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.