Bryggeriet Djævlebryg

Bryggeriet Djævlebryg (translates to "The Brewery Devil's Brew") is a Danish microbrewery established in June 2006. The brewery is a so-called phantom brewery and brews its beers at Brøckhouse in Hillerød.

History

The brewery started as just a hobby for the brothers Rune and Stinus Lindgreen who began to make their own beer in their mother's kitchen back in 2003. After a few years of experimenting, a friend of theirs, Per Olaf Huusfeldt, suggested that they should consider establishing a microbrewery in order to get the beers out to a broader audience.

In June 2006 - on the date 06.06.06 - the brewery was formally established under the name "Bryggeriet Djævlebryg Aps". This of course attracted the local media [ [http://www.dgo.dk/apps/pbcs.dll/search?crit=dj%E6vlebryg&SearchProfile=1010 Articles in local Danish newspaper "Det Grønne Område"] ] in Kongens Lyngby where the brewery originates. The brewery made a deal with another Danish microbrewery called Brøckhouse where they still brew their beers. The slogan "Satans gode øl" - roughly meaning "Devilishly good beers" - can be found on all bottles.

The founders of the brewery all have backgrounds in the natural sciences, and they approach the brewing process with a combination of respect for the good taste and an academic knowledge about what is going on in process. The name of the brewery plays on two things: First of all, the Devil in Western mythology represents the good (or sinful) things in life including alcoholic beverages, and secondly, there are so many monasteries brewing beers that they need some opposition. Both the name of the brewery and the names they use for the individual beers are tongue-in-cheek.

The brewery has received quite a lot of attention from the media and respect from beer geeks worldwide [ [http://www.ratebeer.com/Brewers/bryggeriet-dj%E6vlebryg/8099/ RateBeer page on Bryggeriet Djævlebryg] ] [ [http://www.ratebeer.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=101750&whichpage=1 Discussion about Djævlebryg on RateBeer] ] . So far, the beers are only available in Denmark.

Awards

* At the Copenhagen Beerfestival 2007, the brewery was awarded the prize for "Best Exhibitor" by the guests [ [http://www.ale.dk/index.php?id=3074 Page from "Danish Beer Enthusiasts" on the beerfestival 2007] showing a picture of beer developer Rune Lindgreen and describing the award] .
* The stout "Nekron" was voted to be the 3rd best beer out of more than 550 released in Denmark in 2007 [ [http://www.ale.dk/index.php?id=4568&no_cache=1 Page from "Danish Beer Enthusiasts" on the vote] showing complete list and the final top 10] .
* In 2008, "Nekron" was awarded a gold medal on the internet portal RateBeer [ [http://www.djaevlebryg.dk/billeder/ratebeer_gold.jpgDigital gold medal "diploma"] from [http://www.ratebeer.com RateBeer] ]
* Rune Lindgreen and Per Olaf Huusfeldt from Djævlebryg received the 2. prize and honorary mention for their exam project when graduating as diploma brewers [ [http://www.olakademiet.dk/page.asp?pid=8&mid=2&sub=1&fid=5&visnyhed=98 News article from the Danish Beer Academy] ] .

Types of beers

As of September 2008, the brewery has the following beers on the market:
* Mystikale: An ale brewed with different herbs and spices. 6.5% abv.
* Schopenhauers Vilje (Schopenhauer's Will): A hoppy, bitter ale named after the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. 6.5% abv.
* Old Mephisto: A barleywine. 10.5% abv.
* Son of Nekron: A porter brewed with peat smoked malt. 6.5% abv.
* Nekron: A stout. 8.5% abv.
* Pride of Nekron: An imperial stout. 10.5% abv.
* Gudeløs (Godless): An imperial stout. 8.9% abv.

Media coverage

The brewery released the imperial stout Gudeløs (meaning "Godless") at the European Beer Festival 2008. The beer is made in collaboration with the Danish Atheist Society, and the brewery donates 1 Danish krone to the society for each beer sold [ [http://www.djaevlebryg.dk/gudeloes.php Brewery description of the beer Gudeløs] ] . This "atheism beer" created some discussion on the internet, even before the release, where it attracted the attention of atheists from all over the world. Most notably, P.Z. Myers mentioned it on his blog Pharyngula [ [http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/09/denmark_is_now_on_my_list_of_e.php "Denmark is now on my list of emigration destinations"] ] , and a thread was started on the Richard Dawkins message board [ [http://richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&p=1286968 "A New Danish Atheist Beer"] ] discussing the beer.

The release of the Godless beer was mentioned by the Danish Beer Academy [ [http://www.olakademiet.dk/page.asp?pid=8&mid=2&sub=1&fid=5&visnyhed=127 "Ugudelig øl-alliance"] (trans. "Ungodly beer alliance")] , and gave rise to a number of articles in Danish newspapers [ [http://www.jv.dk/artikel/510294 Jyske Vestkysten] , [http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/298230:Kirke---tro--Ateistisk-oel-skal-faa-folk-til-at-melde-sig-ud-af-kirken Kristeligt Dagblad 2] , [http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/298220:Kirke---tro--Kan-folkekirken-lave-en-oel Kristeligt Dagblad 2] , [http://www.tv2lorry.dk/moduler/nyheder/news.asp?id=40685 TV2 Lorry] , [http://www.viborg-folkeblad.dk/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080923/VSF/224232924 Viborg Folkeblad] ] as well as a clip in the news on national Danish television [ [http://www.dr.dk/DR1/TVAVISEN/tvaindslag.htm Choose "21:00" and the date "Tirsdag 23. sep. 2008"] ] . Even in Norway and as far away as USA, this beer made the news [ [http://www.fritanke.no/NYHETER/2008/Danske_ateister_far_eget_ol/ Norwegian newspaper] and [http://cbs2.com/video/?id=[e-mail] American TV clip] ] .

Before Godless was released, Djævlebryg still made the news on a regular basis [ [http://www.dgo.dk/apps/pbcs.dll/search?crit=dj%E6vlebryg&SearchProfile=1010 Local newspaper "Det Grønne Område"] , [http://www.djaevlebryg.dk/materiale/SndagsavisenUge23Side13.pdf weekly newspaper "Søndagsavisen"] , [http://www.tv2regionerne.dk/reg2005/player.aspx?id=424605&r=7 clip from local TV news] , and [http://www.berlingske.dk/article/20080308/madogdrikke/703080016/ test in Danish newspaper "Berlingske Tidende"] ] .

References

External links

* The [http://www.djaevlebryg.dk official homepage] for Bryggeriet Djævlebryg
* The [http://www.ratebeer.com/Brewers/bryggeriet-dj%E6vlebryg/8099/ RateBeer page] on Bryggeriet Djævlebryg
* The beer page [http://www.ratebeer.com/ RateBeer]