The education topic for May’s meeting covered Traditional Farmhouse Brewing and novel Farmhouse yeasts, including Kveik.  The presentation largely covered what is written in the book “Historical Brewing Techniques: The Lost Art of Farmhouse Brewing” by Lars Marius Garshol.  We discussed the history and methods of historical farmhouse brewing, along with contemporary brewers that continue to use the same traditional equipment, ingredients and techniques to brew interesting beers.  We also dug into the unique ingredients used in these beers, including juniper, farmhouse yeast known as “Kveik”, and smoked malts.

Along with the education topic, we shared 6 different regional “styles” of farmhouse beer brewed by four members of the club.  These included a raw “Kornøl”, boiled Heimabrygg, and smoked “Stjørdalsøl” from different regions of Norway, and a Swedish Gotlandsdricke.  All four used common juniper, and were fermented with different Kveik strains and cultures.  A Lithuanian “Kaimiškas” ale and a “Minnesota Farmhouse Ale” (using red cedar in place of common juniper) were also brewed to accompany the presentation.  Tasting the beers generated a lot of discussion, but all were delicious and distinctive. The Minnesota Farmhouse Ale brewed by Brady was a real standout!

The smoked malts used in the Gotlandsdricke and Stjørdalsøl were donated by Sugar Creek Malt for our club’s education topic and example beers.  Based in Indiana, this maltster stands apart from others by producing unique smoked malts.  The malts used for these beers are smoked on a wood-fired Nordic-style Såinnhus kiln.  These malts helped create a beer with a depth of flavor that is similar to the historical beers they were intended to recreate. Skål!

All the recipes for the beers we brewed can be found on the Brewfather library @nordeast.brewers.alliance