Carlsberg Brewery

If I could give my program director credit for something, it would be knowing his audience. Our class trip today was to one of the oldest and largest beer breweries in the world, Carlsberg brewery.  We arrived in the Copenhagen train station, and saw graffiti for the first time since being in Europe. Sweden in remarkably clean and free of vandalism, so this was an interesting change.

Here’s a 30 second history on the brewery:

It was established in 1847 by J.C. Jacobsen, and named after his son Carl Jacobsen. He found a special yeast that produced a dark Bavarian beer quite unlike the lighter beers being served at the time, and decided to start his own company.

In the late 1800’s there was a bacteria that infected all of the yeast in the world, so beer production came to a halt for all breweries in the world. Jacobsen put his best scientists on the case, Law and Order style, and they developed a new bacteria resistant yeast. Jacobsen decided that instead of holding a monopoly of the entire beer market, he would give the recipe to the world *awwwww*.

Later on, his son opened up a brewery under the Carlsberg name, and to distinguish it from his father’s he called it New Carlsberg, hence the gate saying “Gamle Carlsberg”, meaning Old Carlsberg.

The grounds were scenic and all, but how could anything compare to this angel? I quickly fell in love with Louisa and would trade my Beemer for her in a heartbeat! Don’t you think she would fit in well in Harrisonburg?

The brewery was massive and full of rich history and architecture. Naturally, I was alarmed at the Swastika at first until our (incredibly gorgeous) guide told us that it actually means ‘which is good’, and was a symbol the brewery extensively used until the 1930’s.

The elephant was built by Jacobsen when four of his children passed away from illnesses. For each of his remaining children, their names were inscribed in gold inside the elephant as a form of protection.

Now on to the good part. As part of the tour, you get two drink vouchers to try some of their best brews.

The far left is the Carlsberg Special: sweet with a little spice (coincidentally how I like to describe myself).

The middle is the Tuborg Classic: so light, but with a bitter aftertaste.

The far right was the Rod Tuborg: rich with a caramel flavor, my personal favorite.

I think I much preferred the horses to the beer, although I think they were playing a little hard to get with me. Which one of us has more hair??