On Tuesday, July 16 I’m heading for Oregon and Washington. It will be a joint tour with American beer writer Jereme Zimmerman, the author of Make Mead Like a Viking and Brew Beer Like a Yeti. Hence we have dubbed trip Viking Age Brew & Brew Beer Like a Yeti Book Tour.
We have lined up four events in Portland and Seattle for homebrewers, craft brewers, and for people interested in traditional farmhouse beers and Nordic beer culture. Check the details from my events page.
Because demonstrating the special character of Nordic farmhouse ales is much easier when there’s ale to taste, I wanted to do a collaboration brew at a local brewery. We’ll brew sahti style farmhouse ale at the Ale Apothecary from Nordic and Oregonian ingredients, and we’ll launch the ale one week later at Belmont Station in Portland.
This will be my first time in the USA, and I’m going to delve deep into American drink and food culture. I will visit lots of breweries, pubs, and restaurants. The things-to-see list includes also Oregon Brewers Festival, a malthouse, at least one distillery, probably also a winery and hop farm, and places known for their Finnish and Nordic heritage. I’ll interview beer people for stories that will appear in Brewing Nordic and Finnish beer magazine Olutposti. On the road, I’ll post into Brewing Nordic’s Facebook and Instagram.
My route will be roughly this:
July 16–17: Reykjavik, Iceland
July 17–18: Seattle
July 19–21: Bend
July 22–27: Portland (including Oregon Brewers Festival)
July 28–29: Somewhere in Oregon, probably Williamette Valley and Oregon coast
July 30–August 2: Seattle
I will gladly meet beer and media people and I have plenty of time, especially in Seattle and Portland. If you would like to meet me, you can email mika@brewingnordic.com.