Kveik is a collective term for a family of strains of brewing yeast that has been used in Norwegian farmhouse brewing for generations.
Kveik is a collective term for a family of strains of brewing yeast that has been used in Norwegian farmhouse brewing for generations.
In the past all Norwegian farmers brewed beer from their own grain. The yeast was kept by the farmers themselves between brews. If a farmer had a brew go sour, or found that the yeast in any way had gone bad or died, they were supplied with new, healthy yeast from a neighboring farm. As farming was modernized and beer became commercially available, most farmhouse brewing died out and the yeast cultures with it. Many places where the brewing tradition survived brewers started to use bread yeast from the local store instead of the old yeast from the farm. [1] The existence of kveik today is a result of a continuous tradition, sometimes only by a handful of traditional brewers in western Norway, that has kept the original kveik strains alive along with local traditions and techniques.
On the west coast of Norway, from Hardanger in the south to Sunnmøre in the north, there are still some yeast cultures that have survived and are in use to this day. Known cultures are listed in a publicly maintained registry, together with other farmhouse yeast cultures. [2]
These yeast cultures have often been handed down from father to son along with the knowledge of malting grain and brewing. All the strains that have been collected and analyzed in a laboratory have turned out to belong to the species Saccharomyces cerevisiae (common brewing yeast). They are also more closely related to each other genetically than to the yeast strains from other parts of the world. Thus, the surviving yeast on the west coast of Norway makes up a subcategory on the phylogenetic tree of brewing yeast, and it is yeasts belonging to this family which are referred to as kveik.
No kveik has as yet been found outside of western Norway. [3]
Genetic analysis shows that kveik belongs to the large category of brewing yeast called "Beer 1", which includes many of the known yeast strains from Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, and the USA. Kveik seems to be a hybrid of a progenitor from this known family with an unknown yeast, most likely a wild yeast. [4]
Although kveik is a domesticated brewer's yeast it differs from most modern brewer's yeast in several ways: [5]
Kveik is the most common dialect word for yeast in the parts of Norway where these strains originate. Many traditional brewers refer to their own yeast as 'kveik' whilst the commercially available yeast is called simply 'yeast'. The word 'kveik' in the meaning of 'yeast' stems from the old Norse word 'kvikk' (Eng: vigorous and fast) in the meaning of 'healthy, lively'. The English word 'quick' comes from the same root. [6]
In recent years kveik has spread from the traditional brewers on the west coast of Norway to modern home brewers and some commercial breweries in Norway, and even the rest of the world. Kveik is now sold commercially by laboratories in the USA, Canada, Ireland, Britain, and Poland. Commercial brews are being made and sold using the kveik yeast strains globally, and the interest for these particular yeast strains has increased immensely. [7] Beer festivals dedicated to beer brewed with kveik have been organized in the USA. [8]
Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, at home by a homebrewer, or communally. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BC, and archaeological evidence suggests that emerging civilizations, including ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, brewed beer. Since the nineteenth century the brewing industry has been part of most western economies.
Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constitute 1% of all described fungal species.
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Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a species of yeast. The species has been instrumental in winemaking, baking, and brewing since ancient times. It is believed to have been originally isolated from the skin of grapes. It is one of the most intensively studied eukaryotic model organisms in molecular and cell biology, much like Escherichia coli as the model bacterium. It is the microorganism behind the most common type of fermentation. S. cerevisiae cells are round to ovoid, 5–10 μm in diameter. It reproduces by budding.
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Saccharomyces is a genus of fungi that includes many species of yeasts. Saccharomyces is from Greek σάκχαρον (sugar) and μύκης (fungus) and means sugar fungus. Many members of this genus are considered very important in food production. It is known as the brewer's yeast or baker's yeast. They are unicellular and saprotrophic fungi. One example is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is used in making bread, wine, and beer, and for human and animal health. Other members of this genus include the wild yeast Saccharomyces paradoxus that is the closest relative to S. cerevisiae, Saccharomyces bayanus, used in making wine, and Saccharomyces cerevisiaevar. boulardii, used in medicine.
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Saccharomyces bayanus is a yeast of the genus Saccharomyces, and is used in winemaking and cider fermentation, and to make distilled beverages. Saccharomyces bayanus, like Saccharomyces pastorianus, is now accepted to be the result of multiple hybridisation events between three pure species, Saccharomyces uvarum, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces eubayanus. Notably, most commercial yeast cultures sold as pure S. bayanus for wine making, e.g. Lalvin EC-1118 strain, have been found to contain S. cerevisiae cultures instead
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