Who is Anders Kissmeyer? The Nordic name was on my mind after seeing it on a number of craft beer labels: Leo’s Early Breakfast IPA, a collaboration beer with Brasserie Dunham, brewed with Earl Grey tea and guava purée; Nordic Pale Ale brewed with sweet gale, yarrow, dried heather, rose hips, cranberries, and maple syrup released under Beau’s Brewing Company B-Side Brewing Label; and most recently, Nordic Saison, a collaboration with Hill Farmstead and Cambridge Brewing Company.
"You can say I’ve gone from working at a mega brewery to working at a microbrewery and then I’ve sort of gone downward to the smallest part of the scale, which is a one-man company. You can’t get any smaller than that,” says Kissmeyer, when I called him to learn about his background and the beer he is brewing these days.
Kissmeyer’s brewing career started with an education as a master brewer, followed by a long stint at Danish “mega brewer” Carlsberg before he left to found his own craft brewery, Nørrebro Bryghus. Since 2010 he has been on his own as a one-man brewing company, Kissmeyer Beer and Brewing, traveling the world, collaborating on craft beers, and experimenting with and advocating for indigenous, Nordic-inspired ales.