**Update from Roland and Russell in the comments section**Some interesting news coming from Denmark yesterday as the Danish beerticker.dk was the first to report that Anders Kissmeyer, a craft brewing pioneer and one of the founders of the popular Norrebro Bryghus, was fired.
Knut Albert, the Norwegian beer blogger, posted some more news last evening on his blog regarding the firing of Kissmeyer.
Despite a wide range of inventive beers, collaborations with brewers around the world and a high media profile, the brewery has been losing money at an alarming rate. Both in 2007 and 2008 the deficit was about one million Euros.I interviewed Kissmeyer last April at the Danish beer dinner that was held at Toronto's beerbistro and hosted by the Roland and Russell Imports.
Kissmeyer, who founded the brewery in 2000, will still be used as a consultant by the company, but the details of his future status do not seem to be finalized.
The interview appeared in the Summer '09 issue of TAPS: Canada's Beer Magazine and the entire interview was posted here on the blog in November. I found him to be an extremely passionate individual when he was discussing his brands, and craft beer in general, and this news was probably hard to swallow, even if he does have a 20% stake in the brewery as Jay Brooks at the Brookston Bulletin posted.
Here's hoping that the brewery gets back on track soon, (hopefully) continuing with their numerous collaborations and experimentation's, and Kissmeyer gets back on his feet.
*Norrebro Bryghus is represented in Ontario by Roland and Russell.
2 comments:
Just to provide some insight into this story, which from our perspective, is nowhere as dramatic as it appears to be. The management team of Nørrebro Bryghus, with Anders being a part of, has decided implement a new role for him. It was becoming quite clear that his previous role included responsibilities and duties not so much related to brewing so everyone agreed that the best approach was to allow Anders to focus on the creative side of the brewery's operations. Thus, Anders is no longer Brewery Director and the process of defining his new role and title is still underway. These talks have been going on for a while so perhaps it is just now that some elements are becoming published. All in all, it is certain that he will continue to play a role at Nørrebro Bryghus, and most likely be even more visible to those who appreciate Nørrebro's beers.
News of company's financial situation are bit stale (2008 and 2009 financial reports) - all of the projects that we are aware of are continuing at the projected pace. For this fall we will have an exciting release featuring several Nørrebro beers. A few weeks ago Roland + Russell shipped a large quantity of the finest Ontario maple syrup to be used in one of the beers that we will bring over here in October. We certainly would not be investing our time and resources if we had any concerns about the brewery's future. For those itching for futher details, save your questions for Anders - you will have a chance to ask him in person.
Until then,
Cheers from Roland + Russell
R&R - that is great news! Every part of what you listed is great.
I for one am glad to hear the news about the Maple syrup heading that way. As you know I'm a big fan of what the brewery does.
Cheers,
Troy
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