New Nordic Beer

Project start 1 June 2014. Completion 31 May 2016.

In recent years, the interest to explore and exploit the potential of local raw materials has soared. The New Nordic Cuisine has won global fame as a gastronomic tradition, and it has motivated Danish brewers to ride the wave.

To further boost the development, a broad range of stakeholders in the art of brewing have come together in the network project New Nordic Beer (NNB), and ambitions are high.

Can we learn from the New Nordic Kitchen and create a brand new microbrew inspired by local geographical features and unique raw materials? The new network New Nordic Beer will help to realize this.
"In the past, Danish breweries specialized in foreign style beers with great export success. Now specialty breweries are popping up, and all over the Western world the breweries identify themselves with their geography and their own unique ingredients. Therefore, there is now both a need and a huge potential in being able to offer a world class beer that precisely expresses our Nordic identity," says Anders Kissmeyer from Kissmeyer Beer & Brewing.

Purpose of the network

The purpose of the NNB network is to increase the participants' knowledge of beer and Nordic terroir. The project also aims to strengthen cooperation and networking across disciplines towards the development of new terroir-based Nordic beer.
The interim objective is to identify development needs with the purpose of business development and commercialization of new raw materials, ingredients and beer types, identify and describe Nordic condiments, identifying needs for research and analyses of new raw materials and ingredients, certification and rules etc.
Project New Nordic Beer targets the entire value chain in the beer universe - brewers, regulators, researchers, educational institutions, plant breeders, growers, suppliers, manufacturers, customers and consumers.

Activities

The entire value chain must be activated through the network and through activities by defining specific project ideas that lead to new partnerships, new knowledge, new materials, new flavorings and new processes, which in turn results in new world class NNB types. There will be conferences (min. 2) and workshops (min. 2) and a number of networking meetings during the two project years.
In this way, the network is expected to identify development challenges in order to commercialize new beers in an ecologically sustainable manner.

Networking Groups

Four new networking groups are established with the following keywords:
/Malt: Harnessing the potential of local malt flavor. NNB could benefit from including grains with different taste or other characteristics than the known standard varieties. Grain diversity, the different grain species, both known and the more exotic, could be grown in Denmark and provide new colors and flavors to the beer. This gives the option for selecting and cultivating new grain varieties to suit the individual breweries’ specific wants and needs.

• Yeast: Nordic brewing yeast strains with unique taste characteristics, and acceptable process parameters? Fermentation may also involve the spontaneous or otherwise provoked fermentation with naturally occurring microbes that can form the basis for new styles.
• New sources of flavor: How can we structure our knowledge of wild and cultivated plants that have potential as Nordic flavorings in beer? What effect do these have in the beer, where can we find them when should they be harvested, which parts of the plant are best, how should they be pretreated and, last but not least, how should they be used in brewing?
• Beer without hops: How can other plants replace hops and contribute bitter properties, while at the same time play a role in relation to flavor and aroma? How does this affect the brew with regard to stabilization, preservation and foaming, that hops is not in the beer? Is a beer without hops a challenge of the concept of beer?

New groups will continue to be formed, and new members of the network will be included continuously.

Network Participants

Kissmeyer Beer & Brewing (KissMe Holding ApS), Ikast Mikrobryggeri, Viborg Bryghus ApS, Fanø Bryghus ApS, Kølster – Malt og Øl ApS, Grauballe Bryghus ApS, Nordic Food Lab ApS, Ørbæk Bryghus, Brogården v. Søren Bandt Wiuff, Christian Andersen, Indslev Bryggeri A/S, Ebeltoft Gårdbryggeri, Natur-Drogeriet A/S, Aktieselskabet Thisted Bryghus A/S.

Furthermore, there are a wide range of stakeholders who are active in the network:

Kryddersnapse.dk Agrologica, Barleywine, kulturlandskab.dk, Danish Malting Group A/S, Munkebo Mikrobryg, Lallemand inc., Bryggeriforeningen, Danske Ølentusiaster, BoMill AB, Kunstbryggeriet Far & Søn, Gyrup, Søgaards Bryghus m.fl. Also, nordic stakeholders including Dugges Ale- & Porterbryggeri AB, Klostergården Håndbryggeri, Malt House, Økologisk Specialkorn.no, BioForsk, Norges miljø- og biovitenskapelige universitet, etc.

External participants / stakeholders will be regularly invited to the network, and have the opportunity to attend networking events and participate in projects.
Interested parties can contact Bodil Pallesen, Danish Technological Institute.

More information

You are very welcome to contact the project manager Bodil Pallesen for further information. 

Facts

Project title: New Nordic Beer – Network project

Project period: June 1, 2014 – May 31, 2016

Awarded amount: 566,000.00 DKK from GUDP

The network project New Nordic Beer has received support from GUDP – Green Development and Demonstration Program under the Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries – The Danish AgriFish Agency.