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CHRISTMAS

When can you buy alcohol in Norway over the 2021 Christmas holidays?

Due to Norway's tight alcohol laws, a trip to Vinmonopolet, to stock up the drinks cabinet can require a bit of planning all year round, let alone over the Christmas holidays. 

Published: 21 December 2021 17:01 CET
Updated: 23 December 2021 15:07 CET
Pictured are bottles of wine on a shelf.
This is when you will be able to buy alcohol in Norway this Christmas. Pictured are bottles of wine on a shelf. Photo by Scott Warman on Unsplash

Picking up a bottle of wine to go with dinner or an aperitif for the starter in Norway isn’t a straightforward process and requires more planning than you might think. 

You can’t just go to the nearest shop or supermarket and pick up a beverage of your choosing because the sale of all alcohol 4.75 percent or stronger is prohibited and restricted to Vinmonopolet or the wine monopoly. 

Additionally, you can’t buy alcohol on Sundays and public holidays and depending on where you purchase your booze, the opening hours will be different. 

This means that you shouldn’t leave it until the last minute to stock up for Christmas; otherwise, you might get a nasty shock or be met with head-dizzying queues. 

And as we are sure you are fully aware by now, there is a nationwide ban on the sale of alcohol in bars and restaurants, meaning the only places you can buy alcohol are at supermarkets or wine monopolies. 

Spirits and wines

If you are planning on buying wine and spirits, then you’ll need to be aware of the state-owned wine monopoly’s Christmas opening times. 

READ ALSO: Why the Norwegian government controls the sale of most alcohol

Until December 23rd or what the Norwegians call lille juleaften (little Christmas eve), the wine monopoly’s opening hours will be the same, meaning it will open at 10am and close at 6pm. 

The 23rd will be the last day you can visit the wine monopoly before Christmas, although it is advisable to go before this if you can. Typically, the last possible day before closing for a holiday spells queues and chaos at wine monopolies up and down the country. 

After the 23rd, polet, as the wine monopoly is called for short, will be closed until Monday, December 28th, due to a combination of public holidays and the 27th being a Sunday. 

After that, the business hours will return to normal until New Year’s Eve, when it will close at 3pm. Then on New Year’s Day, the wine monopoly will be closed until January the 3rd, due the 2nd being a Sunday. 

 Beers, ciders and other drinks with less than 4.75 alcohol 

You can only buy weaker alcohol from supermarkets, but on the plus side, they are open for longer than the wine monopoly. On weekdays you can purchase alcohol up until 8pm from supermarkets. On weekends, it’s 6pm.

Opening hours may vary in other parts of the country. Generally, the last normal day of buying alcohol from supermarkets will be the 23rd. However, in some parts of Norway, like Oslo, you will be able to buy alcohol on Christmas eve until 6pm in stores that are open. 

There won’t be any alcohol sales on Christmas day. In addition, alcohol sales won’t be allowed in supermarkets until Monday, December 28th. 

On New Year’s Eve, the sale of alcohol will be restricted until 6pm despite it being a weekday. On New Year’s day, you won’t be able to buy any beer or cider. January 2nd falls on a Sunday meaning you will be unable to buy any alcohol until January 3rd.  

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FOOD AND DRINK

How two women in Norway aim to bring seaweed to new heights in Europe

In the chilly waters of the Lofoten archipelago in northern Norway, two women want to bring the area's seaweed to fine dining tables across Norway and Europe.

Published: 23 April 2024 08:49 CEST
How two women in Norway aim to bring seaweed to new heights in Europe

In the glacial waters of the Lofoten archipelago in Norway’s far north, Angelita Eriksen uses a knife to cut a handful of seaweed that will soon end up in a fancy European eatery.

“We have the cleanest and clearest waters in the world. We’re very lucky that we have this really important resource growing right outside our doorstep,” Eriksen told AFP in a cabin on the shores of the northern Atlantic Ocean where the seaweed is laid out to dry.

“We want to show that to the world.”

The daughter of a Norwegian fisherman, Eriksen joined forces with New Zealand-born Tamara Singer, whose Japanese mother served seaweed with almost every meal, to start the company Lofoten Seaweed — specialising in harvesting and preparing seaweed for the food industry.

With the help of six others, they hand-pick 11 tonnes of seaweed a year, the snow-capped mountains plummeting into the sea behind them in a dramatic tableau.

It’s a demanding and “physical job”, said Eriksen.

The peak season runs from late April until June, but “we harvest the dulse, the nori and the sea truffle in the winter and fall”.

“It can be quite cold, as we can stay out for about an hour along the shore”, with lower legs and hands submerged in the chilly water.

By “late May, I’m actually sweating in my suit”.

Norwegian Co-Founder of "Lofoten Seaweed" Angelita Eriksen picks up Winged Kelp seaweeds in knee deep water.

Norwegian Co-Founder of “Lofoten Seaweed” Angelita Eriksen picks up Winged Kelp seaweeds. (Photo by Olivier Morin/ AFP)

One time, she said, “I took my glove off and the steam was just rising up”.

“It’s physically hard but at the same time it’s very meditative, or therapeutic in a way, to harvest,” she says.

‘Delicate’

Truffle seaweed, winged kelp, nori, dulse, sugar kelp, oarweed kelp: the pair focus on about 10 types of seaweed, long eaten in Japan and increasingly popular in Europe for their nutritional qualities.

The seaweed is sold locally or shipped to gourmet restaurants in Norway and the rest of Europe.

The two women organise workshops to teach chefs about the different varieties and the qualities of each type.

“Seaweeds are like vegetables, they have their own texture, taste and colours,” says Singer.

She said it was a “huge surprise” how many European chefs had little or no knowledge of the different flavours and ways of preparing seaweed.

The duo have worked with Japanese chefs “who know exactly what to do, you don’t have to tell them anything”.

“It’s just so natural for them. It’s like giving a piece of fish to a North Norwegian,” says Singer.

Some 20 kilometres (12 miles) away, chef Josh Wing has been serving the pair’s products in his high-end restaurant Hattvika Lodge for about five years.

He is well versed and does not need to take part in their workshops anymore.

Wing is particularly fond of the dulse, a “very delicate purple seaweed”, which he serves with local fish dishes or bread.

It “can provide a physical texture in a dish that you can’t get from other products”, he tells AFP.

US Chef Josh Haner prepares a dish based on seaweed condiments, surrounded by algae containers. (Photo by Olivier Morin/ AFP)

To ensure that their business is sustainable, Eriksen and Singer have mapped and dated their harvest sites, as well as the volumes of each species, for the past four years.

“Our results show that the regrowth in recently-harvested patches is actually faster than anticipated, almost as if a harvest actually stimulates growth,” says Singer.

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