Brewing, as Ska Brewing Co. and its Swedish counterparts Nynashamns Angbryggeri are proving, crosses borders and cultures.
Last year, Ska’s brewers traveled to Sweden to brew with their friends at Nynashamns Angbryggeri, a craft brewer in Nynashamns, a city south of Stockholm. On Tuesday, Ska returned the Swedes’ hospitality, hosting a brewer and marketing representative from Nynashamns.
“I think we have quite the same background,” said Lars “Lasse” Ericsson, brewer and one of four owners of Nynashamns Angbryggeri. “We started because we love beer.”
On Tuesday, the brewers tossed 50-pound bags of flaked wheat into Ska’s mash tun. A bag of Chinook hops awaited. The brewers took turns crowding a platform above the mash tun, stirring occasionally with a long metal paddle.
The resulting beer, Wipa Snapa White IPA, is expected to appear on local shelves in late March, timed to coincide with the Collaboration Festival on March 22 in Denver.
Collaborations are common in the craft brewing industry. Nynashamns Angbryggeri – which translates as Nynashamns Steam Brewery – previously brewed with Dogfish Head, a Delaware brewer known for unusual beers. Ska has brewed collaboration beers with many breweries in Colorado and elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Sweden is an increasingly important market for Ska. The Durango brewery began exporting its Modus Hoperandi IPA to Sweden in 2011, becoming the first American canned craft beer allowed in Sweden’s state-controlled liquor stores. The Nordic nation since has grown into one of Ska’s top five markets, Ska spokesman Dave Welz said.
As in the U.S., Swedish beers are gaining respect in fine-dining restaurants and at the dinner table, elbowing in on territory dominated by wine, said Marcus Waerme, the marketing representative who accompanied Ericsson.
“We’ve come a long way,” Waerme said.
As brewers in the United States once looked to Europe for guidance, Europeans now are taking tips from America’s innovative craft beer scene.
“The Swede is very curious about new types of beers,” Ericsson said.
White IPA smashes together the India pale ale, a traditional English beer popular among craft brewers, and Belgian witbier, a light ale brewed with wheat. The Ska and Nynashamns beer uses a Belgian ale yeast and hops from High Wire Hop Farm in Paonia.
“It’s an interesting beer style.” Ericsson said.
He and Ska head brewer Thomas Larsen added sea buckthorn berries from Sweden along with juniper berries to stand in for the orange peel and coriander that commonly are used in such beers.
The Swedes arrived Monday after enduring 26 hours of flights from Stockholm to London to Denver to Durango. After their brew day Tuesday, they plan to ski at Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort today. They’ll stay in town until the weekend, when they’re set to visit some breweries in Denver.
For both Ericsson and Waerme, it is their first time in America. Both speak fluent English. Waerme said he began studying English in first grade.
“We grew up with American television shows and movies, so it feels like we’ve been here a couple of times,” he said.
Ska representatives have been to Sweden on three separate trips. On one, the Nynashamns hosts took the Ska brewers fishing for pike in the Baltic Sea.
Their shared love of craft beer surpasses any cultural differences, Ericsson said.
“We talk in the same language,” he said.
cslothower@durangoherald.com
