That evening we booked into ‘Foreign Cinema’, an outdoor restaurant that projects films onto a large wall outside in the aching cool Mission district, we popped into the bar beforehand only to hear Stone Roses on the Jukebox, typical! I spied ‘Lagunitas IPA’, this now famous beer has been on the lips of craft beer geeks for a while now, so I thought I’d better see what all the fuss was about. The Ferry Building houses a wealth of independent businesses selling everything from pottery to wine. Once we’d recovered from the long flight our first port of call (pun intended) was the ‘Ferry Building’, we started our day with some ‘Blue Bottle’ coffee, these artisan roasters really know what they’re doing, the coffee was excellent. The amount of amazing beer around in San Fran is ridiculous, being a serious beer lover I was in heaven. Well it’s taken me a while to finish this off but here is the second instalment of my ‘tales from the ‘moon’. Words by DJ Adams – Beer on the ‘moon / Part Two (San Francisco) by William France With pine, hazelnuts, juniper and cinder in there, this beer is not only a mouthful to pronounce, but a very pleasant mouthful to enjoy. I wouldn’t describe myself as a fan of smoked beer in the classic “Rauchbier” sense, but I definitely would order this again. There’s a wealth of aromas and flavours in a small glass of this traditional ale, and the smokiness is by no means the dominant feature. Haandbryggereit brews Norwegian Wood with smoked malt from Germany, along with other malts including crystal and chocolate. The first sips also had a fruitiness about them but towards the bottom of the glass this had been replaced with a decent hint of malt that was very pleasant. There’s a taste of pine and a hint of cooked juniper berries, and rather than smoky, the flavour is more nutty and slightly sticky sweet, with an undercurrent of charcoal or cinder. Not an unpleasant or strong smokiness, but something more subtle, akin to pipe tobacco. As I observe the hazy copper colour and the fading creamy head, there’s an intense aroma of pine and smokiness. So many miles and years away from these traditional Norwegian farms, I sit here with a serving of Norwegian Wood. The juniper spice comes not only from the berries themselves, but also from the twigs that are placed in the mash tun.

The brew was enhanced with the traditional spice for all Norwegian beer at the time – juniper. In fulfilling their requirements, the farms usually kilned the malt over an open fire, giving each brew a smokiness that has been recreated here.

It’s a traditional Norwegian beer that has been recreated in memory of the farm brews that abounded when old laws required them to produce ale (farms were sometimes confiscated and went to the church and the king if they didn’t). Norwegian Wood is a Haandbryggeriet beer available at Port Street Beer House on tap, and is brewed all year round. (If you’re curious about this reclaiming of the word ‘amateur’, read Paul Graham’s essay “What Business Can Learn From Open Source” here: )įor a small operation, Haandbryggeriet has certainly produced a wide range of beers – from a wheat stout called “Dark Force”, through an Akevitt barrel aged porter, to a hop-free Gruit beer made with herbs, brewed as a guest beer in cooperation with the de Molen bewery. At this scale, and with the enthusiasm that oozes from the pages of their modest website, it’s clear that the brewers are fantastic amateurs, in the original, complimentary sense of the word – working the brewery for the love of it. Four guys, working on a voluntary basis, brewing by hand in a small building in Drammen, southwest of Oslo. Haandbryggeriet – what a mouthful, and we haven’t even got to the name of the brew yet! Actually, when you break it down, this name is from two Norwegian words and simply translates to “Hand Brewery” – in other words, an extremely small scale operation. – Review – Haandbryggeriet Norwegian Wood / By DJ Adams

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