Photo Credit: (International Traveller, 2023)

Introduction

In the heart of prehistoric Gotland, Tjelvar, a diligent farmer, tended to his vast fields under the gentle embrace of the Nordic sun. The island, with its unique blend of fertile soil and coastal breezes, was perfect for cultivating barley. As the harvest season approached, Tjelvar routinely brewed dricku for his family, to sustain them through the seasons. Using the barley from his fields, smoked over a birchwood fire, water from the nearby spring, and juniper twigs from the forest, he set about the brewing process, letting the mixture ferment in a large wooden vat.

As the days turned slightly cooler, Tjelvar sampled the brew. In full agreeance, his taste buds signaled that it was ready. One evening, with the golden hue of sunset painting the sky, Tjelvar gathered his family around a roaring fire. He poured out the Gotlandsdricke into hand-carved wooden mugs, its smoky, herbal and slightly tangy aroma filling the air. As they sipped the brew, the warmth and rich flavors of the drink brought smiles to their faces. The tales of the elders had been true; the Gotlandsdricke was indeed a drink that captured the essence of Gotland. That night, amidst laughter and stories, Tjelvar’s family felt a deep connection to their land and ancestors, all thanks to the ancient brew in their hands.

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Gotlandsdricke. An obscure historical smoked farmhouse style ale originating from (and still residing in) an island off the coast of Sweden called Gotland that is quite unlike anything brewed in the modern world.

Let’s learn a bit about the style, where it came from and then get brewing!

Photo Credit: (Helsinki Beer Festival, 2023)

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The recipe we use will be based on Charlie Papazian the brewing legend’s “Vello’s Gotlandsdricke,” featured on the AHA recipe page. (American Homebrewers Association, 2023)

Gotland and Gotlandsdricke: History and Geography

Lars Marius Garshol of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine tells us that farmhouse ales have been brewed all over the area that now encompasses Sweden, and while this tradition largely died out in the mainland, in Gotland it is quite the opposite. The population of the island is about 60,000 people as of 2023, and their culture focuses heavily on agriculture. This is probably one the reasons brewing is so popular there! (Garshol, 2023)

“Gotland has long been more than just farming, however. Its strategic position in the Baltic has made it a trading crossroads for millennia, and the trade here was so rich that caches of ancient silver are still regularly dug out of the ground. The biggest-ever hoard of Viking silver (the Spillings hoard) was found on Gotland in 1999—67 kilos of silver, including 14,295 coins, most of them Arabic.

The center of this trade was the scenic medieval town of Visby, which is still the capital of the island. However, most of the actual brewing happens out in the countryside. The brewers live spread out in little villages dotting the gently rolling landscape of grain fields and forests, interspersed with large stands of juniper.”

(Garshol, 2023)

There are many aspects that make this beer style unique, including the way the water is prepared, mashing techniques, the ingredients (hello juniper and bakers yeast!), the history, flavor profile and even how it is treated after conditioning.

Lexicology/Etymology of Gotlandsdricke

So, wait… What does Gotlandsdricke actually mean? Where did the name come from? People from Sweden don’t actually call it this, rather, people who live in Gotland do. However, mainland Swedish folks call it Gotlandsdricka. Gotlandsdricke is influenced by the Gotland dialect which is different from the mainland of Sweden. What’s interesting is that if you lived in Gotland, you would just refer to the drink as, dricke, meaning drink. Alternatively, you would say “dricku” which is like saying the drink.

An odd name for a beer, right? Not really. The drink was referred to that way because it was a staple in Gotland households. It is what kids, parents, grandparents, etc. all drank daily.

Gotlandsdricke Ingredients

Malt

Time to talk malt! Like most European farmhouse ales, you would typically find brewers using homemade malts. In the past, these would have been anything from rye, oats, wheat or barley. But today Gotland brewers mainly stick to traditional barley. What is interesting about this is how the barley is malted.

The iconic Gotland malt kiln features a ground floor fireplace connected to a loft drying area via a side channel in the chimney. Brewers lay out the malt on this loft surface, letting the heat and smoke pass through, producing a distinct smoky malt. This is the way brewers used to malt their grains. That’s right, I said brewers. Back in the day, there was no distinction between maltsters and brewers, it was assumed if you were a brewer, you also malted.

The key to the malt in this style is that the wood used to fire the kiln in Gotland would typically be birch wood. I would describe birch smoked malt as having a gentle and refined taste. Although I have to admit, I was unable to find any birch smoked malt for brewing this recipe. I had to instead go with beech smoked malt, which was what my LHBS had on hand.

I would strongly recommend NOT using beech, as it is often used in Rauchbier and is known for a bacon or ham type smoke profile, where Cherrywood has a much closer profile to that of Birch. Cherry would impart a mild and slightly sweet smoky flavor. If you cannot find Cherry smoked malt, look for Alder. Alder smoked malt has a mild smoke profile and adds a touch of sweetness.

Thoughts on Brewing Process and Ingredients!

So far, I have been totally unable to find any one specific method of brewing Gotlandsdricke. It actually seems that there is no specific process. Some brewers make this style totally raw with no boil, some use decoctions and step mashes whereas others just use a single infusion.

However, they ALL use juniper. There are two places Juniper comes into play in the process:

• Infusion in the Hot Liquor Tank
• Use as a filter in the lautering process

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Hops

Hops should be limited to herbal, spicy and floral options like traditional noble hops. Apparently, some brewers in Gotland make a hop tea but it is most common to boil hops as you normally would in the wort. Do not add more than 3.5 oz to a five-gallon batch! (Garshol, 2023)

Yeast

As far as yeast, Gotland did have its own farmhouse yeast but it died out in the 1970s. So nowadays, brewers use bread yeast. We will be using Kveik yeast which, being Norwegian should get us somewhat close to what we want from the yeast. (Garshol, 2023) Similarly, Ölverk mentions that “commonly, in modern days, the use of baker’s yeast also lends a fruity, tart, and somewhat phenolic taste. (Wisby Ölverk, 2023)

Finally, serve this ale with very low carbonation similar to cask level carbonation.

Once fermentation is complete, the tradition would be to serve this from a cask, and periodically add suagr to keep the carbonation level from dropping out entirely. I plan to simply put this on around 1-2 PSI at 38F in a keg to simulate a cask as best I am able.

Brewing Time!

To start, you will need four 10 – 12 inch juniper boughs to create your brewing water. I am using a Grainfather G30, so I had to get creative with some of this.

I started by boiling 8 gallons of water and adding the juniper boughs to a hop spider. If your experience is like mine, you’ll want to push the boughs down into the spider periodically and dip the spider like a tea bag as well to ensure extraction is high. Notice mine were quite small so I just estimated a total of 40 inches of boughs. The boughs were chock full of berries as well! Interestingly, they turn from blue/purple to brown when they hit boiling water.

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Then I removed the hop spider and boughs entirely before chilling to 132F (to allow for shrinkage of wort) and transferred 2.3 gallons to my sparge heater. I topped up my boiling kettle to 5.8 gallons, to prepare for mashing.

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I added my mash salts, mashed in, and took a pH reading.

My pH came in a bit high as predicted at about 5.8, 4 ml of Lactic Acid took care of that and brought me to 5.39.

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Worth noting: If anyone has a G30 and DOESN’T use a filter to prevent grains from entering the overflow pipework, I cannot recomend it highly enough. I had been using a simpler sink strainer, and that worked well. But, once it went missing, I splurged on a genuine Grainfather grain filter and haven’t looked back since. Check it out, it’s the screen around the pipework in the phot below:

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International Traveller. (2023). [Photograph of Gotland]. Retrieved August 14, 2023, from https://www.internationaltraveller.com/europe/gotland-the-real-life-fantasy-island/

The mash went without a hitch. But this is where I had to get creative. Traditionally, brewers in Gotland would use something like the picture below, a lautering vessel with a bed of juniper boughs on the bottom to act as a filter.

Since I am using a G30, an all-in-one brewing system, this wouldn’t be possible. So, instead I raised up my mash basket for sparging, and laid juniper boughs all across the top of the basket. Then, I sparged normally.

From there on out, this is a pretty standard brew.

I ended up with a gravity fairly on point, at 1.045.

Iconoclast Gotlandsdricke

Volume: 5.5 Gallons

Boil Time: 60 Mins

Mash Efficiency: 78.5%

ABV: 5.4%

OG: 1.047

FG: 1.006 – 1.010

SRM: 4.7

IBU: 16 (Not going to be accurate due to bitter tannins and extract from juniper)

Fermentables

• 6 lb Birch Smoked Barley (2.6L) (Sub Cherry or Alder if you cannot find this)
• 1.8 lb 2-Row (2L)
• 1.8 lb Munich (5L)
• .5 lb Rice Hulls

Hops

• .22 oz Northern Brewer (10.7% AA) @ 60 Minutes or 8 IBU
• 1 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker (4.6%) @ 15 Minutes or 8 IBU

Yeast

• Kveik Lutra OR 1 cm² fresh bakers yeast
• If you use Lutra, Ferment around 78F
• If you use bakers yeast, ferment around 65F

Water

I aimed to really balance out the bitterness coming from the juniper boughs by upping my chloride significantly which should make this seem very full or malty.

• Ca2: 56
• Mg2: 5
• Na: 15
• Cl: 100
• SO4: 50
• HCO3: 0

Mash Profile

• Proteinase: 132F – 20 Minutes
• Alpha Amylase: 155F – 45 Minutes
• Mash Out: 169F – 15 Minutes

Final Thoughts and Tasting Results to Follow!!! Stay Tuned.

References:

Garshol, L. M. (2023). Gotlandsdricke: Sweden’s Elusive Smoked Ale. Craft Beer & Brewing. Retrieved from https://beerandbrewing.com/style-school-gotland-s-drink-the-elusive-smoked-ale-of-sweden/

Helsinki Beer Festival. (2023). [Photograph of Gotlandsdricka Ale]. Retrieved August 14, 2023, from http://www.helsinkibeerfestival.com/gotlandsdricka-ale/

Wisby Ölverk. (2023). Brewing Gotlandsdricke with Gotland’s Wisby Ölverk. Craft Beer & Brewing. Retrieved August 14, 2023, from https://beerandbrewing.com/brewer-s-perspective-brewing-gotland-s-drink-with-wisby-olverk/