt" cultural festival.

Some of my friends who work with these groups are interested in starting a homebrewing operation, so I will be helping them build a setup in one of the buildings. And I may just get to tinker with some more experimental recipes as well! In the meantime, I'd like to build a theremin just for the heck of it - music is still one of my passions, after all.

For those of you in Aalborg who want to try some beer fresh off the fermenters, we have new batches of Utzon Blonde and US Pale Ale on draft right now. Utzon Blonde is an easy-drinking light beer featuring honey and a touch of Cascade hops, while the US Pale Ale displays a robust floral character from Centennial hops. Until next time - vi ses!

Barrels of Fun

After a few months as head brewer of Søgaards Bryghus, things have largely calmed down and I've developed a tighter schedule and routine. My job continues to be a learning experience but, despite a stumble here and there, quality and production continue to improve. My friend Thure Harrington, who's been assisting me in the brewery for the last few weeks, finished his tenure at Søgaards on Friday so that he can resume his regular teaching job. I hate to see him go, as he's been fun to work with and enormously helpful, but our second brewer arrives in one week. This should enable us to smooth things out even more and allow me a bit more breathing room.

Thure filling a barrel with Høstmand.

After tackling a large order of Beer Here bottles going to Sweden, we now have enough room to start filling our South African Pinot Noir barrels. Earlier this week, Thure and I filled our first four barrels with Beer Here's Høstmand, a light-colored Belgian beer that will be inoculated with Brettanomyces for a nice, funky dryness. We hit a few bumps here and there, but soon had the whole batch sitting snugly in its new home. This coming week, I plan to transfer my Castlewood Old Ale to barrels as well, after which it will sit for a few months to mellow and take on some of the barrel flavors. I'm excited to see how it turns out!

Proud father of some newly-filled barrels.

The bottling line originally posed the greatest hurdle to my control of the brewery, but I now feel quite comfortable with operating it and have packaged several batches with it. Among them are Beer Here's Høst Stout (their coffee milk stout repackaged for the Swedish market) and White Cat (an American wheat beer with Nelson Sauvin hops and orange peel), Black Rooster's Hoptimizer IPA (dry-hopped with loads of Chinook and Cascade), and our own Søgaards Jomfruhumle pilsner. Coming soon is a video tour of the bottling line in action!

A day in the park with a book and a fresh bottle of Black Rooster Hoptimizer.

I won't lie: It's been a difficult journey so far, and I've been busting my hump harder than I ever have in my life. But I wouldn't trade the experience for anything, and I'm looking forward to making better beer than ever.

Weekend Update

Just a quick update to let you folks know I haven't forgotten about you! Life at the brewery is still extremely busy, but I'm growing more and more comfortable and confident in my role here. I can now operate the bottling line without help from the old brewers, and production from brewing to packaging tends to run smoothly. After some maintenance by Kaspar-Schulz, our brew system now performs better than ever. Although Ilan has moved on to his bike tour of Europe, local homebrewer and friend Thure Busk Harrington is assisting me until our second brewer arrives in late summer. He's been a great asset, and has helped out enormously in improving our operations and quality. Plus, it's always nice to work with a friend.

No pictures this time, unfortunately, but I'll have some ready for next update.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

Brewing Castlewod Old Ale, and the Copenhagen Beer Festival

After a satisfying brewday last Sunday, Castlewood Old Ale has been bubbling away happily. With a hefty Maris Otter malt base to give it a rich, nutty character, crystal malt and molasses to give it sweetness and complexity, and Fuggle hops to give it a balanced, earthy bitterness, it should be quite nice. Preliminary taste testing indicates it'll be quite delicious, so I'm looking forward to how it turns out. Check out the video for more!

Following a short but hectic work week at the brewery, I headed down to Copenhagen for the Copenhagen Beer Festival, organized by the Danske Ølentusiaster and featuring over 70 different exhibitors. I poured beer at the booth all three days, and while I had a bit of a rough time at the end of Thursday evening, it was a fantastic event. I met many Danish brewers for the first time, including Søren Parker Wagner of Nørrebro Bryghus and Croocked Moon, and Mikkel Borg Bjergsø of Mikkeler. Many excellent beers appeared at the festival as well. Personal favorites included Fanø Bryghus Kolval, Beer Here Farligwine, and Svaneke Licorice Stout - which they even made into an ice cream with chocolate chips!

The festival in full swing.

Pouring beer at the festival!

Work at the brewery continues to be hectic, and with Ilan resuming his bike tour I'll have my hands full. But I'm training one of the workers at the brewery to assist me, and my friend Thure Harrington will work with me for the next few months until our new full-fledged assistant brewer arrives. Until next time - vi ses!

Brewing with Ilan: Jutland Smoked Porter

After spending long hours brewing beers for Søgaards Bryghus and its contracts, Ilan and I have finally seized the opportunity to brew our own recipes. A large number of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir barrels from South Africa are arriving in ten days, and the owner has given us pemission to brew two special 1000-liter batches to fill some of them.

Today, Ilan is brewing his Jutland Smoked Porter: A porter brewed with 25% Weyermann smoked malt, to be aged for at least three months in one of the Pinot Noir casks. Lots of crystal and dark malts give it a rich, robust flavor that will surely age nicely in the barrel. Although we've pushed the brewhouse to its limits, things are going smoothly. We're most of the way through the brewday right now, and so far the wort tastes spectacular. Looking forward to how this one turns out! 

Ilan getting a whiff of smoked malt. Delicious stuff!

Our brewing schedule has been slightly revised, so I will be brewing my beer this Sunday. Castlewood Old Ale will be an English old ale brewed primarily with Maris Otter pale malt, giving it a rich, nutty flavor. Crystal malt will add body and sweetness, while chocolate malt and molasses will add color and deep, complex flavors. Fuggle hops will impart an earthy bitterness to balance out the beer, and its time in the Pinot Noir cask will add roundness and oak flavors, as well as a bit of fruity, tannic character from the wine. I plan on eventually bottling some of this, as well as producing some casks to be served as real ale at the Wharf. Look for my next post in a few days to see how it gets made! In the meantime, check out Ilan's blog for more details about today's brew.

Passing the Torch

Sorry for the long delay between updates. Life in Denmark has been so hectic that I haven't had much time to write here.


The primary reason for that, of course, is that I have begun my tenure as head brewer of Søgaards Bryghus. I took over operations during the first week of May, and since then have spent most of my time at the brewery. I've experienced numerous challenges in the last few weeks, but I've risen to them and haven't let anything set me back. Kasper, the former brewer, has remained available to give me advice and help me through tough spots over the phone. Even more helpful, however, has been Ilan Klages-Mundt, who returned to Aalborg after three weeks in Copenhagen to assist me at the brewery. His experience at other breweries - especially his experience at Fanø Bryghus, which uses the same 1000-liter brewhouse as Søgaards - has given me greater insight into the workings of the brewery, and a better foundation for my future here. Juggling the day-to-day tasks of the brewery and troubleshooting operational issues have been my greatest teachers so far, though. With Ilan's help, I've done everything from operating the brewhouse manually to pasteurizing and packaging several batches of beer.

Tinkering with one of the valves on the brewhouse.

Among other beers, over the last two and a half weeks we've brewed:

• Kama Citra, Beer Here's all-Citra hoppy brown ale
• Ammestout, Beer Here's coffee milk stout
• Søgaards Classic, a traditional Munich dunkel
• Madam Weizen, the Søgaards weissbier
• The Ale, an Irish red ale brewed for an Aalborg bar called the Irish House

The Ale and Classic also double as propagators and testbeds for our new liquid yeast program, for our ale and lager yeasts respectively. From their current 1000 liter batches, I'll be able to build up a stock of yeast that, in a few weeks, will serve to ferment most of our beers.

A fresh, healthy batch of WLP001 ale yeast.

 We've also done a boatload of packaging, including filling several of the 1000-liter serving tanks with Jomfruhumle (our pilsner) and Klosterbryg (our bock) and producing over a hundred kegs of Tia Loca, Beer Here's hybrid German/Belgian wheat beer. The bottling line is still my biggest hurdle on the packaging side, but after a long day of filling over 8000 bottles of beer - from our Fort Dansborg IPA to even more Kama Citra - I'm more comfortable than ever with our setup.

The pasteurizer in action.

Speaking of Beer Here, I finally met the owner and recipe designer, Christian Skovdal Andersen, last week. We had a few pints at the Wharf and talked shop a bit, after which we went back to the Søgaards brewery to sample and test some of his recipes in action. Following that, I finally broke out some of the homebrews I tucked away in my luggage, including Leng Black Abbey Stout (a Belgian imperial stout a bit over a year old), Citra on the Shore (an American IPA dry-hopped with Amarillo and Citra), and Ailes Grisette (a light saison with Sorachi Ace hops and lavender). I got great feedback on the homebrews, especially the IPA, which makes me quite happy. The next morning was a bit rough, though!

Sampling with (from left to right) Christian, Ilan and Thure.

It hasn't been all work work work, though. I recently moved into my own apartment, owned by one of my barmates at the Wharf, and although it's a basement unit it's still a nice place. It's also a mere ten-minute bike ride from the brewery, which makes my commute far easier. I'm still getting the place sorted out - it's amazing how much "little" stuff you have to reacquire after leaving everything behind! - but I'm comfortable there and enjoying having my own space again. The apartment is near one of Aalborg's larger parks, which is a nice spot to sit around with a book and a bottle of good beer. I've also taken the opportunity to explore Aalborg a bit more on my bike.

A nice afternoon in the park.

Some exciting stuff is coming up on the horizon, too: Next week, the owner and I are going to Copenhagen for the beer festival (Ølfestival Kobenhavn), and will be serving beer there. And this Friday, I'll be brewing my first recipe on the Søgaards brewhouse: An English old ale that will be aged in one of the Pinot Noir barrels arriving soon at the brewery. Stay tuned for more updates soon!