Master blender Ivan Abrahamsen and his team at Arcus has developed the perfect aquavit for cocktails. Thus, everything is set for a further development of the aquavit category internationally.
Aquavit, Norway’s national liquor is traditionally served neat together with food or beer. However, aquavit’s versatility in cocktails has lately been discovered by bartenders around the world, and has quickly gained recognition internationally. Today aquavit in cocktails has emerged in big cities like New York, London and of course Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen. As a response to the increasing demand of an aquavit for mixology, Arcus created Lysholm No52, especially composed to work well in cocktails.
– This actually turns out to be the greatest innovation within Norwegian aquavit in recent time, says Master Blender Ivan Abrahamsen. He hopes the new product eventually will become a permanent resident in bars and homes around the world.
Lysholm No52 is a fresh and complex aquavit, with a distinguished taste of citrus. It contains 11 different botanicals, including Norwegian caraway, star anise, coriander, bitter orange peels and ginger. The latter is not commonly used in aquavit, but gives Lysholm No52 its fresh spiciness, which is perfect when mixing cocktails. Compared with other Norwegian aquavits, No52 is more spicy and stronger in flavour as it has to pass through all the other ingredients in a cocktail.
– Compared to the Norwegian cask matured aquavits, No52 does not have the round, sweet oak flavours and vanilla notes you get through cask ageing, explains Master blender Ivan Abrahamsen.
Lysholm No52 is a tribute to Jørgen B. Lysholm, one of the great Norwegian innovators when it comes to spirits. Jørgen B. Lysholm has been a great inspiration for Arcus’ product developers when composing the recipe for the new aquavit. The recipe was number 52 in the series of recipes the team developed before the finding the right flavour, hence the name No52.
Try it yourself:
Aquatonic:
1 part Lysholm No52
2 parts tonic
Lemon or cucumber
Fill up a longdrink glass with ice. Pour in Lysholm No52 and fill up with tonic.
Rub a lemon or cucumber slice around the rim of the glass and put it into the glass. Stir and serve.
DRINKS ENTHUSIAST 