Jump-Starting the Aquavit Renaissance

Coming from Seattle, where we have a large Scandinavian population, we have several fantastic aquavit distillers. One of my favorites, Old Ballard Liquor Co., serves up four different varieties, all with distinct flavour profiles. My favorite being the Citron. They operate out of a tiny garage sized space and, besides offering tastings and some very inventive aquavit cocktails, they also have a small food menu serving a charcuterie board and a smoked herring board (nothing like your grandma's pickled herring!). Nearby Sound Spirits, while also making vodka, whiskey and gin, also make a wonderful, very clean flavoured aquavit. As far as the debate about whether to serve aquavit chilled or room temperature; while I prefer my aquavit served ice cold and neat, my Norwegian cousins strongly disagree, and tell me you can't really taste the subtle flavours of the botanicals when served that cold. Unlike vodka, which can have very subtle differences in taste between makers, aquavit has a huge array of different flavors depending on the many different botanicals added. Learning to enjoy aquavit, I believe, is similar to getting into single malt scotch. You don't jump in and start drinking Laphroaig and Ardberg, with their strong smoke and peat flavors. You ease into it with a Glenmorangie or a Glengoyne. The same with aquavit.

Didn't the Times already publish a more definitive story on aquavit that managed to remember the Swede's contribution? Yes, it did! http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/20/travel/escapes/20ritual.html

I’ll never forget my first “Bommie mit Pflaume “. Despite years as an authentic California vegetarian, for my inaugural trip to the Old Country with my new guy, I’d agreed to sample the local cuisine - no matter what. For my first meal in his hometown of Bremen, Germany, I was introduced to a local delicacy called “Knipp” (say it “kuhnipp”, with the “kuh” real fast - yeah, they actually DO pronounce the “k” before the “n”). It was followed with a glass of chilly cold “Bommerlunder” Aquavit, topped with a preserved plum...dude, totally Wunderbar!! Until I found out the dish I had just (thoroughly) enjoyed was the meat from a stewed pig’s head, that had been ground up, combined with steel-cut oats and fried - served with (perfectly divine) “Bratkartoffeln” (fried potatoes) and a dollop of home-made applesauce. Fast forward 30 years: despite that shocking (and, though I hate to admit it, delicious, intro to regional German cuisine) I ended up marrying the guy, live a bike-ride away from that very same restaurant, and there is most likely a bottle of Bommerlunder in my freezer...and a jar of plums in the pantry.

I landed on this article purely by chance by making some inadvertent finger gesture on my iPad. Nonetheless, I have something to say which is that aquavit is probably my least enjoyable liquor expenditures of all time. I was once trying to broaden my sophistication level and bought a popular Scandinavian bottle of the stuff. Now I like caraway seeds in rye bread and Irish Soda Bread, but that is as far as it goes. YUK! Liquid caraway! Repeat, YUK, I then compounded my error by blindly purchasing a bottle of Hamburg’s Helbing, expecting something completely different inasmuch as I had once fallen in love with a Fräulein From that City. To my shock and dismay, it was more caraway juice withcomponent. The two bottles took up space in my liquour cabinet for dozen as I edged into the waning years of my mid life crisis period. BloodI finally devised a strategy of of making Bloody Marys with the stuff and succeeded in killing off both bottles. Glad to hear that it was JFK’s favorite

Scandinavians ate herring and drank aquavit in the past because that was all that was available, that people still eat these disgusting things is nothing but nostalga.

Aquavit behind the bar, never, it should be in the freezer. An aquavit cocktail is anathema. At near the beginning of our marriage we spent six months in Copenhagen while I worked at the Neurochemical Institute. It was in the middle 60s and even though the dollar was very strong we were living on a resident's salary and the Danish tax on American bourbon was a bit beyond our budget. So it was aquavit, the water of life. We carried our love of aquavit home and now we live in WI so it may be stored in a milk carton filled with water and placed on the deck in minus 20 and the whole thing brought in and the ice cold aquavit poured. To be authentic the glasses should have a round bottom so that they could not be placed back on the table unless they were empty. Skol

According to this article, there is no Swedish aquavit. That's just lazy writing in an otherwise interesting article. There are many brands - I especially like Herrgårds. O.P. Anderson and Skåne are both great and used to be imported to the USA. They were included in the 2008 sale of Absolut referenced in the article and disappeared from the US market soon after. The upside? It created a vacuum now being filled by several delicious US brands. I also learned how to make my own, which is a lot more fun anyway.

Swedish in-laws turned me on to aquavit. Cold aquavit with herring is a dream. Choices here are few. I'm a fan of Linie and OP Andersson, not so much Aalborg which is too heavy on anise for me. Arcus has a lot of great stuff you can't get over here. Arcus, please send some Loitens Sommer Aquavit (and all the others)!

I read the whole article, and can’t believe there wasn’t a recipe for a cocktail! Geez, is the editor a teetotaler? You told us Agern has only two cocktails using Aquavit. So? What are they?

JFK’s favorite Bloody Mary was made with Aquavit....

North Shore Distillery in Chicago makes a delicious and bracing Aquavit.

I worked at Nyborg &Nelson on 2nd Ave in the 70s. It was a Scandinavian deli. As a 20 something I loved drinking but aquavit although plentiful was something I could live without. Horrid swill. I think the Scandinavian customers bought it out of nostalga or home sickness.

I live in Wisconsin and always have a bottle of Aquavit in the freezer along with glasses. Lovely on a cold winter night with cheese and crackers in front of the fire.

I've been using Aquavit to make my Gravlax, it's awesome!

when we lived in Germany, I always kept a bottle of "Malteser Kreus" followed r the freezer. My wife and I would drink a shot glass, followed by a cold beer to to mark the demarcation between my work day and our family dinner. Alas, I cannot find that brand anywhere in the USA.

These prices seem very optimistic - I've only seen Linie that cheap in duty free.

I'm a fan of the Great Northern Food Hall but take issue with the idea that Aquavit is being "jump-started" in New York. That honor belonged to the original restaurant Aquavit across from MoMA, with then-rising star chef Marcus Samuelsson. A revelation: icy and cold, at the bar and at dinner. The "newer" version on 55th Street has earned two Michelin Stars and three stars from the Times. And I'm willing to bet the dust isn't gathering on its bottles. Skoal!

Aquavit cocktails ?????? You down the shot, ice cold (eiskeguehlte Bommerlunder, for example). It isn't just Scandinavia and it isn't just the upscale brands you name. Living in South Jutland (Schleswig-Holstein) for many years, that shot of aquavit accompanied every major occasion - signing a rental contract, signing a mortgage(yes, at the bank), going to sheep farms on the annual breeders tour, at weddings, funerals, confirmations (first time drinking bout for young lads)- when we went back to Rendsburg last Fall, the hotel checked us in, and when we mentioned coming back "home", right away the shot glasses came our - you guessed it, Aquavit. As a goody two shoes Methodist from the Chicago burbs, it took some conditioning, but you get the hang of it quickly.

The other great Danish liquor is Gammel Dansk Bitter Dram, which disappeared from the U.S. market when Arcus acquired it from Pernod Ricard. Arcus keeps on promising me they will begin U.S. distribution, but there is no sign of it.

Years ago, when I rented a car in the Caribbean they gave us a complimentary 750 ml. bottle of Aquavit from Denmark. We'd no idea what it was. Plus we thought it amusing they give us some alcohol while handing us the keys to our rental car, then reminding us to drive on the opposite side of the road. Later when we sipped some at our hotel room we found it disgusting and figured the rental car company just wanted to off the awful stuff on us unsuspecting tourists.

Last year my wife and I visited Norway and during our stay in Oslo, we found a great little bar (speakeasy) called Himkok that made their own aquavit. Wow! It was my first time imbibing this and it was so yummy (though it didn't hurt that Himkok made some amazing and creative concoctions with it).

North Shore out of Lake Shore, Illinois makes an excellent aquavit

I enjoy aquavit What I do not enjoy is Jason Wilson-or spellcheck-calling aquavit and other liquers-SNAPS-not SCHNAPPS.

Of course Aalborg makes the best ones, but you mustn't forget Swedish brands O.P. Anderson and the classic Skåne Akvavit. Skåne goes particularly well with herring. Finland with its traditional preference for vodka and other plain grain spirits has unfortunately nothing to offer in this genre.

As a bartender at the local Norse Lodge, I still pour lots of shots of various brands of Aquavit - it is an integral part of the Norwegian-American culture. I have also experimented with cocktails using Aquavit. I try to describe it as caraway/anise flavored gin. Try Bloody Mary'y, Grapefruit Juice and Aquivit - even Aquivit and Campari - Wonderfully complex!

I enjoy aquavit in the cold months in traditional glogg. There is a delicious recipe in The NY Times, December 26, 2001. This is lovely for entertaining.

Having grown up in Norway aquavit is a big part of the culture. My personal favorite is gilde but you can’t get in the us. Who can change that ?

Back in ‘84 I visited a printing prep house in Copenhagen to evaluate an early prepress system in use there. Our host at lunch invited us to a small corner basement cafe, where we sampled gravlax with dill. The owner of the cafe quickly appeared with a bottle of Aquavit which was encased in a thick coating of ice. The Aquavit oozed from the bottle ice-cold, which we quickly threw-back. I can to this day remember not only the delicious taste of the Aquavit but also the ice-cold liquor spreading warmth in my belly. To this day I keep a bottle of Aquavit in my freezer at home.

While staying in Copenhagen as an exchange student back in the day my host father asked me one Saturday early on if I’d like snaps now or with dinner-it was lunchtime. I responded, “Now?”. He said, “I’ll get the bottle.” Needless to say my afternoon plans were scratched. Still love snaps and herring with a chaser.

Aquavit is the perfect ingredient for curing Salmon (Gravlax)

I visited Reykjavik a few years ago, before Brennivin was imported into the U.S. Anxious to try the spirit lovingly known as "Black Death" by the locals, upon my arrival my travel companion and I settled into a local pub, ordered a pint of Viking Lager (excellent) and two shots of Brennivin. The bartender recoiled in a fashion eerily similar to Terry Jones in the "Spam" sketch when Graham Chapman exclaimed "I don't like Spam!" "What do you want to drink that stuff for?", she exclaimed, "it's the worst thing in the world." Undeterred, we insisted upon two chilled shots. It is still one of the worst decisions I have ever made -- and yes, I ate both whale and puffin on that journey.

Gilde was the best akvavit I tasted in Scandinavia last year. Nuanced flavors include vanilla and chocolate. Can't find it in the U.S., including wine-searcher.com.

We make our own, with vodka or gin, a secret mix of lightly toasted spice seeds, dill, lemon twist. Best to drink with pickled and sauced herring but also great with salmon, smoked trout and hearty cows' milk cheese. And for a mother lode of aquavits, visit The Long Island Bar on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. Call first - they're in a private stock but if you're really interested the bartender may set you up with a tasting.

I love Aquavit. Best I have enjoyed in distilled by Venus in Santa Cruz CA

Aquavit is such a good idea for fatty fish, great combination. Usually drank with pickled herring but nice too with smoked salmon and the like. Always in small portions please. For a lighter way, try drinking it with fizzy mineral water on the side, instead of beer, the traditional aquavit’s companion.

I love aquavit! I am not a fan of sweet drinks and sometimes even a G&T or a vodka soda is too sweet for me. A neat aquavit makes me very happy. My only complaint is that my local liquor store only carries one or two brands. I've never had the dill variety and would love to try it. I wish a trip to Scandinavia was in the budget!

First time trying was last summer in Stockholm and we loved it! Much to our dismay we waited to buy it at the airport and were traveling on to Ireland to find out you can't buy and transport within the EU. Needless to say when we got back to the states and local and online search ensued(thank you thedrinkshoppe.co.uk where we found O.P. Anderson). I was unaware of the domestic distillers can't wait to try!!

Besides Gamle Ode, there are at least four other Minnesota distilleries producing aquavit. Vikre, Norseman, Skallveen and Tattersal. All are worthy of singing Helan Gar, the aquavit drinking song, to.

In 1973 I had my first shot of aquavit. No doubt is was Linie, the Norwegian one that crosses the Equator in sherry-soaked casks twice. It was fine. But in the years since I have enjoyed many kinds of regional Swedish aquavit, (including some that were home-made). They came and come—but not in the US—packaged as Svenska Nubbar (Swedish Shots) by Altia Corporation. In that assortment of mini-bottles was O.P. Anderson, which is or will be available here in 2018. My favorite, however, is Hallands Fläder, spiced with elderberry flowers. How I wish Altia would make at least some of the others available. I also have fond memories of Astor Wines & Spirits selling Stockholms Aquavit as well as less-known bottles from Denmark and Norway. Perhaps this article will encourage them to import those as well.

I’ll never, ever, ever get Brennivin. But then I had it with preserved fish. I still shudder when I think of it.

I love the aquavit from Long Road Distillers in Grand Rapids Mi. Makes a unique and interesting Bloody Mary.

I love Aquavit. Makes a very nice simple Bloody Mary, equal parts Aquavit, tomato juice, V-8, lemon juice, 1/4 t cayenne +/-, splash of worcestershire sauce, grind of pepper, salted rim. Also, chilled neat with ham, rye bread and swiss cheese.

The first time I tried aquavit I was sure my host was trying to kill me. The second time was the last time I will ever touch it. I don't think anyone needs to be excited about aquavit - it's awful!

Thank you but I'll stick with single malt scotch.