Join us for a very special evening as we host one of the world's foremost experts on Scandinavian farmhouse brewing, Lars Marius Garshol.

While the world's brewing industry scaled up and adopted science and engineering techniques, farmers in remote regions in far Northern Europe continued with ancient, rustic brewing methods, out of tradition—and often necessity. While the beers are familiar enough, they're a world apart from the craft and industrial beers we know, with unique yeast, malts, techniques and botanicals.

People tend to assume that farmhouse brewers just brewed with whatever they had on hand, but in reality farmhouse brewing was bound by tradition, and this very much included which herbs were used in the beer. The herbs people used were much the same from country to country, and from millennium to millennium.

Tonight’s event, featuring a talk by Lars, will take  a look at what farmhouse brewers actually used, which includes some surprises. The evening will also showcase these beers and reveals the sophisticated beers than can be made from hyper-local ingredients and self-made equipment. It will have a special focus on the unique botanicals in these beers, with a full-batch collaboration between Lars and the Forbidden Root Brew Team (including Randy Mosher), featuring wind-dried malt, rye, a unique "Kveik" yeast and botanicals including juniper and meadowsweet. In addition, we'll have as many other relevant herbs as possible for smelling and a few one-off kegs using ingredients like bog myrtle.

$45 ticket includes a specially curated beer flight, one full-size collab beer, and carefully paired snacks. Event takes place in the private side taproom at Cultivate. Additional beers and drinks will be available for purchase. Dinner is available before or after in the restaurant area, but reservations are required. This event is 21+.

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, along with Historical Brewing Techniques: The Lost Art of Farmhouse Brewing and a book on Lithuanian beer. Lars serves on the Chicago Brewseum’s League of Historians. He lives with his wife and daughter in Rælingen, Norway.