Drinking culture in Norway

Carnival is approaching and with it the time of crazy parties. How do Norwegians drink and have fun? Where to buy alcohol in Norway?

Despite high alcohol prices and lower alcohol availability than in other countries, alcohol consumption in Norway has increased by 40% in the last 20 years, according to a study by SIRUS (The National Institute for Drug Research). According to SIRUS, more and more women and the elderly are also drinking.

Thirsty Vikings
The drinking culture in Norway has a shorter history than in other European countries. The first mentions of consuming the drink of the gods in Norway come from 2500 years ago, which is slightly later than in other European countries with a milder climate favorable to the cultivation of plants suitable for the production of alcohol. The Norwegian Vikings quickly caught up with their southern neighbors as they liked the alcoholic drinks very much

Alcohol in check
Norway has been able to keep its alcohol consumption relatively low for many years thanks to a restrictive alcohol policy of limited availability, high taxes and a ban on alcohol advertising. However, alcohol policy is under severe pressure, both national and international, to increase availability and reduce prices.

Nordic drinking style
Nordic countries are famous for their traditional drinking pattern characterized by overuse of alcohol once in a while, e.g. on weekends (the so-called helgefyll or weekend drunkenness) or on other holidays (e.g. during julebord , i.e. Christmas eve organized by employers in the pre-holiday period), however, there has been a recent fashion for drinking small amounts of alcohol every day.

Where to get alcohol?
In Norway, we can only buy beer in ordinary shops. For stronger alcohols, we have to go to the Vinmonopolet store chain. There are only 297 of them in the whole of Norway. These shops also have quite limited opening hours (for example from Monday to Friday until 6.00 pm, on Saturday until 3.00 pm). We cannot buy alcohol in night shops or gas stations.

Norwegians take advantage of every opportunity to buy alcohol cheaper. The so-called drikkeferie , that is, trips for a known purpose or trips to cheaper Sweden to replenish the shoulder. Whenever they return from abroad, Norwegians buy the entire “ kvote ” in taxfree shops, which is the alcohol limit. You also often hear that Norwegians produce their own alcohol at home.

Party in Norwegian
The people of Norway have developed a special way of having fun in order to save on the costs of alcohol in clubs and bars. Let us remind you that a large beer (0.4 l) in a club in Norway costs about 55 crowns (27.50 PLN). So they first meet at home for forspiel (read: foszpil), or beforek, then go to the clubhouse and buy a drink or two. Clubs are closed early, there are few open “until the last customer”, so the event has to move further, for example to someone’s home for the so-called nachspiel (read: naszpil) – afterparty. Such games often last until the “late” morning hours;)

If we are invited to a party, do not be surprised when it turns out that each guest is drinking the alcohol he brought, it’s normal, such are the customs. Of course, it often happens that we will be served, for example, wine from a carton, but knowing this, it is worth having your favorite drink with you.

Mini-glossary: ​​
å drikke – drink
en alcohol – alcohol
Skål! – Cheers!
en kvote – alcohol limit in taxfree shops
en vin – wine
en rødvin – red wine
en hvitvin – white wine
en rosévin – rosé wine
en musserende vin – sparkling wine
en fruktvin – cider type alcohols
en sterkvin – strong wines such as Porto, Sherry, Madeira, and vermouth brennevin – strong alcohol such as whiskey, rum, vodka, gin
alcohol fritt – non-alcoholic
et øl – beer
et juleøl – Christmas beer
en mjød – mead
full – drunk
en / ei helgefyll – weekend drunkenness
en bakrus – hangover
en drikkeferie – trip to drink alcohol
en forspiel – beforek
en nachspiel – afterparty