Water & Soil

Water from the high mountains in Western Norway is so soft that brewers rarely give it a second thought. It flows over hard bedrock, picks up almost no minerals, and in Voss or Hornindal comes practically straight from the mountain into the brew kettle.

Soft water lets the malt sweetness and the juniper note come through unobstructed. It doesn't emphasize a sharp bitterness the way hard water does. Every farm has its own spring or stream.

The most important addition to the water grows on the hillside. Juniper thrives in the region's poor, stony soils, and brewers cut branches to steep in hot water. This infusion is then used to mash the malt, instead of plain water.

The branches also serve as a filter. In the wooden vessel farmhouse brewers call a Rostabidnet, a layer of juniper branches sits at the bottom. The wort — the sugary liquid drawn from the malt — runs through them and is clarified in the process.

The fjord country is damp, cool, and windy. Aging isn't really a concern for most farmhouse beers anyway, since they're drunk young. Barrels are simply kept in the cellar or in a side room that stays cold enough through winter.

Further north, in Stjørdal, it's the soil that shapes the beer. The valley is good barley country, and farmers long had grain surplus. Anyone who harvested enough barley could malt and brew it, and so a distinct beer culture grew out of the farmland.