The World's Northernmost Distillery

A visit to Scotland inspired the founding of the world’s northernmost distillery, situated at an old NATO base in Lyngen in Troms County in Northern Norway. The story behind the Lyngen distillery is interesting in itself.

Hans-Olav Eriksen was a general practitioner who started with adventure tourism – Lyngsfjord Adventure – in 2008. It soon became apparent that the tourism industry needed a quality standard, and Eriksen travelled to Scotland in 2010 to investigate their Quality Assurance scheme. The trip proved to be an eye opener.

RESEMBLES SCOTLAND Eriksen observed that the Scottish fauna, landscape and nature had a striking similarity to where he grew up by the Lyngenfjord near Tromsø. The nature was the raw material for the Scots’ most important product: whiskey. Hence, it was entirely transferable to the conditions in the cold north.

Eriksen toyed with the idea of creating an Arctic whiskey, but others regarded this idea as a joke.

”However, the first batch of gin was finished in September 2016 and the whisky will be ready for storage in the middle of November, Tor Petter Christensen says. He is the CEO at

the newly constructed distillery Aurora Spirits at Årøybukt in Lyngen in northern Norway. The distillery has its name from the aurora borealis, more commonly known as the northern lights.

SWEETER INGREDIENTS

The world’s northernmost distillery is built on a former NATO coastal fort from the Cold War and stores its casks in old tunnels once used for military purposes. Christensen thinks the combination of cold climate and arctic ingredients will produce a unique Norwegian line of spirits. “

Ingredients are sweeter in northern Norway because of the midnight sun. Arctic berries, grains and herbs will shape our products together with our water source: Meltwater from the surrounding glaciers.,” says Christensen.

IDEA FROM SCOTLAND Scottish distilleries directly inspired the creation of the distillery.. “We saw how distilleries shape the identity of local Scottish communities and attract tourism, and we wondered why we weren’t doing the same,” Christensen admits.

He is now using Auroras visitor centre to actively promote the identity, culture and heritage of the Arctic.

“The people of northern Norway are extremely social, outgoing and fun, but we still have a way to go in telling that story to the world. That’s changing fast, and I’m very optimistic about the future,” the CEO concludes.