Foreigners are always immensely amused by Norwegian drinking laws. There’s a certain humor in laws that permit people to buy a whole crate of beer at the local store, but not one bottle on its own. Or when a local inhabitant is refused a drink on the terrace of the local hotel, while his good friend from the neighboring town can order as much as he likes. This is the tail-end of a tradition of fighting the evils of alcoholism that Asbjorn Kloster, a pioneer in prohibition, inaugurated a century ago. A campaign that meets with little enthusiasm today.

Norwegians have extraordinarily long and strong traditions in drinking and drunkenness. The Norwegian hero of Viking times, Olav Tryggvason, got people drunk so he could set fire to their houses if they refused to become Christians.

It just had to go wrong for the drink-crazy Norwegians. The battle against the Demon was launched in the middle of the 16^th century, when it became forbidden to serve spirits (hard liquor) on Sundays and holidays–a law that stands to this day. Despite all regulations, people went on making spirits, first from grain, then from potatoes when they were introduced in the 18^th century. At about that time distilling became illegal, though the government repealed the law in 1816. Once more consumption increased dramatically, reaching 32 pints of spirits per citizen in 1833. It was this that led to the temperance movement.

In 1848 a law on the manufacture and processing of spirits put an end to home distilling. However, industrial distilling was legal. In 1832, there were 10,000 registered distilleries in the Norway, twenty years later there were only 40, thus halving the number of establishments licensed for the sale and serving of spirits. By 1851 the consumption of spirits had fallen to 12 pints per person.

The Norwegian government enforced prohibition from 1916 to 1927, and for a few years even fortified wine. Since 1922 the State has had a monopoly on the distribution and sale of wines and spirits in the country, and since 1927 over the production of spirits as well. Today, six distilleries sell spirits to the Wine Monopoly, about two million litres a year. About 2,000 farmers send potatoes to be distilled. The Wine Monopoly carries out production in Hamar Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim, and sells it in 95 shops throughout the country.

In latter years there has been a relaxation in alcohol legislation. It’s still not possible to buy wine in the local store, as in Denmark and most other European countries. But in 1955 only half the population of Norway could buy beer in their own parish. Now 97.3 per cent of the population can not only purchase wine, but about 50 per cent live in one that has a Wine Monopoly outlet.