Kjetil Jikiun is as big as a Viking king, kind as a kindergarten teacher. His name is the Old Norse word for kettle, which seems appropriate given his world recognition as a master craft brewer. In his native Norway, he can claim credit for launching the craft beer movement. Given Norway’s relatively small market for craft beer and the handful of breweries operating, owning such a title perhaps isn’t so impressive. Not yet at least. Only time will tell the true legacy he’ll leave in Norway, Scandinavia, Europe and the world at large.

Nogne O, where Kjetil made his name, exports most of its beer, though down from its peak of about 70% in 2008. Sales in Norway are finally catching up after a long struggle with recognition.

As Kjetil tells the story, “We wanted to be the local brewery in our town, but nobody wanted our crazy beers. We were the first in Norway to introduce new beer styles like IPAs and imperial stouts. There was no craft beer culture at the time. Nobody had heard about these drinks and so we had a very slow start. I was driving all over in my old Land Rover full of beer, but bar owners kept saying, ‘This isn’t beer.’ We started about May in 2003 and by that summer, we realized that we had to export.”

Export to Denmark, Sweden and the U.S. kept the fledgling brewery alive, but perhaps logistical problems only increased.

“It was really risky and stupid to start out as we did,” reflects Kjetil, “We had no business plan, just passion. We just wanted to make a variety of craft beer styles available in Norway. We didn’t know anything about marketing, distribution, sales… But I guess when you realize you are in trouble you can swim or you can sink.”

Kjetil and crew swam not only because of passion and determination, but also because of a focus on three key values. The first is naturally quality, from the selection of ingredients to the ultimate flavor. The second is diversity. Nogne O has roughly 25 year-round beers, plus experimental and collaborative ones, a range that Kjetil admits, “is crazy, and everyone suffers because of it, but that was what prompted us to brew.” The third is integrity of style. Kjetil says that it should always be clear what you are drinking. He thinks for a moment and then says, “Add drinkability as a key value. There’s lots of extremeness out there, which is great for beer geeks, but if you have a whole bottle or a pint, it should be drinkable from top to bottom.”

In the end, it probably helped that Nogne O wasn’t just focused on quality, but ultimately produced it as well. Much of that owes to Kjetil’s homebrewing background and spirit.

“I learned to brew in our kitchen. Then I moved to brewing under a spruce tree in our yard, then to our parking lot, then to our garage. And I’m still learning. That’s very important. With no formal beer education, and with nobody to supervise you, you have to take responsibility for what you make right away.”

Kjetil bought all his homebrewing material from the U.S. and so took his results back to America to have craft breweries evaluate them and offer advice. Kjetil says that Dick Cantwell of Elysian was a big help. He also notes that Hood Canal Brewery outside Seattle was very inspirational. He has also visited the Craft Brewers Conference in America, where the exchange of knowledge is so critical to the success of the event.

Nearly ten years since Nogne O’s launch, people in Norway have acclimated themselves to craft and the scene is burgeoning. There are now about five craft breweries in Norway making diverse styles and about seven or eight brewpubs serving craft beer. There are also quite a few so called nano-breweries, which are small outfits located on farms, for example, where tourists who come in the summer can sip on local brews.

Nogne O has found good reception in Australia as well, where they have won numerous awards, including “Champion Small Brewery” at the international craft beer competition there. In the near future, Kjetil is going to work on a collaboration brew with U.S.-based Moylans, for release in Australia. A black IPA with a new Australian hop variety to be called Victoria Secret (because it comes from Victoria), the beer will be sold for charity.

Kjetil promises, “If it works out well, we’ll go home and brew it in our breweries. Then I’ll see if we can export it to Japan.”

Thankfully, many of Nogne O’s other fine products are already available in bottles and kegs in Japan. Definitely check out their Red Horizon, which uses sake yeast. And check out our next issue for a special article on how Kjetil and two other brewers from Boston are leading the charge in beer-sake hybrids.

Nogne-O is officially imported by Whisk-e Limited: http://www.whisk-e.co.jp

This article was published in Japan Beer Times # () and is among the limited content available online. Order your copy through our online shop or download the digital version from the iTunes store to access the full contents of this issue.