Scan Magazine | Special Theme | A Taste of Norway
Balder Brygg is the only microbrewery in Norway with a main focus on lager beer production. The beer on the right is inspired by the first king of Norway, Harald Hårfagre, who grew up in Leikanger.
The lager brewing microbrewery While the vast majority of microbreweries focus largely on the ever-growing ale industry, in a small town in Norway, Balder Brygg has decided to go big on good lager beers. By Line Elise Svanevik | Photos: Balder Brygg
As the only microbrewery in Norway with a main focus on brewing lager, one of the owners, Øystein Meland, explains that his father was a true culture bearer of brewing in Leikanger, Sogn og Fjordane, where the brewery is situated. “I’ve been brewing since I was a young boy – way before I was ever allowed to taste it,” Meland laughs. He explains that the main difference between lager and ale is that lager features a malty flavour, as opposed to the fruitier flavour with more hops that 36 | Issue 109 | February 2018
you find in ale. There are upwards of 40 groups who brew in Leikanger, and many of them were taught by Meland’s father.
Brewers by law “We want to build on the solid, old tradition in our area. In the western part of Norway, we had something called Gulatingsloven,” says Meland. ‘Gulatingsloven’ was a set of laws applying to a set area, including Leikanger, up until 1274. “It was compulsory for all farmers in this
area to brew beer, and those who didn’t had to pay a fine to the bishop the first year of not abiding by this law,” Meland explains. “The second year, they went to prison, and the third year, they’d get banished from the country. This means that the beer tradition was kept alive in the western part of Norway, and it was due to beer being the only healthy thing you could drink at the time. The water was often polluted, but the beer was boiled – hence safer to drink.” Balder Brygg wants to build on this tradition, but is keen to develop it further using modern equipment, as it provides greater opportunities than traditional methods.