DR is launching “historical entertainment” with the new show The Hunt for Denmark’s History. In the program, four well-known Danes visit some of the country’s historic sites and compete in history filled with drama and surprises.
At Carlsberg, Tine Gøtzsche, Huxi Bach, Lise Baastrup, Phillip Faber, and host Cecilie Nielsen explore the old beer laboratory, the original lager cellars, and Carl Jacobsen’s private home and Glyptotek.
Watch on 1 December 2025 on DR.
Where was the DR programme The Hunt for Danish History filmed?
In The Hunt for Danish History, four celebrities travel to historical sites across Denmark, including Carlsberg at the top of Valby Bakke. In the episode Secrets of the Brewery, they explore the original Carlsberg brewery, currently the Home of Carlsberg, along with the Carlsberg Laboratory, the Ny Carlsberg Brewhouse, Carl Jacobsen’s villa and his original glyptotek.
Can you visit the places featured in The Hunt for Danish History at Carlsberg?
Yes – several of them. Take a guided tour of the Ny Carlsberg Brewhouse, which Carl Jacobsen designed to be as inspiring and beautiful as possible for his workers. With an exhibition ticket and guided tour, you’ll often pass the magnificent copper brewing vessels. Buy your ticket here.
Carl Jacobsen’s private home and glyptotek are only open on very special occasions and with very limited places. Subscribe to the Home of Carlsberg newsletter to be the first to know when we will next open the doors to one of Copenhagen’s most stunning historic homes. Subsribe here.
Carl Jacobsen’s private home and glyptotek are only open on very special occasions and with very limited places. Subscribe to the Home of Carlsberg newsletter to be the first to know when we will next open the doors to one of Copenhagen’s most stunning historic homes. Subsribe here.
You can also explore the original storage cellars, located 14 metres underground, when you book a beer tasting session after your visit to the exhibition. See more here here.
Where can you learn more about Carlsberg’s history and heritage?
Visit the cultural attraction Home of Carlsberg, where you can experience the fascinating history of Carlsberg. Set within the original brewery from 1847, the exhibition brings together science, art, culture, family drama – and of course beer! You can also meet the brewery horses in our stables, enjoy a drink in the cosy Carlsberg Bar and take part in a year-round programme of talks, concerts, Friday bars and guided tours.
Bad beer
You know what beer tastes like. No matter how creative the brew, that recognisable flavour is always there whenever you pour yourself a glass. But that wasn’t always the case.
When Carlsberg’s founder, J.C. Jacobsen, began his brewing experiments back in the 1800s, making beer was a lottery. Would it turn out well? Or would it be undrinkable? The result depended entirely on a series of chances – such as the temperature, water quality and, above all, that unruly, unpredictable ingredient yeast.
Join J.C. Jacobsen on his journey across borders in the name of yeast here.
It almost seems unfair that something as small and unassuming as yeast can make or break a brew. Yet yeast is the heart of beer: the living microorganism that turns sugar into alcohol and carbonation. The very thing that gives beer its alcohol content and refreshing fizz. Different yeast strains produce different flavours. They also determine the beer’s clarity and help keep it stable during storage. Put simply: without yeast, beer wouldn’t be beer. It would be a sweet, murky, flat and utterly forgettable drink.
The Revolution of yeast
That’s why 1883 marked a turning point in brewing history. Emil Christian Hansen, a professor at the Carlsberg Laboratory, developed a world-first method for cultivating pure yeast. His strain of yeast, Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, was shared freely with breweries across the globe, allowing everyone to achieve the same reliable quality every single time.
Dive into the pure yeast here.
Curious what beer tasted like before this yeast revolution? In the DR series Jagten på Danmarkshistorien (“The Hunt for Danish History”), you can watch the participants give their verdict on a brew made the old-fashioned way, before Carlsberg’s yeast changed everything.
The family feud
Carl Jacobsen spent four years travelling around Europe learning the fine art of brewing beer. When he returned to Copenhagen, he was presented with an independent brewery by his father in 1871. He rented this brewery, called Ny Carlsberg (“New Carlsberg”; also known as Mellembryggeriet or Annexbryggeriet).
It’s hard to say when exactly the father/son feud began. Perhaps it had been simmering for years; small slights, unspoken expectations, the usual mix of pride, pressure and family history. However, once both men were running their own breweries, things went off the rails.
What began as disagreements over capacity and storage gradually escalated into a full-blown conflict. Tensions peaked when J.C. Jacobsen suggested his son build a new brewery on Valby Bakke, then abruptly cancelled his rental agreement before the new site was complete. Father and son stopped speaking and were barely in contact for four years.
One example of the festering family feud was the dispute over their labels, which looked strikingly similar. J.C. Jacobsen won and forced Carl Jacobsen to come up with a new design. However, Carl Jacobsen won the court case to keep the name Ny Carlsberg, which he used for his brewery and business. The decision infuriated his father so much that J.C. Jacobsen renamed his original brewery Gamle Carlsberg (“Old Carlsberg”).
The beer laboratory’s rising stars
Many of us have at least one fond memory from school, dipping little strips of paper into mysterious liquids to test whether they were acidic or alkaline. But the pH scale was actually invented at the Carlsberg Laboratory, founded by J.C. Jacobsen in 1875.
Read about the five greatest breakthroughs from the Carlsberg Laboratory here.
Read about the five greatest breakthroughs from the Carlsberg Laboratory here.
In 1909, Søren P. L. Sørensen was head of the Carlsberg Laboratory’s Chemistry Department, where he researched proteins, amino acids and enzymes. This is where he invented the pH scale. Its purpose was to improve precision in the beer brewing process, yet it ended up also improving the quality of drinking water, food and countless industrial products. Today, the pH scale is used worldwide and underpins vital chemical, biological and technical processes, many of which are extremely sensitive to even small changes in acidity.
The global superstar pH
For example, the pH scale is used globally in the food and beverage industry to ensure flavour, shelf life and safety, to name just a few examples. In the pharmaceutical industry, the scale is used to ensure stability and to control acids and bases – think skincare products and eye drops. In the environmental sector, the scale is used to control drinking and waste water, prevent bacterial growth, etc. In the chemical industry, the scale helps to optimise products and the manufacturing of cleaning agents, paints, plastics and fertilisers. In agriculture, the scale is essential for promoting plant growth and soil quality, as the soil’s pH affects nutrient uptake. The list goes on.
Read more about the pH scale here.
In the DR series The Hunt for Danish History, four celebrities test their knowledge by placing everyday liquids like cocoa, water and beer on a pH scale. And it’s harder than you think! Have a go yourself while you watch and see if you can beat their guesses.