Fargo, N.D. — Drekker Brewing is releasing Whisper Scream, a Nordic Farmhouse IPA brewed with a traditional Scandinavian ingredient, on Friday, November 17th. It’ll join Drekker’s Valhalla Series, which showcases experimental recipes that use unique, historical and adventurous ingredients. Whisper Scream is unique in Drekker’s vast lineup of beers because it’s brewed using a historical Scandinavian type of yeast called Kveik.
Kveik (pronounced “kwike”) means “yeast” in a particular Norwegian dialect, and it refers to a type of yeast that’s been passed down and reused for generations in the farmhouse brewing traditions of Norway and Sweden. For the last couple hundred years it was only available to Scandinavian brewers who happened to know someone willing to give it to them, but very recently this special yeast has become available to American brewers.
“We’re obviously very Scandinavian around here,” said Mark Bjornstad, Drekker Brewing’s President. “So we’re excited to be able to brew with this ingredient that has a lot of cool history and some really unique characteristics. It adds a very noticeable orange peel flavor and aroma to the beer, so we designed the recipe for Whisper Scream to compliment and enhance those flavors.”
The name “Whisper Scream” is a nod to the old Scandinavian brewing tradition of screaming as the yeast is pitched into the beer. The prevailing theory is that brewers did this to frighten away any supernatural creatures that might be out to spoil their beer. Pitching yeast into a beer was often an anxious moment because at that point, before the science of fermentation was fully understood, they were trusting in unseen forces to finish making the beer so there was a fair amount of superstition involved.
“Of course we screamed at it,” said Darin Montplaisir, Drekker’s head brewer of brewing Whisper Scream. “Better to not take any chances.”
Whisper Scream will be available on tap and in 4-packs of 16oz cans at the brewery on Friday, November 17th at noon. Drekker Brewing’s taproom is open 7 days a week and features 14 rotating hand-crafted beers on tap.