Svöl Aquavit has launched in the U.S.
Created in collaboration with experts in Nordic cuisine who worked under Danish restaurateur Claus Meyer, this aquavit is made to showcase the diversity of styles found in Scandinavian countries, the company says. Svöl Aquavit offers two styles – Danish ($35 SRP) and Swedish ($39 SRP), each available in select markets.
Dating back to the 15th century, aquavit is traditionally made with a grain or potato distillate base that is infused and re-distilled with a variety of herbs and spices, always including caraway. Over the years, distinct regional styles of aquavit have developed in each Scandinavian country. In Denmark and Sweden, aquavits are made with un-aged grain distillates; Danish aquavits tend to be caraway-dominant with notes of citrus, while Swedish varieties often feature dill and fennel as lead flavors alongside caraway.
Svöl’s Danish-Style Aquavit features caraway from Finland as its dominant flavor, the company says, which is then rounded out by other botanicals such as Icelandic angelica root and pine bark, rose hip, and gooseberry. Meanwhile, Svöl’s Swedish-Style Aquavit features fresh dill, which is cold-infused for 24 hours for a bright fresh taste, the company says, and fennel that’s been cracked and roasted to release its flavor and aromas of lovage and lemon peel.
Svöl Aquavit was founded by Peter Nevenglosky. To ensure the integrity of the flavor profiles, Nevenglosky tapped Gunnar Gíslason, former Executive Chef at Agern in New York and owner of Dill Restaurant in Reykjavik, Iceland, to select and source botanicals from around the world; Jonas Andersen, business development manager for Great Northern Food Hall and Agern, also consulted on the botanical combinations and aromatics. Allen Katz developed the distillation and botanical extraction techniques at his New York Distilling Co in Brooklyn, NY, where Svöl Aquavit is made in a 1,000-liter copper still, beginning by mixing a blend of full grain New York rye, corn and barley spirit with a neutral grain spirit.
“Aquavit holds a unique position as a less-known, yet highly versatile cocktail spirit,” says Nevenglosky, who is also the founder of Drifter Spirits, the distribution network which represents Svöl Aquavit and Avuá Cachaça in the United States. “Our team of industry experts dedicated three years to category research, experimented with more than 50 botanicals from around the world, and ran hundreds of tests on stills of various sizes to achieve maximum concentration of flavor. Svöl Aquavit offers something new in the aquavit universe and we look forward to professional and home bartenders joining us on this journey of discovery.”
