Carlsberg and Brooklyn to build a brewery in Trondheim
Already at the end of last year Carlsberg announced that it would construct a new brewery in Trondheim on the site of the existing Ringnes E.C. Dahls brewery for DKK 110 million kronor (about EUR 15 million), but only on 27 April 2015 it was revealed that this project will be a collaboration between Carlsberg and Brooklyn Brewery from New York.
E.C. Dahls is the second brewery alliance between Carlsberg and Brooklyn after the Nya Carnegie Brewery in Stockholm, which opened last year. The new E.C. Dahls Brewery is scheduled to open in the late summer of 2016. In the official statement by Brooklyn there was no mention of Brooklyn’s financial investment in this venture, though.
With the aim of creating “the premier beer experience in Norway”, the collaboration will see a new brewery with a pub, restaurant, conference facilities and a visitor centre being established. The brewery will produce both Dahls beer, as well as new craft beers that take their inspiration from Norwegian and U.S. craft brewing traditions.
As in Stockholm, there will be no Brooklyn beers brewed in Norway but visitors will be able to have some Brooklyn in the Tasting Room.
Located about 500 km to the north of Oslo (or eight hours by car if you are lucky), Trondheim was Norway’s capital until the 13th century. It is situated close to the North Sea and sports about 180,000 inhabitants. Alas, there is no hinterland to speak of and no other major conurbation until you hit Bergen (260,000 people), which is 700 km or 10 hours by car away, or Oslo (600,000 people).
The E.C. Dahls brewery was founded in the 19th century and through several amalgamations ended up with Carlsberg over a decade ago. It is one of two Carlsberg breweries in Norway – the other one is in Oslo, the capital – yet in 2014 Carlsberg decided that it would scale down production at the Dahls brewery, cutting the number of employees from 134 to 14, it was reported.
The Norwegian beer market is small, as is the whole country. Only 5 million people live there. In 2013 2.3 million hl beer were produced – half the volume of neighbouring Sweden. Official per capita consumption of beer stood at 48 litres. Judging from first-hand experience, black market beer imports (from Sweden or from Germany and Denmark) still play a role, as does moonshine. This should not come as a surprise because, like most Scandinavian markets, Norway sports a high excise rate, lots of regulation and a mass of pale lager. A glass of beer (varies between 0.4 and 0.5 litre) in a pub/bar costs between NOK 60 and NOK 80 (EUR 7.20 – EUR 9.50).
Although Carlsberg dominates the market with a 51 percent share (their estimate), followed by local brewer Hansa-Borg with 34 percent, there were 48 registered breweries in 2013, up from 16 in 2008, which indicates that craft beer, often produced at farm breweries, is on the rise.
By setting up the new E.C. Dahls brewery, Carlsberg and Brooklyn are breathing new life into an iconic building. Whether its beers will rock the market and draw the crowds, is another issue.
