In Scandinavia, toasts look like this: The host raises a long-stemmed shot glass. Every person around the table pauses to share a second of eye contact with everyone else, taking care to leave no one out. The host calls out, “Skål” (pronounced “skull,” a toast dating to Viking antiquity). Everyone drinks. They make eye contact again. Glasses are set down and stay on the table until the host raises his again.

In Denmark, this will happen at least twice (one shot for each leg, they say). In Sweden, toasts are typically bookended with songs, increasing in volume and fervor as the night burns on — more than 9,000 songs are recorded in the nation’s Historical Museum of Wine and Spirits, with 200 written specifically for this toasting ritual. In Norway, beer is served alongside the shots to whet the palate for the spirit. That spirit, the one uniting people around the table and locking their eyes together in a moment of shared experience, is aquavit.

Translated, it means “water of life.” Whiskey, vodka, and eau de vie (a type of fruited French brandy) all trace back to essentially that same phrase, but what makes aquavit stand out is its signature caraway flavor. Poured from a bottle with frost still clinging to the glass, it supposed to be served sharply cold and smooth in texture. It contains the prominent grain notes and clean finish of a good vodka, with a resounding clarion call of rye cutting from first to last. In short, it’s very good.

That spirit, the one uniting people around the table and locking their eyes together in a moment of shared experience, is aquavit.

The History

In 1531, the Lord of Bergenshus Castle in Denmark, Eske Bille, wrote a letter to Olav Engelbrektsson, the last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Norway, saying,

“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.”

Engelbrektsson could have used it, as his term was riddled with armed and political conflict, failed attempts at Norwegian independence, and eventually, five years after this letter was penned, exile and death. But while big figures jockeyed the geopolitical chessboard, bits and pieces filtered down to become indelible cultural hallmarks for the centuries to come. Today, aquavit is still viewed as a digestive aid during big meals, which makes it a common companion during Christmas and Easter lunches, as well as Midsummer feasts of smoked fish, pickled herring, pungent cheese, lutefisk, and crayfish. It’s said that aquavit helps the fish swim to the stomach.

Lysholm and Loiten in Norway, Aalborg in Denmark, and O.P. Anderson in Sweden all claim to make the best quality aquavit, but it’s said that Norway's Linie, a subset of Lysholm, has the deepest flavor. And, maybe not coincidentally, it has the best story.

In 1805, the Lysholm family stocked a ship bound for Indonesia with used sherry casks filled with aquavit. Unfortunately (or so it seemed at the time) no one in Indonesia wanted caraway liquor, so they returned home. Upon opening the casks, distillers found that it tasted way better than when the ships left Norway. It turned out that the casks swelling and contracting between the Nordic and Equatorial climates, as well as the undulating roll of the ship at sea released rich flavors from the sherry-tempered oak barrels. At some point, the Lysholm company tried to emulate this effect with machinery, but the taste wasn’t nearly as good. Not one to mess with perfection, the company makes Linie today by stowing it in oak sherry barrels on the decks of ocean-faring ships bound south. They traverse the Equator twice (hence the name, “Linie”) over the course of a four-and-a-half month voyage spanning 35 countries. Every Linie label includes a log of where the contents of that particular bottle have traveled.

Aquavit (the Restaurant)

The Nordic roots square with what Hakan Swahn, the owner of Aquavit — a storied Nordic restaurant in New York with two Michelin stars and an aquavit-focused bar program — prefers to pair his aquavit with. “I’m very much a product of my upbringing in Sweden," he says, "so I love it with herring or smoked salmon gravlax or something that’s cured and has a little saltiness to it. You have to have a bit of sturdiness, too.”

From the mixing flasks of a 16th-century castle to a Michelin-starred restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, aquavit is spreading in scope and growing in creative expression. The aquavits on offer at the restaurant – which include both those imported from Scandinavia and a huge range of in-house aquavit infusions — span a full flavor spectrum, ranging from traditional anise/caraway/fennel combination to things like horseradish, lingonberry, or peanut. The restaurant bottles their own house brand, too. Swahn says that his years in New York had given him the benefit of seeing where the American palate leans in terms of aquavit, so when the time came to bottle their own, he knew exactly what he wanted: no color, a subtly sweet fruit-forward flavor, and a slightly lower alcohol content for smoothness. Oh, there is one other ingredient.

“Technically speaking, the law in Scandinavia is that you cannot call anything aquavit unless it’s predominantly flavored by dill and/or caraway,” said Swahn. “I protested this all the way up the government because this became an EU dictate. I was trying to reason with them because historically, there’s no reason it should be dill or caraway. But they didn't care about the historical reasons for it. They just did that because that's what the Danes were producing, and they wanted to protect their brands so that no one else could call it aquavit like that unless you had that flavor. It's too bad.”

In the end, though, the protests didn't work, and so Swahn added a tiny amount of caraway to the recipe. "Just to say, 'Oh, yeah, I have it' to the authorities," Hakan laughs.

So, What Is It?

No matter the point of origin, aquavit production looks largely the same. A mostly neutral base liquor is distilled from grain or potatoes, then flavored with herbs, spices and/or fruit oil. The most common flavor profiles include caraway (foremost), followed by cardamom, cumin, anise, fennel, lemon and orange peel, and dill. The resulting product ranges from completely transparent to light brown or gold. Norwegian varieties like Linie are typically aged longer - sometimes up to 20 years - and are therefore darker in color.

Weighing in at 40 percent ABV, aquavit isn’t a liqueur, though it’s tempting to think of it as such because it has such a prominently drinkable flavor, with little afterburn.

It contains the prominent grain notes and clean finish of a good vodka, with a resounding clarion call of rye cutting from first to last. In short, it’s very good.

How To Drink It

In Scandinavia, aquavit is enjoyed alongside beer, which is said to open the tastebuds for the complexities of flavor in the aquavit itself. In less lofty terms, beers-and-shot combos aren’t a bad addition to any festive holiday gathering.

For mixing, aquavit subs in nicely for gin, vodka, and even tequila in many cocktails. Keeping in mind that the caraway notes are really strong, it plays especially well with other savory flavors, like Bloody Marys. But due to that complexity, it’s also a great spirit to enjoy neat — just make sure to serve it freezing cold. In its home countries, it’s not unusual for a bottle to be served partially encased in a block of ice. This is a drink from freezing climes and should be enjoyed as such.

It’s also from the land that developed hygge — the Scandinavian concept of coziness that has steadily sunk into Western consciousness like your body might sink into a fur blanket surrounded by candles during a blizzard. Aquavit fits perfectly within that cultural construct, which exalts all facets of comfort, including comfort food during freezing months. Like whiskey, aquavit departs from other spirits in that it has a rounder approach imbued with savor and spice, rather than a sharp botanical twang. It would fit in perfectly well at a candlelit table laid with roasted meats and fragrant baked goods. Even the traditional snaps toast (described above) reinforces a feeling of human connection and comfort.

Like whiskey, aquavit departs from other spirits in that it has a rounder approach imbued with savor and spice, rather than a sharp botanical twang.

Like hygge, aquavit was relegated to the countries that distilled it 500 years ago until relatively recently. It’s fairly easy to find a bottle of Linie in liquor stores or find a distiller Stateside that produces its own version today — especially in states with strong Scandinavian-American populations like Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, and Wisconsin. These distillers have made the age-old spirit their own, highlighting flavors like anise and citrus.

Cocktail Ideas

Hakan says that traditionally, there’s one way to drink aquavit: straight. “Growing up in Sweden, it would be heresy to mix it up into cocktails,” he said. But when he opened Aquavit, he saw people sipping, not shooting, and trying it mixed with all kinds of different things. “As a Swede, I said, ‘What the heck is up with that? You can’t do that.’ But then I thought and said, ‘Hey, listen - whatever works.’”

Aquavit and Tonic - Because aquavit behaves in such a similar way to other clear botanical spirits, lighter aquavits shine when added to a great tonic. One of the best-selling cocktails at Aquavit is simply its namesake spirit (you can pick from any on their huge list) poured into high-quality housemade tonic. Quality tonic syrups and waters aren’t hard to find — and with a grand total of two or three ingredients, looking beyond the supermarket mixer aisle will pay off.
Aquavit Negroni - The Negroni, with equal parts of three big flavors, is notoriously flexible with base spirits. Campari and sweet vermouth form a base that perfectly balances sweet and bitter but swapping out the base spirit sends the drink in an exciting new direction. And while this technique is most common for standard spirits like bourbon (to form a Boulevardier), it works remarkably well with bold, distinct flavors like mezcal, or, you guessed it, aquavit.
Oslo Coffee - Linie Aquavit recommends a cocktail combining a half teaspoon of brown sugar, equal parts aquavit and Cointreau or Grand Marnier, all rounded off with black coffee and topped with whipped cream and shaved dark chocolate. The brands claims, “its potency to prolong chilly spring nights and heat up winter afternoons speaks for itself.”

As the caraway spirit continues its ascent in popularity, from bars’ dusty back shelves to italicized ingredient lists on craft cocktail menus, it’s possible the connection to festive days will rise with it — eyes lifting from screens to lock with others before downing the very spirit of frozen gatherings past grounding those who enjoy it in their place at the table.

All About Aquavit, the Scandinavian Spirit You Ought To Be Drinking

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