All products are constructed and produced in Bryn in Oslo.
A botanical sip of Norwegian nature For one of Norway’s most innovative independent distilleries, the goal is to create a pure taste of Nordic nature with its wild mountains, salty sea, green meadows and deep woods. By Åsa H. Aaberge | Photos: Oslo Håndverksdestilleri/OHD
Norway has a long and rich liquormaking history. At one point, the country had thousands of registered distilleries. A ban on liquor, and from 1927 a state monopoly on distillation, put an end to the independent distilleries. But in the early 2000s, small-scale distilleries started to bloom again. One of the first was Oslo Håndverksdistilleri (Oslo Handicraft Distillery, or OHD), founded in Oslo in 2015. “When we started, we began to look at the history of distilling in Norway. Historically, no one used the exotic spices common in aquavit today, like star anise and such. We started to play with the idea of making spirits using nothing but 48 | Issue 137 | December 2021
botanicals that grow naturally in Norway,” says Frederik Dahl, sales and marketing manager at OHD. “That idea became what separates us from the rest.” A thorough research process began, to find out which herbs to use and how best to utilise them. “We visited old farms, found the oldest man on the farm and asked him what his grandfather used to make liquor back in the days,” Dahl explains. Back in the laboratory, the OHD team experimented with different botanicals to find which recipes worked or not. “Spirits like aquavit, gin and whisky were histor-
ically known as medicine and called the water of life. Traditional medical plants were often used, so we ended up visiting a museum in Oslo where they still grow a lot of the traditional medicinal plants. That became the starting point for which plants we ended up using,” says Dahl. Today, OHD uses a variety of about 20 botanicals in total, in products ranging from aquavit to bitter, gin and vodka. The world’s best gin For OHD, it’s been essential to establish a unique signature taste. The taste of the botanicals gives a distinct character to the products, explains Dahl. “We have six or seven plants that make up the base of all our products, so it makes for a clear distillery taste,” he says. Elderflower, meadowsweet, chamomile and Norwegian angelica, juniper and caraway are sourced locally in the Oslo
