Hi r/Norway,

Greetings from Idaho! My family is Danish & Norwegian (my grandmother was from Hamar) and we have had aquavit for every holiday meal since I was a baby. I probably tried aquavit before I tried beer! Whatever it takes to help digest the pickled herring, right?

As a Christmas present for my aging mother, I’m on the hunt for aquavit from Norway, specifically from [Det Norske Brenneri](https://detnorskebrenneri.no/produktkategori/akevitt/).

Because you have state owned liquor stores (I also have this problem in my state in America) it is IMPOSSIBLE to find any of these for online purchase that ship to America. Do any of you have any tips? The Danish shop Fine Drams has good shipping rates to America but their selection of aquavit is shockingly low.

I know DNB exports Høvding to America, which is not bad, but we’ve had it — I want as many weird ones as I can get. My mom loves trying new ones, it is always a highlight of our Christmas Lunch. When I was little, my grandfather, a veteran of the Danish Resistance, always said Aalborg was his favorite so we had that, but now the variety is part of the fun.

I admit freely that I’m an aquavit snob; I can’t just do Linie anymore. We Americans are trying our best at making aquavit to mixed results, but some are quite good! Usually they try to incorporate local herbs which speaks to the snaps culture of Scandinavia. By my count the USA has well over 80 different kinds by now. We try to collect as many as we can in our family aqua-vault.

Anyway, if any of you could guide me, I thank you. Skål!

And of course, the Swedes have the worst aquavit of anyone.

10 comments

  4. I dont drink aquavit myself, but what I have heard from several people is that everything from Det Norske Brenneri taste more or less the same, and is pretty shit.

  6. Sadly it’s illegal for individuals to mail alcohol in the US postal system, or I would help you out directly.

    Maybe there is a local store that will take requests and order things in special? An importer who can order directly?

    BTW you should attempt to get “munnskjenk”.
    It’s made at the recently reopened distillery in Løten, which is about a 10 to 15 minute drive from Hamar.

  7. I missed the second part of the headline there, though it was a post asking for help in finding your ageing mother! 😅 “Intriguing!” I thought, and got very confused as I read on

  9. What you want are some of the special edition Aquavits made by Oslo Håndverksdestilleri [https://www.oslohd.no/hjem](https://www.oslohd.no/hjem) – They are spectacular and have won multiple awards for many of their products. Much better than the ones from Bareksten or Det Norske Brenneri in my book. You could try contacting them through their homepage for availability.

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