Bottled beer

What’s not to kveik?

Twice Brewed’s Liber Brut Kveik IPA

Our man in the beer aisle samples what brewers are doing with ‘miracle yeast’

The wild world of

fermentation still holds many surprises. Consider kveik yeasts, known only to farmhouse brewers in western Norway until blogger Lars Marius Garshol started writing about them a few years back. Now, commercially produced cultures have been eagerly adopted by some brewers as miracle yeasts, which do their job at a wider range of temperatures and in around half the time as regular strains, without producing the spicy, medicinal off-flavours normally associated with overheated fermentations. Some have even converted their entire production to kveik.

The yeast does

indeed produce some signature flavours, subtle but distinct fruity esters that blend well with the fruity hop notes of contemporary hazy, juicy pale-ale styles. Nearly all the UK-brewed examples I tracked down fell into this broad category but were still remarkably varied. Bone

Machine’s Cloud Piercer (4.7 per cent ABV), from a brewery in Hull founded by two Finnish brothers in 2017, was a good place to start, complementing yeast esters with New Zealand

very pale beer, with star fruit and a hint of garlic on the aroma. Generous twists of citrus and pepper lift a smooth texture achieved with the addition of oats. A big, complex beer.

hops to yield subtle mango, lychee and papaya notes on both aroma and palate. Complex, peppery spice permeated apple juice notes in a very pleasant, if slightly sweet, finish.

Richard Conway,

who began Thirst Class Ale in Stockport in 2014, found the brewery’s first experiment with a kveik pale ale so successful that That’s The Way (Aha, Aha, I Kveik It, 4.9 per cent) is now a regular. US Cascade, Chinook and Centennial hops were selected to match the yeast profile, yielding a notably citric glassful with fresh orange and a punch of resinous pine with all the perfumed intensity of a crushed hop cone. The beer dries out with spicy lemon notes on the finish.

Another successful

experiment graduating to permanent status is Infinity’s Oort Kveik IPA (6 per cent) from a small-batch brewery in southern Birmingham founded by Chris Crouch and Tammy Harris in 2020. There’s a perfumed, estery lift to this Germany. There’s a dry, lemon-lime slant to this lively beer, with subtle spice, chewy malt reminiscent of a good lager and a very refreshing finish. The brewery, at Harston just outside Cambridge, opened in 2017.

BrewBoard’s Beasticus Kveik

NEIPA (4.9 per cent) blends kveik with more traditional yeasts, adding a little lactose sweetness and an interesting blend of hops, including El Dorado from the Yakima Valley and Huell Melon from

My most elegant

example hailed from Twice Brewed on Hadrian’s Wall near Hexham, where a brewhouse was added to the historic pub of the same name in 2017. Hallertau Blanc and Ekuanot hops help add a distinct white wine character

to Liber Brut Kveik IPA (7 per cent), an outstanding beer with honey and lemon pepper on the aroma, Sauvignon Blanc grapes, lemony esters and wafts of mint and tobacco on the palate and a still more complex, pithy bitter finish.

Infinity’s Oort Kveik IPA

Incidentally, kveik is just a

dialect term for yeast. Say the kv fully and make it rhyme with spike said in a posh accent.

Des de Moor is one of the country’s leading writers on bottled beer, and author of The CAMRA Guide to London’s Best Beer, Pubs & Bars. Follow him at @desdemoor and read more of his reviews at desdemoor.co.uk