Brooklyn Brewery today announced plans to open a second joint brewery venture with Carlsberg, teaming up to help rebuild the EC Dahls Brewery in Trondheim, Norway.
It’s the second time the New York-based craft brewery, which last month was ranked by the Brewers Association as the 11th largest in the U.S., has partnered up with the Danish brewery — last year the two jointly opened Nya Carnegiebryggeriet (New Carnegie Brewery) in Stockholm, Sweden.
Specific financial terms of the latest project were not disclosed, though last November Carlsberg announced it would invest more than $14 million to build a new brewery, pub and restaurant in EC Dahls’ existing Trondheim production facility.
Reached by email, Brooklyn Brewery president Eric Ottaway wouldn’t share how much, if any, the company is putting towards the renovation of EC Dahls.
“The current brewery building has been here since 1899,” he wrote to Brewbound. “It’s in an area of Trondheim that’s just a 15 minute walk from the center of town, but lies in an industrial zone by the side of the sea that, like Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is rapidly converting over to residential and creative commercial uses. The original building is iconic and will be refurbished to hold the new brewery, restaurant, and visitor center.”
The new brewery, which is scheduled to officially open next summer, will produce the existing EC Dahls Pilsner brand as well as a new line of craft beers developed collaboratively by Brooklyn and EC Dahls, Ottaway said.
Though similar in concept, the Norway project is about eight times larger than Brooklyn and Carlsberg’s New Carnegie venture in Sweden, Ottaway said.
“We also begin with a deeply loved local brand with a tremendously loyal following by both young and old,” he wrote. “Similarly we will look to our local team and local and regional influences to guide our beers. We don’t arrive with any preconceived ideas of what beers we will make.”
Brooklyn’s primary role will be in brewing, marketing and branding, he said.
EC Dahls was originally founded in 1856 and is famous for its pilsner. Carlsberg would come to own the brand in 2004, after it purchased Ringnes AS, a holding company that formed in 1988 after the merger of Nora Factories and Ringnes Frydenlund AS, which had purchased EC Dahls.
A full press release from Carlsberg is below. Additional details are also available on the Brooklyn Brewery blog and the Ringnes website.
Carlsberg Group and Brooklyn Brewery strengthen collaboration with new E.C. Dahls Brewery
Carlsberg Group today announces a new collaboration between Carlsberg Group company, Ringnes, in Norway, and the renowned Brooklyn Brewery of New York.
With the aim of creating the premier beer experience in Norway, the collaboration will see a new brewery with pub, restaurant, conference facilities and visitor center established at the existing Ringnes E.C. Dahls brewery site in Trondheim, Norway. The brewery will produce both popular local Dahls beer, as well as new craft beers that take inspiration from both Norwegian and US craft brewing traditions.
The brewery will welcome beer and food enthusiasts from around the world and become a laboratory for new ideas and experimentation. E.C. Dahls will have a top-class restaurant operated by local restaurateur Roar Hildonen.
“This is great news for the E.C. Dahls brewery, and great news for beer lovers in Norway and beyond”, says Jørn Tolstrup Rohde, Senior Vice President for Western Europe at Carlsberg Group. “Carlsberg’s collaboration with Brooklyn continues to explore new possibilities in craft brewing. Carlsberg started its life as a small brewery in Copenhagen back in 1847, and thanks to the resurgence of craft brewing in recent times, more and more people are getting interested in the world of beer. We think that’s very positive.”
“When we started Brooklyn Brewery, we wanted to tap into the great brewing tradition of Brooklyn”, says Brooklyn Brewery founder and chairman Steve Hindy. “Our first beer, Brooklyn lager, was based on the beers that were brewed in Brooklyn during the heyday of the Brooklyn breweries. Trondheim’s E.C Dahls Brewery has kept Norway’s lager brewing tradition alive and is a wonderful foundation for a 21st Century craft brewery. Brooklyn Brewery will work with E.C Dahl’s Norwegian brewers to expand the brewing offerings of E.C Dahls and usher in a new era of craft brewing innovation”, Hindy concludes.
Brooklyn’s brewmaster, Garrett Oliver, is a frequent visitor to Norway and will help develop a new line of innovative craft beers that Norwegian beer drinkers will enjoy. “The new E.C. Dahls will celebrate the great tradition of Dahls and bring the brewery and its portfolio into the world of craft beer,” said Oliver. “Norway already has a great beer scene, and we’re really excited to be part of it.”
E.C. Dahls is the second brewery collaboration between Carlsberg and Brooklyn.
One year ago, Carlsberg and Brooklyn opened a craft brewery in Stockholm – the New Carnegie Brewery – a revival of Sweden’s Carnegie Brewery, famous for Carnegie Porter Beer.
The new E.C. Dahls Brewery will open late summer 2016.