Historically, farmers believed themselves to be surrounded by supernatural creatures of many kinds. Some were benign, some more ambiguous, and some decidedly not benign. The best known of these are perhaps the Norwegian trolls, but there were many more.

Brewing was a complicated process that could sometimes fail for reasons that were inexplicable to farmers who had no scientific background, and this caused brewing to be seen as an activity susceptible to witchcraft and interference from supernatural creatures.

In this talk, Lars Marius Garshol outlines some of the many ways in which farmhouse brewers tried to protect their beer. The best known method is perhaps the yeast scream, but there were many other practices, such as sacrificing wort, using substitute words (noa names), using steel, and so on.

Lars Marius Garshol used to be a software engineer, but he gave that up to work full-time on researching and writing about traditional farmhouse brewing. He's spent the last decade researching various aspects of brewing at remote farms throughout northern Europe. He is the author of Larsblog, a blog devoted to sharing his discoveries and travels, Historical Brewing Techniques: The Lost Art of Farmhouse Brewing, and a book on Lithuanian beer. He lives with his wife and daughter in Rælingen, Norway.

THIS SESSION IS SUPPORTED BY: