For when confronted by an actual cork sniffer....

[Gahr]

Gahr, do you own the brewery?

No. I only own about 2 % of the shares.

I am the main brewer (my official title is brewmaster, but I don't really like it), and in general it is my responsibility to make the recipes. I am also fairly well known in the Norwegian brewing community, having been active for a long time. I was one of the first people here taking up what we call modern homebrewing as a hobby, and I was a member of the board for the Norwegian homebrewers' association NORBRYGG for several years. I won a number of awards for my home-brews; I have a few Norwegian championships under my belt, and in 2014 I wrote a book on brewing together with a friend. In addition to this I was very active teaching and helping people in the homebrewing community learn how to brew and better their brewing technique. I also used to write for a Norwegian beer magazine. All this was what landed me the job, and I use my "fame" in the Norwegian brewing community (which is very small, mind you!) to promote the brewery.

I don't really enjoy this "celebrity status", there is way too much hype and, well, cork sniffing on the beer scene. I prefer just enjoying some brews with my friends instead of always having to talk to people I don't know when I'm at beer events in Norway. I'm thankful for the opportunities it has given me, though. And I believe in giving back to the community. But still, to me, beer is more about the setting in which I drink it than the actual drink itself. My favorite beers will always be tied to my favorite beer moments. The best beers I have had have all been drunk on memorable occasions, in special places and with special people. I can't name a single favorite beer that I have first had at home on my own.

Ok, that was a rather long answer to a simple question, and a lot more than you asked for...

 

[Hector]

Yep, there is a beer for (almost) everyone.

I’ve been brewing beer since 1991, more than half my life, but the more I brew, the more I realize that beer first and foremost is a social drink (and in my opinion this goes for all alcoholic deinks). As a brewer I strive to put as much flavor and complexity as possible into every beer I brew (depending on what beer style I’m brewing, of course). But the most important flavor is always what we in Norwegian call «mersmak». «Mersmak» simply means the flavor that wants you to have one more of anything. And to me that is always the real test. Someone might praise a beer and wax eloquently about how the tropical and citrus notes of the hops balance perfectly with the bisquity malt flavors, but the real test is always if someone comes back for a second round. The beer you like is always the best beer for you. My beers are objectively more flavorful and complex than PBR, but who am I to say anyone’s beer is crap?

The same goes for any drink, food or guitar for that matter. I can try to convince people my beers are better, but ultimately the drinker decides.

And what makes me proud about my beer is seeing people enjoying themselves while drinking them. People chewing the fat with friends, laughing, talking, having a good time. That’s why I brew and enjoy beer.

When it comes to beer, I am not altruistic. There are some beers which are, honestly, not good. I have had horrible micro-brews that have had major faults, so much so the beer was undrinkable. I have had beers in brew-pubs where it had not finished fermenting. And then there are the beers brewed on an industrial scale at high gravity that have zero flavour. For the industrial beers, in terms of consistency between batches, my hat is off to them, but in terms of taste, they are certainly not winners. Granted, if it's 35°C outside, I'm not looking for a Belgian Tripel, rather a light lager.

I actually find that a good brewer requires real talent. Very few have it.

It's like the Germans say, when a brewery changes the brewer, you can taste it.

 

[Gahr]

When it comes to beer, I am not altruistic. There are some beers which are, honestly, not good. I have had horrible micro-brews that have had major faults, so much so the beer was undrinkable. I have had beers in brew-pubs where it had not finished fermenting. And then there are the beers brewed on an industrial scale at high gravity that have zero flavour. For the industrial beers, in terms of consistency between batches, my hat is off to them, but in terms of taste, they are certainly not winners. Granted, if it's 35°C outside, I'm not looking for a Belgian Tripel, rather a light lager.

I actually find that a good brewer requires real talent. Very few have it.

It's like the Germans say, when a brewery changes the brewer, you can taste it.

Ah, of course there are a LOT of bad beers out there. A heap, particularly small craft breweries, that are technically crap. There is no cork sniffing involved in saying this. What I’m talking about is all the hype surrounding what is popular at any given time.

 

[Hector]

No. I only own about 2 % of the shares.

I am the main brewer (my official title is brewmaster, but I don't really like it), and in general it is my responsibility to make the recipes. I am also fairly well known in the Norwegian brewing community, having been active for a long time. I was one of the first people here taking up what we call modern homebrewing as a hobby, and I was a member of the board for the Norwegian homebrewers' association NORBRYGG for several years. I won a number of awards for my home-brews; I have a few Norwegian championships under my belt, and in 2014 I wrote a book on brewing together with a friend. In addition to this I was very active teaching and helping people in the homebrewing community learn how to brew and better their brewing technique. I also used to write for a Norwegian beer magazine. All this was what landed me the job, and I use my "fame" in the Norwegian brewing community (which is very small, mind you!) to promote the brewery.

I don't really enjoy this "celebrity status", there is way too much hype and, well, cork sniffing on the beer scene. I prefer just enjoying some brews with my friends instead of always having to talk to people I don't know when I'm at beer events in Norway. I'm thankful for the opportunities it has given me, though. And I believe in giving back to the community. But still, to me, beer is more about the setting in which I drink it than the actual drink itself. My favorite beers will always be tied to my favorite beer moments. The best beers I have had have all been drunk on memorable occasions, in special places and with special people. I can't name a single favorite beer that I have first had at home on my own.

Ok, that was a rather long answer to a simple question, and a lot more than you asked for...

Celebrity status: I find this comes mostly from shallow people who cannot imagine that someone knows how to make something with their hands (or play a guitar for that matter). There are also those who like the idea, but cannot commit (so called amateur beer tasters / critics, I have run across a lot of these. They are tiresome to talk to, most have no idea what it takes to make good beer, or why a beer could have faults.). It's odd. I too shy away from this as I do not like the attention. The beer speaks for my talents, I do not want to.

Cork sniffing in beer. Yes, I have experienced this too. I always distance myself from those people, and oddly they seem to be very hard to get rid of in a social setting. I may come off cold, but I do not suffer time wasters / pontificators well...