Akvavit -- what to do with it??

Beer and Spirits
1

I have read ecstatic tales of Midsummer festivities on Swedish islands which include copious quantities of Akvavit which in turn lead to skinny dipping with statuesque blondes etc. I’ve never made it to Sweden so I don’t know how true these stories are. But it left me with a passing interest in Akvavit. I must have mentioned this to an ex-student because when he went to visit his wife’s family in Sweden, he returned with a bottle of Akvavit for me.

Now I have to figure out how to deal with this bottle which more or less screeches CARAWAY and is downright daunting to drink, at least at room temp. Do I need a year or so to get used to it or is there a better way of handling it? I Googled and found 2 (two) mixed drink recipes which warned that the true Akvavit connoisseur would be offended by the diminished effect.

Suggestions are welcome.

2

When we were at a Alinea they did a pairing with Aquavit, It was absolutely amazing. It was cold. Do you have the stuff that has travelled around the world on a ship?

I will try and figure out what it was so it can give you some ideas. Or you can call Grant Achatz [worship.gif]

George

3

Ice cold. Smoked fish (lutefisk if you are daring). Yum!

4

In my first year at University the college bar steward was a Swede. As a result the bar always had at least one bottle of Akavit; it was also the secret ingredient in the “Gargle Blaster”.

IMHO the best thing to do with it is clean drains.

5

Serge, the POINT of that exercise is that, after the lutefisk, the Akvavit tastes GOOD!

6

I use it to make Gravlax

My dad, for years, woudl keep a bottle in the freezer. When he would take a bath (a relaxing one), my step mom would bring him a cold beer in a neoprene sleeve, a shot of akavit that was from the freezer in a shot glass that was in the freezer as wel, a plate of water crackers and jar of lumpfish caviar (the cheap stuff) in a bowl of ice and a few lemon wedges… it was strange…but the salty caviar followed by a shot of the herbal akavit, wash down with cold beer was actually quite nice. He stopped doing that in the late 80’s… but that is the imagery associated with akavit for me…

7

So, Scott, had your father spent time in Scandinavia?

I found the exact description of what I’d like to do some Midsummer:

8

Never… not sure where he got it from… probably read it some where and made it his own

9

Use it as anti-freeze in your radiator. Give it to the person that gave you a fruitcake last Christmas.

Don’t drink it.

10

I drink it the way my Norwegian relatives do; ice cold, neat. No chaser; that’s for the Danes and Swedes. [snort.gif]

At our Xmas smorgasbord party each guest starts off the evening with a shot; it definitely gets people in a celebratory mood!

Linie is my favorite brand.

11

Alas, buying a ticket to Sweden is easy. What’s hard is making friends with the Swedish Bikini Team and getting invited to go on vacation with them. I’d settle for Tina Nordstrom…

I wonder if the University of Malmø needs a guest lecturer?

12

I used to keep a bottle in the freezer, next to the vodka. It goes really well with gravlax, or to make gravlax, as Scott already mentioned. The herring idea sounds good too.

13

Hi Frank,

There are alot of different Akvavits in Scandinavia and distilled from a number of botanicals, not just carraway and thus have very different uses as food match-ups.

The norwegian “Linie” is a carraway akvavit, but a rather mild one at that and includes other ingredients as well. I find it too light, but appreciate the relative softness pepsi

It sounds like the one you had was a serious one, though, curious which one it was flirtysmile We traditionally drink those at room temperature [berserker.gif] with heering and other seafood at the “julefrokost” or “påskefrokost”, which are get-togethers at christmas or easter, where there traditionally is served a lot of seafood (and lots of other food too [drinkers.gif] ). And yes - I have yet to attend either of these events without beer being served blush

I have acquired a taste for these akvavits, and find it a pitty to eliminate the fine flavours of the botanicals by freezing the akvavits. I guess you can say, that I don’t understand why so many drink it at these events, when they don’t like it.

My personal favourites are the danish “Harald Jensen” and “Brøndum’s Kummenakvavit”, the latter not to be confused with the ordinary “Brøndum’s”, which is rather bland and dull. The two mentioned are 45% abv. and have a nice, full-bodied carraway character.

Two other personal favourites, that taste somewhat different, are the danish and swedish Porse Akvavit and Porsbrännvin destilled from Myrica gale. I really like the flavour of this [cheers.gif]

14

The Power of Lutefisk: http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~atman/ic/lutefisk.html

15

Don’t knock lutefisk. Every year we have a big lutefisk dinner at our senior communities. It is the biggest event of the year. We have multiple seatings and the tickets go fast.

My folks loved the stuff. For me it was like snot with butter…no thanks, I’ll stick to the lefse.

As for the aquavit, you have my condolenses…ice cold half shots chased with herring or smoked fish. For a party, you could make a caraway infused sour cream, spread it on some cocktail rye or rye crisps and top with smoked fish.

16

Skåne Akvavit, from Reimersholm Snapskrydderi.

Klassisk Kryddning av kummin, anis & Fänkål

Picture of a tree lined country lane in winter with geese flying overhead.

17

Ah, Skåne Akvavit. That’s a good one too, though a bit less powerful than either of the two I recommended.