This is GBH Out Loud, and I’m Ashley Rodriguez.
Today you’ll hear our editor-in-chief, Claire Bullen, read “A Fire Being Kindled—The Revolutionary Story of Kveik, Norway’s Extraordinary Farmhouse Yeast,” published on Good Beer Hunting’s website on July 31, 2019.
It’s interesting when an article exceeds its bounds, and when a story touches upon themes that end up being even more relevant months, or even years, after it was initially published. Norway’s kveik yeast, employed by farmhouse brewers across the western portion of the country for thousands of years, had nearly disappeared before it was rediscovered by the mainstream beer world. Now it’s gained international renown and is being used by some of the most prominent brewers around the world. As you’ll hear, Claire’s story is about this extraordinary family of farmhouse yeast, but it’s also about extinction, history, sustainability, and what it means for something to belong to a place, or a group of people.
Here’s Claire reading “A Fire Being Kindled—The Revolutionary Story of Kveik, Norway’s Extraordinary Farmhouse Yeast.” Listen in.