Christmas time is here again

Sort of. Here in Norway the supermarkets have already started selling juleøl, Christmas beers. The Norwegian Christmas beers are dark or amber brews, and they are sold in various strengths. In ordinary shops, you can only find beers with an alcohol content below 4.7%. The stronger beers are available at Vinmonopolet, the stately monopoly for wines and liquor. You can also find them in various bars from November to January, and now and then even from tap.


Ringnes brewery is the largest in Norway, and this year they will in addition to their own juleøl also sell Tuborg and Carlsberg Christmas beers brewed on licence. The Tuborg can has a new design this year, by the way.

Hansa-Borg is the second largest brewery group in Norway, and they will at least have two Christmas beers available in supermarkets. On the picture you can see Hansa Juleøl and Hansa Julebrygg. The second one is supposed to have had a very long period of lagering.

Next week Vinmonopolet will start selling Christmas beers. I have not seen this year's list of beers so far, but I have heard that there will at least be juleøl from Nøgne Ø and Haandbryggeriet together with some Danish offerings and the usual Christmas beers from the Norwegian macro breweries.