Drinks on board: a taste of Norway’s coast
When you sail with Hurtigruten, the drinks in your glass are as much a part of the experience as the coastline passing your window. From aquavit distilled in the Arctic to wines aged on the seabed, every sip helps tell the story of Norway.
Our drinks menus are created to complement your voyage. As you sail the Norwegian coast, you can try Norwegian aquavit, gin, cider, craft beer, mead, wine and alcohol-free drinks.
Most of the drinks we serve on board – 64% in fact – are Norwegian, chosen to give you a genuine taste of our country. Whatever drink you choose, the idea is the same: your drink gives you a deeper connection to your journey. It might echo the landscape outside, the port you’ve just left or a beloved Norwegian tradition. This is Norway, in your glass.
Here's a guide to some of the drinks you can look forward to tasting on board.
Norway’s Coastal Kitchen, in your glass
Norway’s Coastal Kitchen is our onboard food and drink concept. At its heart are local ingredients and local flavours from carefully selected Norwegian producers.
We look for producers and ingredients that tell a coastal story, from gin infused with Arctic botanicals and vodka distilled with glacial meltwater to juices squeezed from berries grown fat beneath the Midnight Sun.
We also love to showcase Norway’s imaginative approach to drinks in our onboard menus. We mix surprising flavours in our mocktails, stock wines aged in unusual places and use unexpected ingredients that make complete sense as soon as they hit your tastebuds.
Exclusive to our ships
Some of the drinks you can try on board come from close collaborations with our trusted partners – you won’t find them anywhere else.
Bivrost distils in Lyngen, at 69° north, using glacial meltwater from the Lyngen Alps and botanicals shaped by the short Arctic summer. We’ve worked with them to create our Hurtigruten Premium Arctic Aquavit and our Trollfjord Extra Premium Arctic Aquavit: fresh, rounded spirits matured under the Northern Lights and the Midnight Sun.
We’ve also worked with Bivrost to craft our Hurtigruten Seaweed Arctic Gin. It’s mineral in character, with a hint of salt, thanks to a key ingredient from the nearby seaweed farm we've invested in.
Inspired by Norway's growing movement to use locally foraged coastal ingredients, our Seaweed Arctic Gin is part of a distinctive collaborative range of seaweed-infused spirits, cocktails and brews.
Seaweed is one of the most sustainable ingredients you can find along the Norwegian coast: it grows without fresh water, soil or fertiliser and it can help capture carbon as it grows. It’s also nutritious, tastes exceptional and we believe it’s going to play an increasingly important part in Norway’s food and drink system.
You can also try seaweed in our Hurtigruten Seaweed Lager; its clean, lightly salty edge feels just right with seafood and sea views. We created it with Bådin Brewery, in Bodø. They also make our Hurtigruten Pale Ale – a beautifully bright and easy drink after a day at sea.
Meanwhile, in Lofoten, Lofotpils produces our exclusive Kystens Pilsner, a creamy, slightly bitter lager.
The exclusivity extends to our wine menus too.
Wine on board
Our ships carry a carefully chosen wine list, with bottles from Norway and further afield. You’ll find familiar international wines, but the Norwegian wines are often the ones that surprise people most.
Norwegian wine
Norway is better known for fruit wines, dessert wines and cider than classic grape wine. That makes sense. Apples, plums, raspberries and other fruit have grown well here for centuries, especially around the fjords.
On board, you can try Norwegian sweet wines and fruit wines such as raspberry dessert wine from Drøbak, ice plum wine from Viken and a full-bodied ice cider from Tingvoll, where the last apples are pressed, frozen through winter and fermented in oak barrels.
Norwegian grape wine is still small in scale, but it’s growing in presence. In Sognefjord, vines now grow on sun-warmed slopes beside the orchards. Cool nights keep the fruit fresh. Long summer days help it ripen. The result is bright, clean wine that reflects its northern origins.
Depending on your ship and sailing, you may find sparkling, white and red wines from Norwegian winemakers such as Slinde Vingård, Husabø Vingård and Baldervoll Vingård.
Menus, prices, and offerings are subject to change.
Havets Bobler: wine aged by the sea
One of the most unusual wines you can try on board is Havets Bobler, Hurtigruten’s own sparkling wine – and the first wine in the world to be aged in Arctic waters.
The bottles rest for months on the Arctic Ocean floor off northern Norway, where the darkness, steady temperature and gentle movement of the sea shape the wine as it matures. It’s a fitting drink for your journey, made to be opened on the coast, after time spent in the waters off it.
Arctic Barolo, our Arctic Ocean-aged red wine
What happens when Barolo from Piedmont, Italy – a place of warmth and light – is aged in a radically different environment: the cold, dark waters of the Arctic Ocean? Arctic Barolo is the answer.
Spirits on board
You’ll find well-known international spirits in our bars, but the Norwegian bottles are the ones that make the most sense out here.
Start with aquavit. In the Explorer Bar on our Original ships, you’ll find an especially impressive range, from classic styles to Arctic aquavits made exclusively for Hurtigruten. Try one with smoked salmon, cured meats or a dish from your onboard restaurant. It has a way of making the food, the view and the voyage feel connected.
There’s plenty beyond aquavit too. Look for gin, whisky, vodka and liqueurs from Norwegian producers. Bivrost in Lyngen uses glacial meltwater and Arctic botanicals. Myken makes whisky and gin on a tiny island north of the Arctic Circle. Feddie Ocean Distillery, on Fedje island outside Bergen, makes organic gin, aquavit and vodka with a clear coastal character. Gran brings a farm-to-glass approach, using grain from Ringerike.
On Signature sailings, 1893 Bar brings Norwegian spirits into cocktails, tastings and drinks made for the coast outside your window.
Order Norwegian, and your drink becomes part of the route rather than just something in your glass.
Beer on board
Norwegian beers bring the coast a little closer. It’s always worth choosing one from the part of the coast you’ve just passed, or the port you’re about to reach, so you can trace the coast through your beer glass.
7 Fjell Brewery
In the southern harbour city of Bergen, 7 Fjell Brewery takes its name from the seven mountains that frame the city. Its beers draw on Bergen’s long history of welcoming people, trade and ideas from around the world, bringing together English brewing traditions with local Bergen rainwater.
Photo: Christoffer Meyer
Kinn Brewery
A little further north in Florø, you’ll find Kinn Brewery, founded by Espen Lothe. His home-brewing roots can still be felt in Kinn’s focus on open fermentation, bottle conditioning and classic beer styles.
Bådin Brewery
Bådin Brewery in Bodø brings a newer kind of northern craft to our menus. Founded in 2012 by an eclectic group of friends, the brewery has never been afraid to experiment with new flavours rooted in local culture. It’s why we worked with them to make our own Hurtigruten Seaweed Lager.
Photo: Stephen Lopez
Lofotpils
Further north still, Svolvær's Lofotpils brews crisp, clean pilsners with mountain water from Lofoten. You can learn more about their work on our Lofotpils Brewery excursion. If you’re sailing on MS Trollfjord and like the label artwork by Espolin Johnson on Lofotpils’ Trollfjord Pilsner, don’t miss the Espolin Johnson lounge where you can see more of his work.
Mack Brewery
In Tromsø, Mack Brewery has been part of Arctic life since 1877, and we’ve served its beer on our ships for almost as long as we’ve sailed the coast. Visit Tromsø with us and you can explore the brewery’s historic home, the city centre and Ølhallen, its much-loved beer hall, on our brewery tour excursion.
Svalbard Brewery
At 78° north – about as far north as you can brew – Svalbard Brewery makes beer shaped by the Polar Night, the Midnight Sun and life on the edge of the Arctic. Join our Svalbard Brewery excursion to see how they brew in one of the world’s most remote beer-making settings.
Mead and cider on board
On our Signature Voyages, you can try Skaldemjød, a mead crafted exclusively for Hurtigruten by Lofotpils and Bivrost. Made from water, yeast and honey, it's a rare chance to taste one of Norway's oldest drinks that was enjoyed by the Vikings, reworked for our ships.
On our Signature and Original sailings, you’ll also find a carefully chosen selection of Norwegian ciders on board. Look out for bottles from Hardanger, where apples grow beside the fjord and whose ciders have been dubbed the “Champagne of the fjords”. Bright, fresh and often gently sparkling, Norwegian cider is a natural match for seafood, cheese and long views from the ship.
Cocktails on board
Our cocktail menus reflect your voyage. On Original ships, you’ll find familiar classics alongside cocktails named for the ships themselves, often made with Norwegian spirits, fruit, herbs and bitters.
Among the Signature cocktails bespoke to MS Finnmarken you’ll find The Postman. It’s a nod to Hurtigruten’s postal route heritage, when our ships were the first to reliably carry post, cargo and people between the remote communities along Norway’s long coastline.
On MS Trollfjord, the Rissa cocktail is named for the place on Trondheimsfjord where MS Trollfjord was built, bringing the ship’s own story into the glass.
MS Midnatsol’s Svalbard cocktail looks north to the edge of the Arctic, with ingredients that reflect a place shaped by the Midnight Sun, the Polar Night and life close to the elements.
On Signature sailings, you can also get a deeper understanding of the ingredients, stories and techniques in drinks masterclasses.
Non-alcoholic drinks and mocktails on board
There’s plenty to enjoy without alcohol. Our 0% drinks and mocktail menus are given the same care as the rest of the bar list, with Nordic ingredients and a clear sense of place.
On Signature and Original Voyages, you’ll find alcohol-free drinks made with apples, berries, herbs and teas.
Signature sailings go even further with mocktail menus bespoke to your ship. Northern Lights pairs blueberry with clarified pear. Midnight Sun brings together cherry and sparkling acidity. Hardangerfjord is built around clarified apple, a nod to Norway’s best-loved fruit region.
You’ll also find alcohol-free sparkling wines, Norwegian juices and drinks from makers such as Ambijus and Sval. And, of course, there’s always coffee. Take time for kaffekos, the Norwegian habit of making coffee feel like a proper pause.
Bars on board
Like our drinks menus, our bars are designed to deepen your voyage along Norway’s coast, bringing Norwegian spirits, beers, wines and cocktails together with great views and expert bartenders who serve your drinks with a story.
1893 Bar
On Signature Voyages, 1893 Bar is where our Norwegian drinks story comes into its own. Named after the year Hurtigruten first sailed, the bar brings together more than 130 years of coastal history in its drinks menu. Try our Arctic Ocean-aged Havets Bobler sparkling wine, exclusive aquavit, gin from the Lyngen Alps or cocktails made from cloudberry, sea buckthorn, apple and herbs from the coast.
Explorer Bar
On Original ships, Explorer Bar is the place to settle in with a drink after a day ashore or a few quiet hours at sea. The menu includes international favourites, but the Norwegian selection is the reason to linger: Arctic gin and whisky, apple liqueur from Hardanger, local beer and an extensive range of aquavit.
What’s included?
Your drinks inclusions depend on whether you sail on our Original or Signature Voyages. Either way, you’ll have options, and you can always ask our onboard team what’s covered before you order.
On Signature Voyages
Our all-inclusive Signature Voyages always include a generous drinks package, with a wide choice of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks available during your sailing. Cocktail packages and premium drinks upgrades give you even more freedom to explore more of the bar menu.
On Original Voyages
Original sailings do not include drinks as standard, but you can choose from a range of add-on drinks packages. These cover a wide selection of wine by the bottle or wine by the glass, beer, cider, cocktails, spirits, soft drinks, juices, coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Non-alcoholic and food-and-drinks packages are also available on selected sailings.
Great hospitality is about more than service – it’s about creating genuine connections between people, place and experience. Our ambition is to bring the stories, flavours and character of the coast to life – connecting what’s in the glass to the places we sail and creating moments you’ll remember long after your journey.
Raise a glass to the coast
A drink on board can do more than pair with dinner or mark the end of the day. It can tell you more about where you are, connecting you more deeply to the people, places and cultures you experience on your voyage.
As you sail Norway’s coast, you can taste beer brewed with Arctic water, cider made from fjord-grown apples, aquavit shaped by northern botanicals, and wine aged beneath the sea you’re sailing across. Some drinks come from places you pass. Others come from people and producers you can meet on shore excursions.
So ask what’s local. Try something you haven’t had before. Let your glass bring you a little closer to the coast outside.
FAQs
Yes. The tap water in your cabin is potable, so bring your reusable water bottle and fill up whenever you like. It’s an easy way to stay hydrated while supporting our removal of unnecessary single-use plastics across our fleet.
Drinking alcohol in Norway can be expensive compared with many countries, largely because of taxes and regulated sales. Our drinks packages on Original Voyages and the all-inclusive nature of our Signature Voyages can help you keep tabs on costs.
This depends on whether you sail on an Original or Signature Voyage. On Original Voyages, drinks are not included as standard, but you can buy drinks individually or add a drinks package to your booking. On Signature Voyages, a generous selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks is included as part of your voyage.
On Signature Voyages, a wide range of drinks is included in your booking, so there’s no need to buy an all-inclusive drinks package. Cabin guests can choose to upgrade their drinks experience with various packages too; these are already included for Suite guests.
On Original Voyages, you can add a drinks package to your booking. Choose from alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks packages, including one bottle of wine per day.
Cabin bookings on our Signature Voyages include unlimited selected drinks in Flora and Brasserie Árran restaurants and 1893 Bar during opening hours. Suite bookings also include unlimited selected drinks in Røst restaurant and unlimited cocktails in the bar during opening hours.
On Original Voyages, you can choose from alcoholic, non-alcoholic and wine packages. Between them, they cover a wide selection of wine by the bottle or glass, beer, cider, cocktails, long drinks, spirits, soft drinks and juices. Non-alcoholic packages include a broad choice of soft drinks, juices, kombuchas, fruit wines, non-alcoholic beers and mocktails. Exact inclusions vary by package, so please check the details before you book.
Bar opening hours can vary according to the weather and, on Original Voyages, by ship. Generally, on Signature Voyages, the 1893 Bar is open from midday to late, depending on demand. On Original Voyages, Explorer Bar is open from 2.30pm until late, depending on demand. You’ll find the latest opening times on board.