Which dishes do you drink aquavit with?

Herring is salty and fatty, and aquavit counters that with high alcohol and the spiciness of caraway seed.

The Danish national encyclopaedia Lex describes aquavit as a drink that is often drunk chilled and together with beer at meals with salty food, especially herring and cheese.

Regulation (EU) 2019/787 requires the flavour of aquavit to come largely from distillates of caraway or dill seed. Essential oils may not be used as flavouring.

Vinmonopolet names herring, shellfish and smørrebrød as the classic dishes with akevitt.

The Norwegian state retailer serves cask-aged, brown akevitt at room temperature and clear aquavit lightly chilled at 12 to 14 degrees. So the choice of dish goes hand in hand with the choice of temperature.

The difference between those two styles lies in the cask ageing. The protected name Norsk Akevitt requires at least six months in casks smaller than 1,000 litres and at least twelve months in larger casks.

In the Danish national encyclopaedia Lex, cheese is named alongside herring as a regular companion to aquavit at meals.

Salt and fat call for a drink with high alcohol and a clear herbal character, and at a minimum of 37.5 per cent aquavit is strong enough to stand up to them.

Regulation (EU) 2019/787 limits the dry extract of aquavit to at most 1.5 grams per 100 millilitres and stipulates that the bitter components must not clearly dominate the taste.

In Denmark, aquavit and beer come to the table side by side: Lex describes aquavit as a drink often drunk together with beer with salty food.

The form is a small glass of aquavit next to a glass of beer, not poured together. That way the beer stays cold and the glass stays small.

Reken bij het inschenken met de maat van het Trimbos-instituut: een standaardglas sterke drank is 35 milliliter en bevat ongeveer 10 gram pure alcohol. NIX18.

Caraway or dill seed is required by law, as Regulation (EU) 2019/787 requires the flavour of aquavit to come largely from distillates of those seeds.

The regulation names the species: Carum carvi for caraway and Anethum graveolens for dill. Natural flavouring substances and flavouring preparations may be added, essential oils may not.

That herbal line is the reason aquavit ends up next to a plate of fish, bread and cheese. The Norwegian akevitt society names anise, cardamom and coriander as common additions alongside it.