Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Breweries
378
Carlsberg Brewery
The Elephant Never Forgets
Copenhagen, Denmark
Though it's the flagship plant of the world's
fifth largest beer company, somehow
Copenhagen's Carlsberg Brewery still has
the warmhearted spirit of its 19th-century
founder, J. C. Jacobsen. An avid philan-
thropist and art collector, he also founded
the city's preeminent art museum, the
Ny
Carlsberg Glyptotek
(Dantes Plads 7;
&
45/33/41-81-41
). An immense Victo-
rian-era industrial site, the sooty brick
structure, built in 1847, has its own impos-
ing grace, with neoclassical arched win-
dows and two stately square smokestacks
rising high over its roofs. There's a sort of
Danish whimsy about its trademark Ele-
phant Gate, an entrance building graced
by four huge elephant statues. Note the
swastikas on the elephants' armored rega-
lia. The swastika was Carlsberg's trade-
mark symbol long before Hitler adopted it,
although after the Nazi era, the company
quickly stopped using it and put the
emphasis on the elephants themselves.
(Carlsberg's signature Elephant Beer—
Stærk som en elefant!
, meaning strong as
an elephant!—was first brewed in 1959.)
Architectural landmark as it is, this is still a
working plant, turning out at least three
million bottles of beer a day.
Now that both Guinness in Dublin and
Heineken in Amsterdam have turned their
brewery tours into mere multimedia simu-
lations (the Guinness Storehouse and
the Heineken Experience, respectively),
Copenhagen's Carlsberg Brewery is the
last of the big commercial European brew-
eries that you can actually visit. True, you'll
only be able to glimpse the operations
from the brew house's glass-walled obser-
vation gallery, but it still feels accessible,
especially since this 2005 addition is where
the company is returning to its artisanal
roots, making four new “affiliated” micro-
brews marketed under the brand name of
Jacobsen. In the visitor's center, a series of
video screens and informational plaques,
all translated into English, outline the
brewing process step by step and narrate
the background of the company's two
historic beers, Tyborg and Carlsberg.
You'll also see a copy of Copenhagen
harbor's famous Little Mermaid statue (a
1913 gift to the city from J. C. Jacobsen)
and the dizzying array of the world's larg-
est bottle collection, with more than
16,600 different kinds of beer bottles. Of
course there's a free beer at the end—
your choice of the company's various
brews. If you'd like to go on drinking, you
can do so in the on-site pub. Don't pass up
the chance to order the Elephant Beer, a
strong dark bock that's only available here
in Denmark.
11 Gamle Carlsberg Vej (
&
45/33/27
13 14;
www.visitcarlsberg.dk).
(
Copenhagen Kastrup Airport.
L
$$$
Kong Frederik,
Vester
Voldgade 25 (
&
800/448-8355
in the
U.S., or 45/33/12-59-02; www.remmen.
dk). $
Copenhagen Crown Hotel,
Vester-
brogade 41 (
&
45/33/21-21-66;
www.
profilhotels.dk).
