Canned craft brew

I must admit that I was highly sceptical when I bought the latest three beer from Ølfabrikken. They got canned (pun intended). There seems to be a consensus here in Denmark that good beer needs to be in a glass bottle.

So now this? Well having sampled them, they are living up to the Ølfabrikken legacy.



There is a couple of advantages in these little cans. No sunlight has hit the beer upon consumption and less packaging.

Cheers

Ølfabrikken beer giveaway

Oh joy - I seems that the controversial beer "Sinful Brother" which originally was brewed for Christian to give as a dividend to his investors as a final payment is going to be packaged and given to incestors in both Ølfabrikken and Gourmetbryggriet.

The beer holds 13.4% alcohol and should probably be aged for at least 6 months more before its mature.

To celebrate that Ølfabrikken is the brewery of the year, Gourmetbryggriet is giving all investors GB or ØF 10 free bottles of beer from their storage area.

From this Friday and the following week investors can also have 10 bottles of Sinful Brother! This offer is only available through the next week. If you would like your beer then come by the brewery in Roskilde and pick it up.

Source: EXPATS Brewer's blog

Ølfabrikken Porter being brewed on Fuglsang

Yet another post about the brewery that seems to be my favorite subject at the moment.

On a regular basis Gourmetbryggriet brews on the brewery Fuglsang. Now they have visited Fuglsang again, and this time to brew the famous Ølfabrikken Porter.


In the picture we see Mike Murphy pulling out a sample while Claus Christensen watches.

Gourmetbryggriet claims to take on this beer in a humble manner and that this brew is brewed according to the original recipe. To honer the beer, it the fermentation is under way in the open vessel, that is used very seldom.

Gourmetbryggeriet, could I please have my beer?

Gourmetbryggeriet has done something that seems bad... again. Ølfabrikken has announced a special 'We are sorry' beer for the shareholders, and Gourmetbryggeriet promised to give it to the shareholders. The beer was meant as a compensation for their lost money in connection with the GB take over. Now Gourmetbryggeriet apparently have sold the beer to COOP (chain of grocery stores).

It just gives Goutmetbryggeriet a serious image problem. Their self-proclaimed rescue attempt of Ølfabrikken, that just looks and feels like a hostile take over, and now this.

Making the promise and not keeping it it results in a bigger dent in their credibility, than just denying the shareholders their beer in the first place.

I think that their PR guy has been on a holiday.

The trouble is only about 4000 litres of beer, that was meant for even distribution among the former shareholders of Ølfabrikken. A small amount that would not hurt Gourmetbryggeriet in any way.

It has been pointed out that beer brewing is a tough business, but this case can not be good business for GB. I guess that bad press is better than no press at all.

I thought that the Gourmetbryggeriet case was closed when the head brewer left, but it seems to go on for a while yet.

There has been some emails and some announcements that I have not covered, mainly because this is not an Ølfabrikken blog.

The latest twist, however, where I as a shareholder will not even get my beer as promised, motivated me to do yet another post about Ølfabrikken and GB.

I fell over this (danish) announcement http://gourmetbryggeriet.blogspot.com/ from the former head brewer Christian Skovdal Andersen titled "Gourmetbbryggeriet cheats small investors".

Please take action!

It seems that COOP has bought the beer in question. On behalf of myself and my fellow shareholders, I have written Kenn Thomsen on Kenn.Thomsen AT coop DOT dk urging him not to take an active part, mainly by not receiving the beer.

Are you a shareholder? Then write to either Kenn Thomsen on the above address and to the Director of Gourmetbryggeriet Tom Sand Kristensen, who initially approved that the beer was to be given to us. His email is tsk AT GourmetBryggeriet DOT dk

Update: 2008-03-13 COOP can not confirm any connection to the beer in question.

Mikeller is number one (according to people in Copenhagen N)

We have just had a tasting of the finalists for the best new Danish beer of 2007. We thought that Monk's Elixir from Mikeller by far is the best one.

Here is the ranked list:

01 Mikeller: Monk's Elixir
02 Ølfabrikken: Kloster Jul (Sort Jul replacement)
03 Thisted Bryghus: Thy Eksklusive
04 Midtfyns Bryghus: Imperial Stout
05 Midtfyns Bryghus: Double IPA
06 Raasted Bryghus: Triple IPA
07 Djævlebryg: Nekron Stout
08 Bryggeriet Vestfyen: Willemoes Porter
09 Kongens Bryghus: Julemumme
10 Bryggeriet Vestfyen: Willemoes Jul 2007

Now this tasting was only in Copenhagen N, and is not the final national one. This is just so we can compare our list with the final one. Do we like Mikeller more than the rest of Denmark?

Mike's facts about Ølfabrikken

Today I stumbled upon the blog of Mike, the head brewer at Gourmetbryggeriet. Yesterday he made a post about the purchase of Ølfabrikken. It contains a good timeline of events leading up to the purchase, and a special greeting to this blog :-)

Comment on Ølfabrikken

Anders Kissmeyer from Nørrebrø Bryghus makes a note of the Ølfabrikken case in his latest newsletter. It seems he shares my views on what really happened (page 3):

Even among us veterans, the ones that have been here more than six months - we can feel the consideration for one's colleagues is under pressure in the micro brewery industry. 'When the crib is empty' one is tempted to say, and the first dirty ticks have seen the light of day. For example the execution of a college, and then trying to convince the media that it really was an unselfish attempt to save the brewery.

He goes on and distances himself from the above mentioned black sheep, as he call it. Nice to see my views backed up.

New Danish beer of the year 2007

The Dansh Beer Entusiasts make a vote for the best new Danish beer of the year. The finalists have been found and the second round of the voting is now running.

So, without further a due, I here bring you the ten finalists:

Øl	Bryggeri	Procent
Double IPA	Midtfyns	9,2%
Imperial Stout	Midtfyns	9,5%
Julemumme	Kongens Bryghus	6,6%
Monks Elixir	Mikkeller	10,0%
Nekron Stout	Djævlebryg	8,5%
Sort Jul	Ølfabrikken	8,5%
Thy Eksklusive	Thisted	7,1%
Triple IPA	Raasted	9,0%
Willemoes Jul 2007	Vestfyen	10,5%
Willemoes Porter	Vestfyen	9,8%

This year there was no less than 556 candidats in the first round. Pretty good for a small country like ours. A total of 97 breweries have put new beers on the market in 2007. The x-mas beers are heavily represented as usual. Maybe we like x-mas beer a lot, or we just remember them better as voting is so close the the year end - I guess I'll never find out.

Ølfabrikken offline

Why do I show all this attention for Ølfabrikken, all of a sudden? Well as it was my favourite brewery and I saw no other media mentioning anything, I felt compelled to write what I see and hear on the blog.

Ok - it requires no Sherlock to figure out that plug has been pulled on http://olfabrikken.dk

A couple of the Ølfabrikken shareholders have volunteered to look further into the matter of the takeover. Among these are legal and economical professionals. Whether they will find anything is unsure. But the important thing is that to have tried, instead of just standing by passively.

What happened to Øfabrikken

This is just in from ølfabrikken. Translated by yours truely. The original danish statement is in the comments to this post.

---

Dear Shareholder,

Enclosed is a detailed presentation of the case.

The text below has been presented to the Dicretor of Gourmtbryggeriet , Tom Sans Kristensen and his corrections has been included. The correspondence regarding thins can be forwarded upon request.

I tne fall of 2005 GB contacted us the first time with an offer to buy Ølfabrikken. We respectfully declined, because we had just finished an expansion of the brewery in Tisvildeleje.

Rather quickly it became apparent that our capacity sill was too small. It was difficult to get a clear response from the Helsinge municipality whether we were allowed to further expand the brewery in order to comply with the ever increasing demand. In that context Martin and I began to look for a strong partner in the winther of 2007, that could help us to keep Ølfabrikken going.

There were several bigger breweries that were interested in working with us. After quite some considerations we ended up with BG. A private limited company "Bryggeriet Ølfabrikken", owned 50/50 by the "old" Ølfabrikken and GB was created. The intent was to split the revenue equally between the two owners.

The combination of the Ølfabrikken brand and the distribution of GB seemed to work well. A series of rather big orders was generated within a short period of time and a decent profit was within grasp. At this point GB begins to show interest in increasing their ownership in the new private limited company by buying the part that Martin and I represented. At that point he had a wish to leave the company.

December 2007 we have a meeting where the sale is discussed. During the meeting we could not entirely agree upon some of the conditions of the purchase. GB then jubilantly states that: "We can just wait for your bankruptcy and buy the remains from the bank". Unfortunately that was a correct observation. Ølfabrikken was entirely dependant upon the income from the private limited company, which contained the brand and the customers. The private limited company had its production in the brewery in Roskilde, that is 100% controlled by GB, thus easily being able to cut off any income to Ølfabrikken until it was down on it's knees.

However it is not until January 2008 that the full extent becomes apparent. GB does not only with to increase their ownership part, but want everything!
I try to introduce different semi desperate solutions, including 6 months of work, on my part, without pay and GB getting the lion's share without paying for it. In return GB had to leave some small part to the founders of the original company. There is no willingness to negotiate and I choose to resign.

Subsequently BG has tried to defend themselvs in a series of staments by leaving the impression that they were a rescuing angel and in reality saved Ølfabrikken. That is not correct. In the spring, when we were looking for new partners, our operations generated profit. The dept in connection with funding of the company was comparable with other Danish breweries of the same size and age. Meanwhile we were in a lucrative situation with a internationally recognised microbrew brand and a loyal customer base.

That said, we could easily have been in the same situation as we are now - there is always a risk in running a small business. Hovever it is 100% certain that we respectfully would have reclined GB's offer had we known their intention.

Best wishes

Christian Skovdal Andersen

This is the end of Ølfabrikken

I just got an email from Gourmetbryggeriet and one from Ølfabrikken. Gourmetbryggeriet now owns 100% of Ølfabrikken. Not that long ago Gourmetbryggeriet bought the first half of Ølfabrikken. Ølfabrikken is now just another brand of Gourmetbryggeriet.

Christian Skovdal Andersen, the co-counder and brew master of Ølfabrikken is leaving the this new instalment. This makes me sad, as Christian *is* the spirit of Ølfabrikken. Without him I consider the brand to be a hollow shell.

Money talks, I guess.

The letter from Christian (translated in to my poor english):

Dear shareholder,

It is with great regret that I have to inform you that Gourmetbryggeriet has taken over 100% of the brand Ølfabrikken, that will continue as a brand within the context of GB.

That means that you, as shareholder, still have your shares, but in a company with debt and very few assets. The debt will be repaid by me the undersigned and the director of the company Martin Larsen.

All alternative solutions that would mean that we, the shareholders, would stay as owners, have been rejected by Gourmetbryggeriet and as a result I have dismissed myself.

[SNIP]

We shall see if the brand stays unchanged, but I seriously doubt it.

Here's to the Ølfabrikken that once was.

Life is too short for crappy beer

The slogan of Danish brewery Ølfabrikken is "Life is too short for crappy beer" and the beer they make are far from crappy.

The sad fact is that beer can be ruined by wrong storage and serving. So here is a list of things to avoid making a good beer bad.

My interpretation of the post by Al: Life Is Far Too Short To Drink Cheap Beer - 9 Ways To Maximize Your Beer Value

Keep out of sun
Beer’s number one enemy is light. Brown bottles do the best job of protecting the content, followed by green ones. What only few people realize is that green bottles are not much better than clear ones at protecting the beer within.

Keep it cool
While heat won’t affect your beer the same as light, it can cause it’s own issues. For one thing, greater chance of oxidation. Oxidized beer tastes like cardboard. It can cause other off-flavours as well. You should store your beer in a cool, dark place.

Buy locally
Less transportation means lower transportation costs, meaning more money can be put toward the ingredients of the beer. A shorter travel distance also means the beer is more likely to be fresh. And, of course, has had fewer opportunities to encounter light and/or warm storage. Legend has it that Guinness drinkers can guess how far they are from the brewery just by tasting a Guinness anywhere in the world. While this is an exaggeration, there is some truth to is. Always sample the local beer when you are out of town, and you will know what I am talking about.

Use a glass
A large part of our sense of taste comes from our sense of smell. If you can’t smell the beer while you’re drinking it, like drinking it from the bottle, you’re missing most of the flavour. Beer glasses should be hand-washed with a minimum of soap. Soap kills the head of any beer. Actually, baking soda would be a better option or even just hot water and a ultra clean towel. Your beer glasses also shouldn’t be used to drink anything else.

NOT too chilled
When too cold the aromas of the beer are not present or very weak. You want to maximize the aroma to have the best flavour. This seems to be missed by all cafe owners in Denmark. Serving temperature is usually below 5 degrees celcius. The proper temperature is different in the varies styles of beer. Here in Denmark you can count on it being too cold, and you can hold the walls of the glass with both hands. This won't work with double walled glasses.

Pour like you mean it
Again with the aromas. When pouring, do not dribble the beer down the side of the glass. Pour it down the middle. You want to “break the carbonation” and release the aromas. Usually aim for about two fingers’ width of head.

Find your style
You’ll never know unless you try. If you’re having more than one style in a single sitting, start with the lightest and finish with the heaviest. This will keep your tastebuds from being overwhelmed. I once drank a ØLFABRIKKEN 100 GRAM IPA early in the evening. I could taste just about nothing the rest of the evening.

Food is good with beer
There is a school of thought that says that beer pairs better with cheese than wine. That’s not all, of course. Chocolate mouse is great with a robust porter, while Danish herring is a nice mix with a crisp and cold pilsner.

Socialize
Beer should be shared. Beer is social. Be a member of a beer organisation, or a brewing club or the like. Beer enthusiasts are nice people and remember that life is too short for crappy beer.

Gourmetbryggeriet patners with Kjaerstrup chocolate factory

First they bought a beer 'factory' (Ølfabrikken) and now Gourmetbryggeriet partners up with Kjaerstrup Chocolate 'factory' to brew and sell a Chocolate Stout.

The stout is already avaiable in Danish shops, but I have yet to sample it. Kjaerstrup Chocolate is a family owned complany on the small island Bornholm in Denmark, who's specialty is hand crafted chocolate of the highest quality.

Kjaerstrup used to brew their beer locally, but now Gourmetbryggeriet has taken over the production in Roskilde. I'm just wondering if it is Ølfabrikken that is actually brewing the beer?

I do hope so!

New Ølfabrikken beer: Columbus Pale Ale

The new beer from Ølfabrikken this summer is a tribute to the breweries favourite hop variety – the Amarican Columbus hop.

It is a copper coloured beer of 5% vol. with clear notes of grape fruit and pine. After fermentation the beer is dry hopped with even more Columbus hops, that intensifys the hoppiness of the beer.

The strong hop aroma combined with the moderate alcohol content and a semi bitter and dry finish makes the beer refreshing in the summer heat, and still have som caracter.

Try to catch it – it has just been released and will hit the broader Danish beer shops within a week.

Weird and special beer tasted

Ølfestivallen this year was bigger and better than ever (amazing how Danish Beer Enthusiasts can achieve that year after year). The selection was broader and better than ever, and also for weird combination.

At the Mybeer booth I made a detour from beer. Ultraprés was served warm in small 2cl glases with a shot of whipped cream. It was sweet and the experience had noting to do with beer, ewww. Their own tagline is "don't take our word for io, ask someone who have tried it" - I just wish that I had. It was not unpleasant, but totally wrong.

Although the experince at Mybeer was bad, it has nothing to do with me not liking sweet beer. One of the good ones was Quadrupel 11% vol. from Ølfabrikken. This is an intense beer is brewed with pilsner malt and caramel syrup and with a belgian yeast. This beer is special and is only served at special occasions, after being stored for at least a year. Although my expectations were high, they where all met at the Ølfabrikken booth.

While being totally in the sportligt for brewing excellent beer Mikkeller did not excite me as expected. I tried a couple of beers from them. For instance their X Hop Juice 2007 IBU a hoppy ale with 5% vol. Probably the most hoppy beer in the world, and so what? While I HAD to try it, it was fun, but not an interesting beer apart from the fact that it had a teoretical IBU of 2007. That said, Mikkeller make great beer, and the brewer also works for Ølfabrikken (Note: Ølfabrikken is restructuring so who knows who works there today).

Greenland Brewhouse served musk ox saussage on toast. A very pleasant experience together with their Artic Ale a nice barley wine with 9% vol. although it would go better with good cheeses.

Pssst! Don't tell anyone... but I liked the Radler served at Gourmetbryggeriet. In the mountains of Germany and Austria, the bicyclists (Radler in German) need a good refreshment, and a little energy after a long climb up a mountain road in the blazing, humid weather, but they also need the soberness and strength to return home, down the long, steep hills. From these excursions has developed the concept of a beer and lemon-lime (actually Zitronenlimonade in German) mixture in Germany and Austria, the Radler and the Russ, basically the same as the Shandy in England. The Radler is a normal Munich "Helles" or a pilsner-style beer such as Zipfer mixed with 1/2 lemon-lime soda, and the Russ is a mixture of 1/2 Weizenbier, such as Edelweiß Hefetrüb, and 1/2 lemon-lime soda, - refreshing, relaxing, and enjoyable. At the Gourmetbryggeriet booth it was served with 70% beer and 30% lemonade.

Gourmetbryggeriet buys 50 percent of Ølfabrikken

According to www.ale.dk half of Ølfabrikken has been bought by Gourmetbryggeriet.

To my surprise, one of the two owners, Martin Larsen, has chosen to sell his part of Ølfabrikken to Gourmetbryggeriet in Roskilde (yes, the city with the big music festival). The sale should not reflect trouble in management, but rather a wish to get more capital for expansion.

With the deal comes a lot of exiting future plans for Ølfabrikken. One being the planned movement to the present facilities of Gourmetbryggeriet once they have finished building their new brewery.

Christian Skovdal Andersen, the remaining owner, says that the movement will not mean any alterations to the beer nor to it's quality. However alterations to the brewery have to be made to facilitate the brewing style of Ølfabrikken.

Cheers Christian, and good luck!

The Brewing Network and Ølfabrikken

According to Brewcaster J over at The Brewing Network (TBN), Christian Skovdal Anderssen (on the right) from the Danish microbrewery Ølfabrikken (‘Olfabrikken’ = ‘The Beerfactoty’) was to appear on their show. Unfortunately he apparently cancelled. This was one show I would have loved to hear. Christian is an extreme brewer who dare making beer that are true to style and pushing the style to the limit. I would claim that Olfabrikken is different than all the other Danish micro breweries in the field right now. Olfabrikken has really been influenced by the American craft brewers community. Heck, they have even made beers based on recipe from American craft brewers. Not in the typical covert way – but giving the original craft brewer credit.

So this post is ‘reporting’ on something that did not happen, which is kind of strange. Olfabrikken, however, is probably the most interesting breweries in Denmark right now. It is not a coincidence that they got the two awards: ‘Beer of the year’ and ‘Brewery of the year’ among many other recognitions. All in all it would have been very interesting to hear that programme.

Any Danish micro brewery would be exiting to hear about on TBN, then it would truely be brewers from all over the world, as they say in the intro of the programme.

Free beer in the real world

Time and again I see projects that have been started by or supported by the folks at Ølfabrikken. They pop up all over the place, when you like beer. Now The Danish Beer Enthusiasts (DØE) just had it’s 8 years birthday. Naturally Ølbabrikken was on the spot with a brew designed by none other than two of the original founders of DØE. The reason I bring this up, is that not only have they made that beer, but they also have published the recipe. Project Free Beer go home! This is real beer, and not a fancy art project.

The recipe is as follows:

Efficiency: 70%

OG: 1070
FG: 1019
ABV: 8,0%
Colour: 67 EBC (Dark brown)
Bitterness: 30 IBU

Malt
4000gr Maris Otter Pale Malt
1000gr Münchener malt Type II
500gr Cara Weat
500gr Special B
300gr Corn flakes
75gr Dehusked Chocolate

Adjuncts
400gr Dark sugar

Hops
40gr Fuggles 6,4%at 60 minutes
30gr Hersbrucker 3% at 30 munites
15gr Hersbrucker 3% at 5 minutes

Yeast
Wyeast 1762 OR Whitelaps WLP540

War on good beer?

In my recent visit to the Danish microbrewery Ølfabrikken, I was surprised to see no sign by the road. To be more accurate the sign was there, but it had been painted over.

I thought to myself that they just wanted to update the sign, and went on in. As always, in small breweries it is interesting to talk to their employees. Here I got the real story of the sign; It had been painted over in the the middle of the night. The empty sign was the result of pure vandalism.

It seems that one or more of Ølfabrikken’s neighbours does not appreciate a brewery being located where they are. At my previous visits to the brewery I have talked to several of the locals, many of which own part of the brewery and all being excited by their products and their mere existence.

My plea to the neighbour(s) in question: RELAX, have a homebrew. If you are annoyed by something at or about the brewery, go talk to them! They are really nice people, and you CAN talk to them. Please stop childish acts such as blocking their driveway with your car.

We need no more terrorists in the world – we need dialogue! I guess that everybody *but* the people I am writing to in this post, will read it. But now I started a dialouge instead of smashing up the car in question with a baseball bat :-)

NOTE: I picked up 'Ølfabrikken India Red Ale' and it is to die for.

Øl lavet af smeltet indlandsis

Under et besøg på Ølfabrikken var jeg så heldig at møde et par gutter fra Greenland Brewhouse, et helt nyt bryggeri i sydgrønland.

Pudsigt nok kommer øllet ikke på det grønlandske marked til at starte med, og HVIS det kommer ud til grønlandske forbrugere, så bliver det kun som fadøl. Salik Hard og Rasmus Broge fortalte at det er på grund af at Grønland har et meget monopoliseret returflaskesystem, som kun accepterer én slags flasker, og dem har et tapperi eneret på.

Øllet er brygget på smeltet indlandsis, og det er jo ret specielt. Jeg har i hvert fald ikke set det andre steder. Ifølge bryggeriet er vandet mindst to tusind år gammelt og fuldkommen fri for mineraler og forurening. Jeg gætter på at mineraler skal tilføjes vandet, for at ramme den rigtige smag.

Greenland Brewhouses er placeret i Narsaq, og lagres i tanke på vej til Tyskland, hvor det tappes og sendes til Danmark. Til dem er under sig over hvorfor bryggeriet lige ligger i Grønland kom svaret promte fra Salik: -”Fordi jeg bor i Grønland, og hvis jeg placerede det i fx Danmark, ville det jo ikke være et grønlandsk bryggeri.”

Indtil videre er det blevet til en brown ale og en pale ale, og i skrivende stund er produkterne ved at finde vej til flere og flere danske ølbutikker.

Hvis Rasmus virker bekendt for os Københavnere er det fordi han havde den hedengangne Cafe Grif, der bragte os spændende øl tidligt i den danske ølrevolution.