We all have our Yuletide celebrations and Hans Magen Olsen is no exception. He recently hoisted a glass of beer he’d made himself and toasted the winter solstice in complete darkness. Hans is the owner and brewer at Nordkapp Bryggerie, the world’s northernmost brewpub. Located 1,311 miles from the North Pole, it’s your last chance to get beer before you hit Santa’s house.
This act of drinking in the dark is actually a very old Norweigan custom called Juløl . From the article at Philly.com:
Juløl (Jul = winter feast, øl = beer) is the world’s original Christmas beer. It has been brewed in Norway since well before the birth of Christ, when tribal sects celebrated the solstice with feasts in honor of Odin and Thor.
To these early dwellers, the longest night of the year marked the rebirth of the sun and the earth. It was a sign that the days would begin to lengthen and that the earth would once again be fertile with life.
With the autumn crops harvested, the animals slaughtered and the beer fully fermented, villages came together for days of feasting. “It was a time to fill your batteries for the harsh winter ahead,” said Tobjørn Skovold, spokesman for the Aass brewery in Drammen, just south of Oslo.
The event and its beer became so institutionalized that by 800 A.D., Norwegian farmers were required by law to brew juløl. “You had to make a beer with as much grain as the combined weight of the farm’s husband and wife,” Skovold said. “And it had to be strong beer. If it wasn’t, it was considered dishonorable and your farm would have a spell cast on it.”
Worse, if the farmer failed to make juløl in three consecutive years, Skovold said, his property could be seized, and he would be expelled from the country.
Juløl survived Norway’s conversion to Christianity, as the solstice festival became a Christmas celebration. To this day, families and some traditional farms home-brew juløl with sugar, baking yeast and spruce.
Some observations about this: I don’t know if I could drink beer from the Aass brewery. Is there slogan possibly “this beer tastes like ass?” But I do applaud the idea of kicking out farmers who didn’t make beer. Get rid of those non-festive bastards who spread negative vibes. Any country who passes a law that you have to make and drink beer can’t be all bad.
Happy Holidays to all and have a beer on me. Read more at Philly.com.
December 26, 2007 at 11:04 am
Damn, the name “Aass brewery” is taken!? My dreams are dashed to the rocks. Your comment sums it up – this beer tastes like ass – opps, my faux pas – “tastes like Aass.”
I love this article.
A brew with as many pounds of grain as the farmer and his wife? That would be a huge batch of beer. My lautertun is full with around 15-20#’s of grain. I would be sparging all day considering my fat ass. That’s like brewing Johnny Max’s Cause of Death.
It’s disconcerting that families are homebrewing with sugar, baking yeast and spruce. Hello, it’s not 1970 anymore! There are real beer ingredients available for purchase – like malt, beer yeast and hops.