SUNTURN- The winter solstice/ «Vintersolverv»

The winter solstice occurs exactly when the Earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun at its maximum of 23° 26'. Though the winter solstice lasts only a moment in time, the term is also a turning point to midwinter or the first day of winter to refer to the day on which it occurs. More evident to those in high latitudes, this occurs on the shortest day, and longest night, and the sun's daily maximum position in the sky is the lowest. 

Depending on the shift of the calendar, the winter solstice occurs on December 21 or 22 each year in the Northern Hemisphere, and June 20 or 21 in the Southern Hemisphere. This year it is on Descember 21.

In Scandinavia was the ancient calendar, «Primstaven» marked with a sun. On this day it was told, you should not work with anything round in form or neither should you bake. 

The Christmas beer should also be finnished before the December 22 or else you could get «Solverv» in it! 

Nøgne Ø Sunturnbrew is brewed on the shortest and darkest day of the year. While most people think differently, Norwegians are convinced that the sun turns and actually changes direction on every December 21st.  We at Nøgne Ø want to pay tribute to this rather stubborn idea by making a sunturnbrew.  It is brewed at the same time as the sun changes direction. This brew is for the changing direction of the sun, the change of mind and the change of perception. Don’t fight it. Turn with it! 

It´s Christmas- it´s time for traditional food, but what should you drink?

In Norway there are three traditional dishes served on Christmas eve, depending on where you live. It is Pork Ribs («Ribbe»), Dried mutton ribs («Pinnekjøtt») or Cod («Torsk») served with potatoes, vegetables and maybe melted butter, sauce or bacon. 

So, what beer is good to serve with this food? It is a little different if you serve aquavit, which is traditional. Both pork ribs and dried lamb has a lot of taste and fat, and we need something that rinses your mouth. These dishes are often served with aquavit which will do this.

For Pork Ribs, we recommend Wit or Bitter if it served with Aquavit. If served without Aquavit Pale Ale, Brown Ale, Julesnadder or Saison will be good.

The dried mutton ribs can also be served with Wit or Bitter if you also serve aquavit. Without, we recommend Pale Ale or Tiger Tripel.

Cod is the most difficult here. It has a very tender and delicious taste, but Havrestout can be a good match. 

But why not add some experimentation to the Christmas table and try a sake? Nøgne Ø is also a proud brewer of five different sakes, and a Junmai-shu can be a nice pairing with your Christmas Cod. Remember to serve the sake cold!

For the dessert, if you serve «Multekrem» or cloudberry cream try the Havrestout  or Imperial stout. For the nuts and cakes, try God Jul and Underlig Jul.

If you like a cigar to finnish the meal, a #100 is a good company.

On our website we have a section about beer and food pairing, where you can find more information about how to serve our beers.

The new Nøgne Ø website

The new site brings Nøgne Ø into the 21st blogging, Twittering, Facebooking, interactive century.  Thanks to everyone who helped to make it happen!

Our new site has information on beer and sake brewing, links to our beer and sake blogs, information on how to find Nøgne Ø outside of Norway, links to videos about Nøgne Ø and information on the people behind Nøgne Ø! 
And more !

We are not finished though, we will continue to expand, add more photos, add interactive tools to collect input and photos/videos and continue to give more detailed information about each beer and sake we produce.

Please feel free to send us information and feedback regarding the site and we’ll keep working to make it more useful and entertaining. If you can not come to Norway to visit you can still have a look inside the world of Nøgne Ø!

Link to: The new Nøgne Ø website

Hello fellow brewers and beer enthusiasts!

As each year passes we are more and more surprised by the positive response, enthusiasm and interest regarding one of our favorite days of the year, 

Homebrewer’s Day at Nøgne Ø!
 
Unfortunately as always we have limited space and resources, and this year is no different; that being said we have reached our capacity and must now close the sign-up process. 
We really look forward to seeing all of you who were able to get a chance to sign up to brew with us, and in order to make that happen we have to receive your payment by December the 20th. If payment is not received by this day, due to simplicity’s sake we will be forced to give your spot to the next person on the list. 
Once again we are very excited to be brewing with all of you, and are very much looking forward to the first of two of the fun days to come!

Cheers!
Nøgne Ø

Frothing Growth

Harald Berglihn, Dagens Næringsliv, Photo: Tomm W. Christiansen

It started with two enthusiatic homebrewers.
Now Nøgne Ø – The Uncompromising Brewery is a “gazelle” business for the third time. Their growth continues in percentages much higher than their strongest beers.

 

Looking up in Norway
Nøgne Ø has so far had more success internationally than in Norway, with beer export to a long list of European countries as well as to the USA, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. But this year the Norwegian market has also taken off, with help from good reviews for their beer in Norwegian newspapers. Last week they received a 7 from Dagbladet, on a 1 to 6 scale, for their strong Christmas beer God Jul. Last year Nøgne Ø produced approximately 280,000 liters. This year it will be over 400,000 liters, a growth of nearly 50 percent.
Source and link: http://www.dn.no/gasellene/article2033509.ece

Our explanation
The Norwegian business newspaper Dagens Næringsliv chooses business in all parts of the country to be named “gazelle” businesses. It means essentially that a company is continually growing and profitable year after year.
In a country where all alcohol advertising and promotion is illegal it is important for Nøgne Ø to get attention in the press, who is allowed to write about alcohol and alcohol producers.