More from Lervig

After tasting one of Lervig's pale lagers at a hotel bar in Stavanger, it was time to move on to bottled beers. Lervig has several beers in its line-up, and I decided to try out some of them. First out was Lucky Jack. Lucky Jack is an American Pale Ale, and it has a beautiful label. Like many of Lervig's other beers, the bottles have beer labels inspired by labels from old sardine wrappings. Once Stavanger was the sardine capital of Norway, and this is a way of commemorating that period of time.

In the glass Lucky Jack was a cloudy, nearly copper coloured beer. It had a large head and some carbonation. I felt hops and grapefruit in the nose, while grapefruit and toffee had a dance in the mouth before a finish with a watery feeling. This was a delicious beer that I enjoyed, but I would have preferred a more hoppy touch in the finish.

Then I bought a bottle of Lervig's Norwegian wheat beer, White Dog. This was a cloudy, nearly pale beer. It had some carbonation, but a small head. In the nose I felt some Belgian yeast and some spices I could not pinpoint. I tasted grass, spices and hints of toffee. The finish was watery with some toffee. This beer was nice, but I would prefer Hoegaarden if both beers were available at the same time.

It was closing time, so it was time to move on. But there were more Lervig beers waiting for me.

A true Stavanger beer

After Ringnes decided to buy the local Tou brewery in Stavanger, the production of the Tou beers were moved to Eastern Norway. At the same time, local patriots decided to start a new brewery in the West Norwegian town. The result was Lervig brewery. The first beers were brewed for Lervig by Northern Norwegian Mack brewery, but after a few years Lervig started brewing their own beers in Stavanger. These days Lervig is considered the local brewery, and the product line consists of beers of many beer styles including IPA, brown ale and wheat beer.

Recently I tried a Lervig draught beer for the first time. At a hotel in the city centre of Stavanger, Herlige Lervig Pilsner was available from tap. I was thirsty, and drinking a lager beer was a fine way of getting rid of the thirst. The pale beer had nearly no head nor carbonation. The nose was malty with a touch of grass, while I felt malts and some grains in the mouth before a partly bitter finish. This was just an average pale lager, but it was better than the Tou Pilsner.

I felt a bit disappointed after drinking this beer, but that was to change. There were more Lervig beers available from the hotel bar, and they were much more interesting than this pale lager.

A piece of Stavanger?

Once Tou brewery was one of the prides of the Stavanger district. Because of the regional system in Norway, Tou more or less had a monopoly in its area. The locals drank their Tou pale lager and were content. It was just like football teams. You support the local team, and you drink the local beer.

Times changed, and the regional system disappeared. Now it was possible for Norwegians to buy beer brewed outside of the area in the local supermarkets. Tou was no longer king of its mountain, and people from the Stavanger district had more choices. But things went even worse. Tou was bought by the Norwegian market leader, Ringnes brewery. The brass looked at the bottom line and decided that the brewing in Stavanger had to be stopped. Instead, Tou suddenly was one of many brands brewed by Ringnes.

As I was sitting at Barometer bar at Stavanger's airport Sola, I decided it was time to try Tou Pilsener. The pale lager had some carbonation and a small head. I felt some sweetness and malts in the nose. The beer was sweet with some grains and a finish with a hint of hoppy bitterness. This was a boring lager that can be counted among the many average ones of its style.