Though they now live on a small island in Trøndelag, the duo behind Granskauen Destillery first met in Stavanger. Maren was working in the nightlife industry, while Dustin had a background in beer brewing. They wanted to move away from Stavanger and create something of their own, when the idea of starting a distillery was born.
“Someone recommended Stokkøya to us, and we came to visit four years ago and fell head over heels for this place,” Maren says. “It’s beautiful – the nature is one thing, but there’s something about the people and the community up here that we really love. Within six months, we’d quit our jobs, rented a house up here and got our new journey started!”
Ever since then, the couple have been hard at work creating a small and unique line of spirits.They describe Granskauen Destillery as “a picture of our local landscape, distilled into a beverage – using local ingredients to create the flavours of our area”. They launched their first gin two years ago, and building an exciting flavour profile is a huge part of the process.
“When it comes to gin, the most important ingredient is obviously juniper berries. Beyond that, common ingredients are things like lemon peels, orange peels, coriander. We wanted to find some exciting local flavours to use in our gin, and we found that spruce is one of the great alternatives we could use. When you pick young spruce shoots, they have a lemon and pine flavour to them – and we thought, why use imported lemons for our product if we could pick spruce from just outside the door,” Dustin says.
The distillery is a passion project for Dustin and Maren. “We both have jobs in addition to running the distillery, and we’re not making a living from this yet. It takes time to build a brand,” Maren says. For the husband-and-wife team, the days are busy. Juggling their day jobs and the distillery would be challenging enough, but the pair also welcomed a baby four months ago. Despite their busy days, Granskauen Destillery launched an exciting new project in November, 2020.
“When quarantine started last year, Maren suggested that we come up with a great aquavit recipe. We decided to use the free time we had at home to develop something fun, and we’re really happy with it,” Dustin says. “The aquavit is nice and smooth, again produced with a lot of local ingredients. I’m not Norwegian, but I really enjoy aquavit and it was really fun to play around with this and create a slightly different take on this classic drink.“
The distillery is located on the island of Stokkøya, along the coast of Trøndelag. Maren and Dustin love their new home and the community around them. “We’ve had so much support from the local community, and wouldn’t have survived without it! This goes both ways, and it’s important for us to support the other small businesses here. Local partnerships are so important, and it’s exciting to collaborate with others in the industry and to get a different perspective on taste,” Maren says. “It’s a constant give and take in this industry with trying to do new things, but also bringing people along for the journey,” Dustin says.
Granskauen Destillery is a growing brand dedicated to giving everyone a taste of the North. Two of Trondheim’s Michelin-starred restaurants, Speilsalen and FAGN, stock Granskauen products as a permanent fixture on their menus. For a family-run distillery just starting out, they’re happy to have had such a warm welcome from the local community. But their journey is just beginning, and we can’t wait to see what Granskauen Destillery does next!
