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Lars Marius Garshol

@larsga.bsky.social

1.1K followers 200 following 1.5K posts

Author, speaker, and researcher of farmhouse ale. Norwegian posts: @larsga-no.bsky.social https://www.garshol.priv.no

www.garshol.priv.no

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · Feb 11

I recently gained a lot of new followers, so I thought I'd introduce my work. I work on farmhouse ale, which farmers used to brew from their own grain, because, basically, they already had the grain, so it didn't cost them anything. As long as there was enough to eat they could brew from the rest. 🧵

Black and white photo of two older men holding brewing gear in their hands, standing in the doorway to a brewhouse. Western Norway, probably 1930s or 1940s.

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 8h

That the mice ate all the peanut butter in the trap without setting it off is one thing, but for them to then go on and shit all over the trap to show their contempt for my attempts to kill them ... that really takes the biscuit. Cheeky little bastards!

An old-school wooden mousetrap lying on a floorboard. Two black banana-shaped mouse turds adorn the mousetrap, and a third is right next to it. There is no sign of the aforementioned peanut butter.

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Reposted by Lars Marius Garshol

Paul Davies @beersommelierkew.bsky.social · 12h

Baked beer? Lars has the story
www.beerandbrewing.com/style-school...

Meet Keptinis, the Baked Beer of the Baltics

There are many kinds of dark beer around the world, but there’s one that stands out as profoundly different from the others—and it features a deep, caramelized flavor that can only come from a nice, h...

www.beerandbrewing.com

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 17h

From the findings it seems very likely that this was unleavened bread, yes. Given that even in Roman times leavened bread does not seem to be universal, I guess that was to be expected.

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 17h

Yes, the depression is the whole thing. It's basically an ordinary oven rotated 90 degrees, to be vertical instead of horizontal. You make a fire in the depression, and it heats the air inside and the sides. You can bake bread by just plastering them onto the side. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandoor

Tandoor - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 18h

The original paper www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan | PNAS

The origins of bread have long been associated with the emergence of agriculture and cereal domestication during the Neolithic in southwest Asia. I...

www.pnas.org

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 18h

And, yes, it seems overwhelmingly likely that the Indian tandoor oven is related. Even the name is similar.

Three large ceramic "jars" standing on a grassy lawn, bound with metal hoops. Wikipedia describes these as "modern tandoors".

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 18h

The Armenians use a similar oven, called the "tonir". Being Indo-European, they arrived in the area later than the Georgians, but whatever the origin of the tonir it's clearly the same structure.

A large flatbread is stuck to the inside of a cylindrical oven. Flames and red embers are visible.

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 18h

The famous Georgian khachapuri bread is baked in an oven called a "tone", which is basically a cylindrical hole, usually inside a ceramic oven. The breads are slapped onto the side of the heated oven.

I have to say this is strikingly similar, and Georgia is not that far away from Jordan.

Photo of a tone, with breads stuck to the inside wall of the tone. A man in a white t-shirt is adding another bread. The tone appears to be brick-lined, with a thick layer of ceramics on the outside.

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 18h

The bread remains were found inside what the authors call "a fireplace". It's a depression in the ground, lined with stones. There was clearly a fire in this depression.

Well, this is very suggestive.

Figure 2 from the paper, a photo of a stone enclosure, the bottom covered in flagstones, with a stone-lined depression of some sort in the middle. Figure caption describes it as a "fireplace".

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 18h

Took a quick look at the oldest known find of bread, from Jordan, 14,400 years ago, and was immediately struck by something curious, which the authors do not discuss.

Screenshot of a paper titled "Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan"

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 1d

I was too rushed when I tasted his beer (too much to do), so I couldn't even remember if it had been smoky. Always wanted to try beer from sun-dried malts. Now I have, but I can't remember the taste.

Reposted by Lars Marius Garshol

patto1ro.bsky.social @patto1ro.bsky.social · 1d

Kveik gets to work very quickly. The photos show it immediately after being added to wort and 20 minutes later. The bowl was placed on the rim of the firepit, presumably to keep it nice and warm.
@kornolfest.bsky.social

A bowl of wort with kveik immediately after adding to wort. No activity, just lumps of kveik floating on the surface.

A bowl of wort with kveik 20 minutes later with a head formed from fermentation.

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 1d

Beer and death have a strong connection that runs like a red thread through all of history, right back to the beginning. I wrote this a couple of hours ago:

Screenshot of text reading: "The religious role of beer goes right back to the beginning. The very
oldest beer find of all, from present-day Israel 13,000 years ago, was
in a cave that was also used as a burial ground. It is thought that
the beer was used in funerary ceremonies for the dead. In fact, the
oldest beer in Europe, from Spain 6300 years ago, was found in a
grave. The oldest beer in Scandinavia, 4800 years ago, was also found
in a grave. As late as the early 20th century the connection between
beer and the dead was strong enough that Norwegian farmers were still
making the malt for their own funeral ales."

Reposted by Lars Marius Garshol

patto1ro.bsky.social @patto1ro.bsky.social · 2d

The @kornolfest.bsky.social at the weekend was fascinating. I learned so much. It's a whole new world. Something genuinely different to every other beer festival.
And held in amazingly beautiful place.

A like in Norway. In the foreground is a small jetty. On either side of the lake are steep slopes, mostlly covered in trees.

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 3d

The word "hrosta" also occurs in the poetry of Eigil Skallagrimson, where he insults the sea god Ægir (who is also a famous brewer) as "lord of the lauter tun". If you think of the brown, muddy mash in the lauter tun, being lord of it is a good step down from being sea god.

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 3d

He uses a different type of kiln that he's put a metal chimney into, and he uses birch wood instead of alder, and he's careful about what kind of birch wood. So the smoke character in his beer is not very pronounced. The beer is much paler, too.

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 3d

Dag: How do you feel about winning the rifle stock? (GRS produces famous riflestocks, coveted by hunters the world over.)

Gunnar: I have.

(He's saying he's already got one.)

That was it. He got the diploma and headed off. If you know him you can tell he looks pleased, but he's not exactly radiant

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 3d

Dag: Looks like the audience liked your beer?

Gunnar: Guess they did.

Dag: You live in?

Gunnar: Ørsta.

Dag: But you malt in?

Gunnar: At home.

Dag: But the malt kiln is in ... ?

Gunnar: Volda.

Dag: Is that OK? (The towns famously hate each other.)

Gunnar: Maybe not.

...

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 3d

Gunnar Skare's beer got the most votes from the audience, and thus won the competition. He's a farmer, has his own kveik, and makes his own malt. He's also a remarkably taciturn character, so the attempts by Dag (with mike) to draw him out were not hugely successful. (Next tweet.)

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 3d

It seems to actually be "surf of the lauter tun" and "swamp of the lauter tun". The word "hrosta" means lauter tun, but I guess translators despair of making people understand that.

In Western Norway they still say "rost" for lauter tun. Heard it used many times this weekend.

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 4d

Hmmm. I think the brewer's statement is being misinterpreted. What he's saying is that as long as he's alive he'll be coming to the festival -- no other event is going to stop him.

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 4d

Hmmm. I think the brewer's statement is being misinterpreted. What he's saying is that as long as he's alive he'll be coming to the festival -- no other event is going to stop him.

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 4d

Last night one of the farmhouse brewers who’s been coming to the festival every year said “if I’m not there next year, you can look for me in the grave.”

Then he repeated it this morning.

That’s the kind of thing you like to hear as festival organizer.

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Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 5d

We ran out of food. By the time we discover the food is out, the volunteers have discovered that there are hamburgers belonging to the local soccer team. They called the soccer team, got permission to sell the burgers, then started doing it. Zero fuss.

Lars Marius Garshol @larsga.bsky.social · 5d

As I’m walking back from the festival the sheep are working overtime.

Yes, there’s lots to say about the festival itself, but I’m too emotional to go into it. Let me just say that we are extremely fortunate in the volunteers that help us, and the audience we have. OMG.

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