norworegon
the movie
In 2019, my brothers and I went to Norway to attend the Kornølfest in Hornindal. This beer festival celebrates the home- and farm-brewers that have kept the raw beer tradition alive, along with their amazing yeast (called kveik) from which we all benefit. On the trip, I brewed a spontaneous beer with Inge and Eivin (using apples from their farm) at their family brewery, Lindheim Olkomani. I also brewed with our hosts, Amund and Byørn of Eik o Tid in Oslo, with Norwegian juniper we gathered ourselves along with ponderosa pine bark I smuggled over in my luggage. The highlight of the trip, however, was the fest itself where we witnessed a traditional sahti brew in an ancient cabin and met the brewers and drank the beer that has preserved this awesome slice of brewing history and culture! Filmed, edited and produced by Doug Arney.
original brewery promotional video
Right after opening my brewery in 2012, my videographer brother Doug came for a visit and produced this short film. At the time, the 500 sq ft brewery held the entire business. Before the tasting room or off-site storage, The Ale Apothecary brewed, fermented, aged and bottled in a converted garage space. Note that the barrels in this video were the very first set of 6 I got from Domaine Drouhin and the brew kettle is a 1-bbl stainless soup pot I borrowed from my industrial brewing compadre, Mark Henion. The 3-bbl copper kettle we use now replaced Mark’s in late 2013 or early 2014. Domaine Drouhin is still our primary source of barrels.
In 2012, I cut a tree down that was just down the hill from the brewery. Our local paper, The Bend Bulletin, followed the progress with a photo essay.
The goal was to use it as a lauter tun!
I'd read about Scandinavian brewers doing this and I was inspired...
...but I really had no idea what I was doing.
Since there was scant information out there, I just did what I thought was right.
I had several woodworking friends, like Eric Anderson and Herb North, who didn't know anything about sahti, but knew a lot about wood.
I learned later that the farmhouse brewers who make 'kuurna' bury the log for years so the moisture leaves the wood slowly to avoid checking. Cracks in the wood because I didn't do this eventually led to the failure of my spruce kuurna :(
Traditional kuurna brewing requires juniper, but here at The Ale Apothecary, fir and spruce grow in our area.
I chose spruce for our 'Sahati' because it is an American heritage brewing ingredient and because it was pleasantly aromatic.
This was prior to the intial brew in my kuurna. I eliminated the oak ribs for future brews and just layered spruce with mash on top.
For eyeballing the whole thing, I got really lucky that all the mash fit!
The resulting beer, Sahati, was a defining moment for The Ale Apothecary. Using techniques inspired from the past, my brewery created a unique and new flavor profile that set groundwork for what the brewery is and does today.
This photo is of the 2nd kuurna, a much larger spruce log than the original. We are still working at making this into our coolship!
