Aquavit, the ‘water of life’, is a national drink throughout Scandinavia. And – truth to tell – we had heard of it before we arrived. But we were eager to learn more so we could share it with you. That’s right, we have – at great personal cost – drunk quite a lot of aquavit so that we can bring you the unbiased truth. You’re welcome.
The Basics
Aquavit is a sharp, medicinal liquor. In the rest of Scandinavia, it is distilled from grains. But here in Norway, it’s made from potatoes. It is usually served chilled and straight-up but in Norway they often prefer it room temperature. (The Norwegians, as always, are a bit quirky.) By EU law, aquavit must be at least 37.5% alcohol and must contain either caraway or dill. But very often there are lots of other flavours. This is where it gets fun! And aquavit is a clear liquid, except when it’s aged in sherry casks; then it’s various shades of golden. Here again, Norway is a bit different, as Norwegians make more of the sherry-aged varieties than other nations. We even bought a sampler so you could see the color ranges together in one picture. Not for us, obviously.
A Taste-Test: 10 Kinds of Aquavit
Because we have other stuff to do besides drink (i.e., eat), we’ve conducted a longitudinal study. Every few nights we crack open a bottle and take a wee sip, under controlled laboratory conditions. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, unless you invite us along to supervise. Now that we’ve tried a good many brands, here’s what we think.
- Cold vs. room temperature: actually, we think some are better warm, some cold. It’s not clear which are which; the notes got a bit blurry as we continued to work on this research project.
- Sherry-aged vs not: we tend to like the sherry-aged ones; they have a depth of flavour that the clear ones don’t.
- Flavours: there are a couple with a vanilla aftertaste, which is lovely. As it happens, neither of us is a huge fan of licorice, which is exceedingly common.
In sum, we could, and did, drink them all with great pleasure. If you like strong drink, and you like anise, this is the drink for you.
In Closing
At least one of our native informants told us that aquavit is best drunk after eating lutefisk. We won’t be doing that, and here’s why: it’s a Christmas food. But more importantly, it’s dried, salted, and pickled in lye. Even afficionados describe it as tasting sort of like fish, but with the consistency of jello. And we know how you guys get when we spend too much time on unspeakable jello-fish.
