Fizzy, delicious, addicting: snarøl

This traditional Christmas “beer” is also a refreshing brew for a summer’s day

Photo: Whitney Love
Snarøl combines a malted drink with sugar, yeast, and lemons, and the result is pure refreshment.

Whitney Love
Stavanger, Norway

I had snarøl, or “quick beer,” for the first time during my trip to Røros, Norway last month, and really fell in love with it. Essentially it’s a beverage made from an alcohol-free malt drink called vørterøl, plus sugar, fresh yeast and lemon.

Vørterøl is high in b-vitamins, so this drink has its health properties, in addition to being wonderful.

It’s likely that vørterøl is a mainstay from the days when Norway and Demark were one country as the largest producer of this stuff is in Denmark.

Vørterøl may be difficult to find in your area but most African, Caribbean and South American groceries carry this drink in their stock under various brand names.

Snarøl
3 liters (102 ounces) water
250g sugar
juice of ½ lemon
250 ml (1 cup) vørterøl, or any alcohol- and caffeine-free malted beverage
1 teaspoon fresh yeast

Add the water, sugar and lemon juice to a large pot and bring to a boil.

Once the water begins to boil, take it off the stove and allow it to cool for an hour.

After an hour, add in the vørterøl and yeast. Stir well until the yeast dissolves and then allow the mix to sit at room temperature for eight hours, or overnight.

Store the snarøl in the refrigerator. Be aware that it will have a slight carbonation to it, which will intensify the longer the “beer” sits due to the yeast.

Whitney Love is a cookbook author and blogger. She hails from Tucson, Arizona and is currently living in Stavanger, Norway. She runs the English language blog Thanks For The Food where she documents her love affair with Norway through the lens of traditional and modern Norwegian gastronomy. Find her online at thanksforthefood.com.

This article originally appeared in the Sept. 19, 2014 issue of the Norwegian American Weekly.