An Evening at the Lervig Brewery

Friday 15 February 2013

As you may remember, Joe is a bit of a beer connoisseur and over the years, we've visited several breweries.  For Christmas, he received a home brewing kit so we've taken this to a whole other level.

INN (The International Network of Norway - the same group that organised the glassblowing field trip I did) held a tour at a local brewery last week and we just couldn't pass it up.  The tour itself cost 250 nok (about $50) and it took place in the evening which made it possible for both Joe and I to attend.

Lervig has been our favourite beer since arriving in Stavanger.  I'm pretty certain that we had tasted all of their variations available in the grocery store before the end of our first week in Norway.  I tend to like the Betty Brown best and Joe, fittingly enough, leans towards the Hoppy Joe although he is quite fond of the Lucky Jack and the Rye IPA as well.

As I've said, we've visited a few breweries in our time and know our way around the ingredients and the brewing process but the Lervig tour was really quite interesting.  Our host, Leif, has been around since the brewery's beginning and he had quite a bit of insight into the history of Lervig as well as it's current initiatives.  There's something about a small company working it's way up to create a product they're passionate about as opposed to giant companies churning out mass quantities of something to make a large profit.

Many times when visiting a brewery, you're guided around at quite a distance from where the actual work happens.  Sometimes you're up above looking down into the brewery and sometimes you're behind a glass partition looking in.  The great thing about the Lervig tour was we had no holds access to everything.  We walked right up along side the equipment, touched the products and tasted the raw ingredients.


At the end of the tour is when the fun stuff starts.  We're introduced (or re-introduced) to their different brews and we taste and discuss the beers.  While Joe and I were fairly certain we'd tasted every Lervig beer out there, we were surprised with a few new brews that have yet to hit the shelves.  In the end, we sampled 8 or 9 different beers, enjoyed conversation with fellow beer drinkers and Joe got some inspiration for his own home-brewing initiatives.  All in all, it was a pretty successful evening out and totally worth the 250 nok.

[Note: Today is my brother's birthday - I'm fairly certain he doesn't read this blog but in case he has surprised me, Happy Birthday Corbin!]

11 comments:

  1. Sounds like fun and a great price too.

    Is the home brewed stuff more potent like home brewed wine tends to be? I'm just being nosy though as I don't do any home brewing myself although I have friends who do.

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    1. I suppose it depends on how you do it and how long you let it ferment - ours 'should' be just regular but I guess only time will tell!

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  2. That looks fun / i might even drink beer if I was on that tour! I love the shot of the beer cans!

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  3. I've only ever visited one brewery and that was in Guelph Ontario. It was really fun and something I would do again even though beer isn't my favourite. This tour sounds really great, thanks for sharing.

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  4. No matter how many breweries I go to, I still find them simply fascinating. I adore the ones that really let you experience the whole process. I think that my favorite one to date is Hook Norton in the UK.
    Fun fact: brewing your own beer is illegal in Japan.

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    Replies
    1. I will definitely keep Hook Norton in mind should we ever be in that direction!

      (And I had no idea about Japan!)

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  5. Thank you Casey!

    Always love to be recognized :)

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  6. Micro breweries are the best! I only drink local beer here in Australia, there are a fair share of great, small breweries across the country. My favorite being Little Creatures in Fremantle! So good!!
    Looks like a great tour and looking forward to see more about the home brewing process :)
    Kristina x

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  7. This looks like good fun! I'm not a beer drinker, but enjoy visiting breweries and like learning about the brewing process. I'd like to think it makes up for the fact that I shun the drink and all its amazing health benefits (damn those Belgians and their beer guilt).

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  8. I love the red graphic beer cans, even more icentive to drink one (or two). C

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