Dear lord, will your grace know that I send your grace some water with messenger Jon Teiste which is called aqua vite and the same water helps for all his illness that a man can have internally.”

This letter, sent in 1531 from a Danish lord, Eske Bille, lord of Bergenshus castle, to Olav Engelbrektsson, the last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Norway is reckoned to be the earliest known reference to ‘aquavit’.

As most people in the alcoholic drinks industry will know ‘aquavit’ comes from the Latin aqua vitae, or water of life. Similarly the French eau de vie is the same and whisky comes from the Gaelic equivalent, ‘uisage beatha’. 

Aquavit, aquavit or akevitt is the spirit of Scandinavia. It is distilled from either grain (Sweden, Denmark and Germany) or potatoes (Norway, Denmark, Sweden). It is then flavoured with herbs, spices or fruit oil. Just as the predominant flavour component of gin should be juniper, with aquavit it should be mainly caraway or dill but can and does include cardamom, cumin, anise, fennel and lemon or orange peel. Alcoholic strength is usually around 40% abv.

Aquavit varies from clear to light brown. The Norwegians favour brown aquavit so use younger casks that impart more colour and age it. The use of caramel for colouring is permitted. Clear aquavit is called ‘taffel’ – it is typically unaged and possibly put in old casks that do not colour.

While the lord’s claim for the medicinal properties of the drink may be over-optimistic, many still believe that aquavit eases the digestion of rich foods. The Danes traditionally drink ‘snaps’ with their ‘koldtbords’ (cold table, similar to a Swedish smorgasbord). Served ice cold out of the freezer and poured into small shot glasses, it goes particularly well with the typical Danish marinated herrings served on buttered rye bread with raw onion rings. The Danes ‘chase’ their aquavit or snaps with beer. The Swedes drink their aquavit or ‘Nubbe or Kryddat brännvin’ in a similar way to their Danish neighbours. The Swedes major on their traditional midsummer celebrations. They say aquavit helps the fish swim down to the stomach.

In Norway, it is drunk traditionally at celebrations, particularly Christmas, Easter or May 17 (Norwegian Constitution Day). As the Norwegians’ aquavit tends to have, if not the most distinctive character, then at least the most overpowering flavour and deepest colour due to the ageing in sherry oak casks, the spirit is drunk at room temperature and is as likely to be served in tulip-shaped glasses as shot glasses.

In Scandinavia it is common to call aquavit ‘snaps’. Nordic ‘snaps’ is fundamentally different from German and Austrian schnapps. The latter is more likely to be made from maize and fruit with alcoholic strengths ranging from 20% to 38% abv.

Because the German region of Schleswig-Holstein was regularly fought over by the Danes and the Germans, like Alsace between the Germans and the French, there is a tradition in northern Germany of drinking aquavit.

Arguably the most important person in aquavit these days is Halvor Heuch, Arcus master distiller and vice-president spirits. Ex Coca-Cola and Philip Morris, Heuch calls himself “a brand man” but a colleague describes him as “Mr Aquavit, Norway”.

Arcus now owns what was Danish Distillers and therefore all the Aalborg aquavit brands. Previously, DD was taken over by Vin & Sprit – the Swedish government-owned alcohol monopoly that also owned Absolut vodka. It then briefly became part of Pernod Ricard before being sold on to Arcus.

Heuch tells Drinks International that when he joined what was then the Norwegian monopoly more than 20 years ago, it was essentially a wine company and spirits were frowned upon because of their association with heavy drinking.

He sums up the Nordic spirits drinking habits thus: “The Swedes drink whisky, the Finns like Cognac and the Danes like aquavit and bitters, specifically their own Gammel Dansk. The Norwegians like aquavit.”

Heuch has worked hard to get aquavit reappraised and move it away from the hard-drinking association and just shots out of the freezer. He has developed a system of classification based on Cognac. So, there is ‘three-star’ – Gammel, which means old and is the equivalent of VSOP, and Extra which aligns with XO.

He has found recipes from towns and cities around Norway and reproduced those spirits –all Norwegian aquavit has to be distilled 95% from domestic potatoes and then aged in oloroso sherry casks. He has even gone to stemware specialist Riedel and developed a specific aquavit glass.

He says the brief was to highlight “one third the herbs and spices, one third the barrel maturation flavours and finally the distillate.”

Cutting edge

While Heuch is at the cutting edge, he also has responsibility for what are probably the most interesting and complex aquavit brands.

Arcus produces the Løiten and Lysholm brands and the story of the ‘Linie’ aquavits is worth telling. Linie means ‘Equator’ and the story goes back more than 200 years to when spirit stored in casks was transported to Indonesia along with a consignment of fish, ham and cheese. The spirit was rejected and back it came, via 35 countries, between 12 and 14 months at sea, stored on the deck through differing climates.

On its return the producers really rather liked this smooth, complex, brown spirit and so the tradition of sending aquavit to the Far East, crossing the ‘Linie’, and back was born.

A rather facetious review was found on Amazon. It says: “A delicious drop of Norway’s finest. It has the coarse heat of Cognac on the back of your throat and could stun an elephant at 50 paces. No wonder they use it instead of anti-freeze in the Arctic Circle! Wonderful.”

Linie retails for approximately £37, US$60, E46 while Aalborg Taffel and Jubileum go for around £26, US$46, E30, for a 70cl bottle.

At Drinks International’s recent The World’s 50 Best Bars event during London Cocktail Week, the guys from Ruby in Copenhagen, which came 22nd in the list, attended. They were asked about aquavit.

Sune Risum-Urth says: “Aquavit is a deeply interesting spirit and a great expression of Scandinavian craft. It’s basically gin with different botanicals, made in much the same way, and sharing history all the way down to William of Orange and his wife.

“Aquavit is actually drunk by everyone. The thing is that a lot of people have a notion of aquavit being foul and something you only drink with pickled herring around Christmas. If you invite someone over for pickled herring without having a bottle of aquavit they get offended. So everyone from 18-year-old student girls to 80-plus men drink it. And most of these also make it themselves. It’s a long and proud tradition in Scandinavia to infuse your own aquavit, and many a trip to the forest ends in pockets full of herbs and roots.”

Nick Kobbernagel-Hovind says: “(Like the Danes) the Norwegians have a tradition of drinking it with traditional foods but recently there has been a movement toward other and more modern-style cuisine pairings. Thanks to Arcus and Halvor Heuch, a new generation of aquavit drinkers and aquavits has seen the daylight.

“At Ruby we are proud to bring new concoctions with aquavit to life every season. We see it as our job to bring the great Scandinavian spirit into our world and a good way of developing our own Scandinavian expression in cocktails. It is also popular in New York and features on many menus there. Aquavit works as an excellent gin substitute in classic cocktails. You’ll be surprised.”

Salon 39, also in Copenhagen, featured in the Bars to Watch section of The World’s 50 Best Bars. Bar-chef Terkel Kleist tells DI: “I have grown up all over Scandinavia and therefore I would describe it as a Nordic spirit. In all respect to those people, who use it as a base spirit in cocktails, I have always seen it as a supporting act in a good Danish lunch. 

“I can’t think of any other culture besides the east European that has straight booze for lunch. That said, my family would always infuse it with spices and herbs as they also do in Sweden and Norway and because of this I have come to use it daily as a modifier in drinks and not as the base spirit. 

“I’m a big fan of the ones I’ve grown up with. OP Anderson and Linie from Norway but for cocktails I use Rød Ålborg, as this is great for infusions,” says Kleist.

Håkan Swahn, who opened the Aquavit restaurant in New York 25 years ago, tells DI: “Throw all traditions overboard and think out of the box about what you can do with the beverage and also minimise the caraway and dill dominance. Making aquavits without colour also helps in using them in a cocktail.”

“I can only speak for the New Yorkers. We offer a menu of house-infused aquavits that rotates with the seasons (cucumber, horseradish, coriander & crown dill, fig & cardamom, mango, lime & chilli, strawberry & hibiscus, etc.). Those are offered on their own or as a flight of three. They are created to match our cuisine, whether in the dining room or at the bar-lounge. Guests enjoy them at cocktail hour, or with specific dishes, or as an after-dinner drink,” he says

“At Aquavit our guests are not bound by ethnic traditions and often order a flight of three and sip them as a cocktail or sometimes even as an after-dinner drink. They also prefer our house-made flavours rather than the traditional ones,” says Swahn. “Our own is our best seller: AQNY White Cranberry. We also offer Linie Anise & Caraway, Aalborg Taffel Caraway & Orange, Krogstad Anise & Caraway.

“I prefer our own brand only because it’s has a natural, smooth flavour, is equally delicious neat, on the rocks or mixed in a cocktail replacing vodka, rum or tequila. In addition it’s only 70 proof giving it less of a bite on the tongue. For traditional taste, I prefer Linie as the trip over the equator in a cask has rounded out the flavour while keeping with tradition,” concludes Swahn.

Talking to two travel retailers, Marcus Skjörshammer, business development director of the Tallink Silja ferry company, which operates ferries between Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Germany, says: “We do sell some Norwegian, Swedish and Danish aquavits onboard, but they are not really huge in our part of the Nordics.”

Martin Arentz is assortment manager, Travel Retail Norway, which is owned by Gebr Heinemann and Norwegian health food and beauty care products group, Validus. It has duty free and duty paid shops in Norwegian airports including Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim and Kristiansand. He tells DI: “Aquavit is essential for our spirit business. It is a ‘must have’ as the majority of our customers are Norwegian, but also a much appreciated gift for tourists visiting Norway.

“We stock about 20 aquavits, but the best sellers are Lysholm Linie, Gammel Opland and Løiten’s Sommer Aquavit. My personal favourite is Gilde Maquavit – complex nose and taste with a bit of sweet aftertaste. Just enjoyed alone after a good meal and in front of the fireplace,” he says

“Everyone born and raised in Norway has a relation to aquavit in some way. But typically it is more popular among the more mature customers. For a Norwegian, Danish and Swedish aquavit is not ‘real’ aquavit. The mostly barrel-aged Norwegian aquavit makes it an even more complex taste.”

Arentz concludes: “Already today the producers and brand owners are doing a lot to highlight the image of the Norwegian aquavits. But there is still potential to reach out to the younger customers who are more into rum, Cognac and whisky. To be using different barrel types, maybe a bit sweeter aftertastes, using more smoky tones and making limited editions can attract an even wider crowd of appreciators of this truly Norwegian in heritage,” he says

The guys at Ruby say:

Risum-Urth: “We try to make people aware that aquavit is more than the harsh and ice-cold stuff you drink and wash down with pickled fish. Served at room temperature many are soft and lovely, served in a cocktail they add new and complex layers to the party.  

Kobbernagel-Hovind: “I definitely think a lot could be done. We have just started a project with Arcus to try to develop the category. I think there is a lot of potential and I think we should aim for ‘world domination’. Or at least a new wave of imbibers all over the world.” Kleist says: “I would have a closer look at the base spirit they use to make it with. The quality here is generally way too low.”