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Norwegians celebrate Christmas with a mind-numbing range of yuletide beers as a tradition dating from Viking times. Vikings used to drink bitter ale as a tribute to the Norse gods at the winter solstice in December and when Christianity reached the Far North around the year 1,000, Norwegians started toasting Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary at Christmas, Reuters said. Anyone who failed to live up to the ritual of mixing a special brew for Christmas -- and drinking it -- was ordered to pay a fine to the bishop or lose their property. "This is serious stuff," said brew master Olaug Flakne at Norway's biggest brewery Ringnes. "You could end up being expelled from the country if you broke the beer traditions. "Christmas beer is a business that we take great pride in," said Flakne, responsible for this year's 18 different Christmas brands -- a total of 3.3 million quarts.

Norwegian brewers offer a total of 50 types of yuletide brew, available from November and through December -- a wider choice than in any other country in the world, according to the Association of Norwegian Breweries.

Flakne said she once threw out several thousand quarts of beer because she did not like the taste. "The secret is to find the balance between bitter and acrid, contra sweet and cloying," she said. Yule beer is sweeter and more aromatic than normal, with a spiced caramel-like flavor and hint of bitterness. The strongest and most traditional types have a characteristic dark-red color favored at Christmas.

Ringnes sells Christmas beers ranging from a light lager with 4.5 % alcohol to a thick, dark-red brew with 9.9 %. It also has a non-alcoholic alternative. Beer is a natural part of a traditional Norwegian Christmas meal, which includes "lutefisk," cod soaked in caustic soda, "rakfisk," a half-fermented trout, sweet-and-sour herring, dried mutton and fried sheep's head.

It is often served with aquavit -- a potato-based schnapps.

Brewers once used spices and even tobacco to achieve a strong taste, but a beer purity law from 1516 banned them from using any other ingredients than the basics -- water, malt, hops and yeast.

Norwegian brewers still stick to the basic recipe. Many Norwegians hold tasting parties at the start of December. Blind-folded, they try every beer of the season and -- if they can remember -- vote for a favorite.

Despite the range of choice, Norwegians drink about 245 million quart of beer a year, about 50 quarts per person, among the lowest per capita in Europe, according to the Breweries Association.

Brewers blame the relatively low beer consumption on high prices and strict laws, including a ban on advertising.
Norway has Europe's highest beer taxes at 16 crowns ($2.34) per quarts, compared with six crowns in Sweden, three in Denmark and just 1.5 in Germany. High taxes boost home brewing and underpin widespread teetotalism, which is strongest in the bible belt along the west and south coast.

Norway's Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik is a teetotaler and member of the Christian People's Party which advocates high alcohol taxes as a way to dampen consumption. The strongest beers are sold at state outlets together with wine and spirits. Norwegian beer traditions have overcome hurdles before.

In 1964, Norway's Christian Sobriety Council tried to ban the use of the term "Yule beer," saying it was unworthy of a Christian country to market alcohol in the name of Christmas. Brewers argued successfully that yule had nothing to do with the Bible and had much deeper roots in Norway than Christianity.


10 December, 2003