Bryggeriet 2 : Ceres Bryggeriet, Århus
Tuesday 23/10/2007. Studenterhus Aarhus organises a visit of the Ceres Brewery. Hamlet sends a group of 7 devoted beer taster. Here is a report, on what took place on that fateful night….
Waiting for a Sesame
Wikipedia speaking : The Ceres Brewery is a brewery located in Aarhus, Denmark. Today, it is part of Royal Unibrew.It was founded by a grocer named M. C. Lottrup, with help from the chemists A. S. Aagard and Knud Redelien, as the city’s seventh brewery. It was named after the Roman goddess Ceres, and its opening was announced in the local newspaper, Stiftstidende, in 1856.
The student delegation is standing in front of CERES doors. Ceres, happily located in downtown Aarhus (between Gamle By and Mølleparken) is known by every bloody international students, for the beer, yeah sure, but mostly for the foul smell that comes out of it, and stain the whole city centre with its malt/yeast odour. This was a golden opportunity, to finaly find out what the hell was wrong with these people? Why that smell? Whyyyyy!! And so we were waiting. The automatic door kept on opening and closing. Teasing us. Laughing at us. But here come our smiling/blond guide. She’ll show us around. And we enter…
Royal Unibrew’s presentation propaganda
Royal Unibrew, formely Bryggerigroup, is the second largest beer group in Denmark. It is the coalition against Carlsberg of three great danish beer names : Albani, Ceres and Faxe. This three brands continue to brew some of their old catalogue, but have created a group-brand “Royal”. The beer of this collection (Export, Classic, Red, Stout, Pilsner…) are very popular here in Denmark, notably during events such as Fredagsbar, Stofredagbar and festival. Royal is the “massive party” beer. Its motto “Royal, stay loyal” is intent on preventing poor Aarhusiens to succomb to the charms of a Carlsberg….
Royal Unibrew also brews Carlsberg’s “Arch Ennemy” (according to the Copenhaguen Post) Heineken. As we will soon find out, Heineken is brewed horizontally, whereas Ceres brews vertically… huhu.
So these nice fellow at Royal Unibrew; they have taken over lots and lots of beer compagnies in the Baltic region (and as I quote Wikipedia here, you will soon find out that according to them, Poland is Baltic) : “Royal Unibrew also has a strong presence in the Baltic region, where it owns Vilniaus Tauras, Kalnapilis (both in Lithuania), and Lacplesa Alus (in Latvia), as well as in Poland, where it has recently purchased the Strzelec and Brok breweries, and most recently Browar Lomza.”
Beware Carlsberg! Royal Unibrew has 6 manufacture in DK (5 breweries + 1 Soft drink). Among their Soft Drink you will find Faxe Fondi, a thing here as popular as Pepsi (also made by Royal Unibrew), but towards which exchange students are quite hum sceptical.
The sheer number of beer produced is aidobeifrifhdreslsjfe amazing. But then so is the Danish consumption….
And remember… Royal Unibrew, All your favorites (quote from their yearly report that you can find on their website)
• Royal Unibrew is the second largest brewery business in Scandinavia.
• Scandinavia’s largest beer exporter
• Export to approx. 65 countries worldwide
• 11 breweries and 1 soft drink producer (+ 9 partly controlled)
• Approximately 2,400 employed worldwide
• Royal Unibrew has the leading imported strong beer in Italy – Ceres
• Royal Unibrew has the world third largest malt drink brand – Vitamalt
• Faxe is a large imported brand in Germany, Poland and Lithuania
• 2nd largest soft drink company in the Baltic countries
Let’s (FINALY) Tour this Brewery
Here we go. Out of the video room, out in the cold. We walk among the impressive maze of the Brewery. The architecture looks 19centuryish, but it was actually burnt down in 1987 (not sure about the date though) and built anew, as in the good old days.
When we enter the first room (where they heat the malt, and where they also filter the beer), a really foul smell comes over us. Great.
The view is interesting. Reminds me of Tom Misa’s book Leonardo to the Internet, that I read for my History of Technology class, which stated that one of the first industrialised sector was beer, (porter) in London. Here we sure are in a nicely industrialised brewery. Its big, smelly, and clean. We learn that the residue of the filtring is sold to farmer as food for bovine animals. The Heat produced for the heating of the malt is reused, sold to an energy provider. Ceres Brewery heats 800 homes a year that way.
The second room visited is where they add the yeast. We learn here that it can be used a couple of times before being sold to farmers (again *g*). Chrome, machinery, pipes…
Finally, we are lead to a corridor, from which we can look at the ‘assembly line’. They have 3 lines, two bottles lines (45 000 beer/hour) and one can line (twice as much per hour). bloody impressive.
Beer Tasting Marathon
At the end of the visit, we are lead to a nice cosy place. Different tables of 8 are present. With our undeniable flair, we opt for the table closest to the toilets. We will need it.
A tray full of different beers is brought to us. Some we already know, some we look forward to (especially “Red Erik” a danish beer made for the italian market. Anway, we will taste them all.
mmmmmm.
