Beer brewing in Norway has a long history, going back at least 1000 years. Until around 200 years ago no farm was complete without a brew house. With the Industrialization in the early 20th century came the ban on home brewing and beer production became industrialized not only in Norway, but in most European states and USA. One of the unfortunate consequences of the industrialization was a significant consolidation in the brewing sector that reduced not only the number of major breweries to just a handful, but also reduced the great beer variety to the production of mainly of light, filtered and pasteurized lager-beers. In the last decades however, arising from a desire for greater beer diversity, there has been a massive growth of microbreweries. The trend started up in England in the 70s, and USA and Europe followed closely in the 80. In Norway Nøgne Ø was not only one of the first ones to start challenging the status quo, but has in only a decade risen to become Norway’s largest supplier of micro brew.
Beer in Norway
More or less 98% of the beer marked in Norway consists of light, filtered and pasteurized lager-beers, but the founders of what became the microbrewery Nøgne Ø craved more diversity. This craving was one of the main reasons they decided to start up a micro brewery that would focus on bringing diversity and innovation into commercial brewing of real ale, and solely produce of top-fermented and bottle conditioned beers. Today Nøgne Ø is Norway's leading and largest supplier of bottle conditioned ale.
Nøgne Ø makes more than 20 different styles of ales and their uncompromising beer philosophy and endless curiosity, has not only triggered and challenged Norwegians’ taste buds, but it has also earned them international recognition with medals and top scores in several of the world’s most renowned competitions.
Nøgne Ø internationally
In Norway Nøgne Ø’s popularity has soared the last years, but with an export of more than 70% of the total production the brewery has managed to become a well known name among beer friends over the whole world. Currently USA is Nøgne Ø’s biggest export market and the Americans have embraced the Norwegian innovators.
Nøgne Ø's subtitle - "The Uncompromising Brewery" is a plain statement of their mission to craft ale of highest quality, personality and individuality. They claim that they do not aim to become much bigger, but they will always focus on being better!
To learn more about the brewery and to see where you can get their beer in the US, check out their home page.