A lot of the questions you have boils down to alchohol not being available when most people would want it. That's the point. You're not supposed to buy alchohol while already intoxicated. This is especially true for christmas eve, which is the worst day of the year for children with alchoholic parents or family members.
These rules prevent nothing. We all know about it, we all plan around it. The only difference is that people stock up on alcohol because of this, so alcohol in Norway is usually more accessible due to the fact that you pretty much always have alcohol at home.
@@Raffalius I dont know anyone that stocks up on alcohol to "plan" around this, except during Hollidays, which is like 2 days in a row where the store is closed for alcohol sales. Other than that I think most people just manage to get their asses to the store between 9-20 or 9-18 on weekends, to buy their beer for the evening, and 10-18 or 10-16 if you want the booze. If people stock up, its the same reason as anywhere else, so they dont have to go to the store every time they want a glass of wine or w/e. Or the higher % booze which is usually something you have for a while.
@@genialefyr Most people i know have a basement etc where they stock up on alcohol. I guess it depends on where you live in Norway maybe. If you live in Oslo you probably live in a small apartment, and dont want to waste your space on alcohol.
@@Raffalius this is not correct. Going by the the average alkohol consumption pr capita in Norway, which is much lower compared with most industrialised nations. We have gone up compared to the average 1996 figures, but still much lower then Scandinavian nations, US, Canada, UK, Europe in general. So the law (however we would like to feel about it) does have an effect, but there’s also a comparable high focus on the challenging sides to alcohol consumption in and around family/kids etc. We also have a total ban on alcohol, tobacco and medicine commercials, which I very much approve of.
«You're planning a party and you're ten minutes late»..Pretty lousy planning if you ask me 😄 You missed the point though. «Should be open longer in the weekend so more people can buy». That's kind of the point, they don't want to sell more 😉 Nor do they need to, it's the state :D If you plan a party for weeks and don't buy the alcohol before the last day.. well, too bad you suck in planning 😄
Agreed. Honestly I like having a bottle around the house so so don’t need to go out and buy one anyway. The whole point is to prevent people who can’t prevent themselves from drinking the alcohol they have at home from getting more very easily.
The upside, is that Vinmonopolet is probably one of the best places in the world to buy alcohol. The staff is pretty knowledgeable, and the assortment of wares is excellent. You can also order and buy online and either pick it up at a store, or pay to have it delivered to your local post office, or directly home.
@@se6369 OS isn't saying that it is either, they are just pointing out an upside with the rules as they are. Personally I doubt creating a world class alcohol chain store was intended when the laws were made. I also want to add that for me, as a 24 year old Norwegian who sometimes enjoys alcohol in limited amounts Vinmonopolet, its opening hours, and the sale of 4.7-% in grocery stores works just fine. And Vinmonoplolet does have a great browsing experience, both in store, and online. They even offer tasting courses, and other courses teaching you about alcohol (like brewing, fermenting, and distilling).
@@MissCaraMint 1. you need to prove it prevents alcoholism 2. even if you do, it's still not a good reason, people can choose for themself if they want to drink or not. It's also a limitation on everyone
Much like in the US, Norway had prohibition too. Alcohol was a really big problem amongst the poorest ppl. the "Wine monopoly" AKA Vinmonopolet is a direct result of this. - You can buy alcohol (no stronger than 4,7%) in grocery stores until 8 in the evening on workdays (Monday-Fridays) and until 6 in the evening on Saturday and it's closed on Sundays. For every other stronger kind of alcohol you need to go to the "Wine monopoly"(closing 6 in the evening during weekdays and 3 on Saturdays, closed on Sundays). Other than that you could go to pubs/bars, but it's gonna be fairly expensive
they changed the saturdays and the day before holyday rules 2 years ago. its was from 8:30 to 15:00 before, now its from 10:00 to 16:00. 1 1/2 hour later in the morning, but 1 hour later than before for closing.
@@sebastianflesjandersen939 That is very true, it is literally watered down 4,7 %, was just to inform that it is possible, since most people dont even know about it.
Fun fact about the State-owned Wine Monopoly: Due to this one organisation is buying wine and liquers for a whole country they stand out in the market, they are actually the largest buyer in Europe, and they buy a lot and varied. They carry about 30.000 different products, though not all are in every store but can be ordered on-line and be collected at your local store.
If you ask me, Norwegians drink way too much, and having this controlled store is a good thing. Just seeing how everyone panicked when the stores closed down for a tiny bit during the beginning of covid, just proves how ridiculus the relationship woth alcohol is. It really is not that difficult; plan accordingly, and its all fine. And even going one evening with no alcohol wont kill you.
That would be a good argument (even if I disagree fundamentally with the premise that it's a good thing for Big Brother to decide when, where, and how much you can drink) only if it worked. It doesn't. Everybody knows this. The reason binge drinking is so common in Norway is precisely because the sale and consumption is so strictly regulated. The government has no legitimate interest in this kind of invasive, detailed regulation of people's lives.
Well if it wasn't so controlled, people would be much more relaxed about it. Ofc people can be upset, being 5 minutes late could end up ruining your dinner party on the weekend or whatever. The government should not interfere with your personal life or personal choices. I believe the government should only provide basic things like roads, healthcare and such and stop trying to be everybody's strict parents.
I think it’s far weirder that you have to be 21 to buy a bottle of beer in the US ... but are allowed to drive a car on your own when 16 and buy a gun when 18. Cars and guns ARE lethal when handled by young, unexperienced users. ;-)
As a Norwegian I rly like this arrangement. It forces people to plan ahead while they are sober. Sure, a lot of people have stuff stocked up, but the kind what will drink everything available when they're drunk tend to run out quite often and then won't be able to just stop by a store and drink themselves to death. Norwegians have a pretty out of control drinking culture, and I'm grateful for Vinmonopolet and the laws that keep things from being worse. I'm studying abroad in Hungary where there are no such limitations, and alcoholism is endemic
Sales in grocery stores is 8-6 weekdays and 8-15 on Saturdays, but only low alchol under 4.5% . Vinmonopolet is open 10-18 weekdays and 10-15 Saturday. Its mostly okay. A good thing is we get a lot of cool one-of-a-kind wines and such that a lot of small liquor stores could never get. Alchol as a luxury item is taxed high, so prices are high aswell. When you get healthcare from the government, the government has more of incentive to keep alchol and tobacco consumption lower for better overall population health. I think overall we are okay with this system, we complain about it ofcourse, but dont really want to change it is my feeling
Wrong! Alcohol sales up to 4,7% in grocery stores is from 8am to 8pm (08.00 - 20.00) on weekdays. 8am to 6pm in the weekend. For stronger alcohol Vinmonopolet is open from 10am to 6 pm on weekdays, and 10am to 4pm on the weekend👍
Most businesses close early on Christmas Eve in Norway, even the buses stop running at 4pm (only day of the year when that happens, all other holidays the buses still run fairly normally), so that most people possible can go home and celebrate with their loved ones. It's not just alcohol sales, and besides, it doesn't mean people can't have alcohol on days the stores are closed, they just need to plan for it.
It's also custom to have a "bar cupboard" at home. I find that many adults have lots of alcohol stored even if they don't drink as much. Literally bottles of different liqours, wine and champagne. So for a lot of adults who can handle their alcohol, they simply have a stockpile at home at all times for sudden opportunities or guests. It's also very common to gift bottles of wine for any occation. I just buy some alcohol I like at the supermarket and keep around so I never worry about missing the sale. Also we have a really great selection of ciders. When traveling I've never come across anything like the nordic ciders actually. Especially Sweden produces excellent ciders of wide variety and we consume a lot of it (at around $4-5 for 0.5 liters/16.9 oZ).
Judging from the ribbons some of them wear on their lapels - this must be the day before the 17th of May (major celebration). Together with Christmas this is the busiest days of the year for this type of store.
I think the opening hours until 3pm is a covid thing only. Normally it closes at 6 on weekdays and 4 on saturdays. Also, the short hours is mostly to prevent people from purchasing alcohol while inebriated. Since groceriy stores are not allowed to sell beer with more than 4.7% alcohol, they can keep the sale going a few hours longer.
I checked when the video was made. 19th of December 2014. Not covid times. Though I checked on Vinmonopolet´s website and my closest store closes at 16.00 on Saturdays now, not 15. So they must have changed something between the time the video was made and now.
Think of it this way; if you buy and use a lot of alcohol (whether it's an addiction or not) and you need health services due to your alcohol use, directly from the alcohol itself or accidents related to it, the tax money you pay to buy alcohol goes directly back to helping you deal with these issues. On top of that, the time regulations is just for your own benefit. It does not stop us from drinking though! xD Side note: the woman was counting the amount of people entering and exiting the store (probably during covid).
They're not really directly earmarked for that exact purpose, but yeah,..I think that's the reasoning behind it. Would've been interesting to see exactly where all income from taxes etc. goes in the "statsbudsjettet"😅
Maybe that's true in Norway, in Sweden all that money goes straight to immigration :DD Our motto is "never save your own, save everybody else in the most expensive way possible and shove your own people down in the dirt and if you don't agree you are the worst person alive and we are going to censor you because you, and then we are going to call you fascist." Alright I might have some supressed anger sorry xD
I understand that some find it annoying that you gotta buy the alcohol by 6PM on weekdays / 3PM saturdays unless any special holiday. At the same time i dont see the problem, plan ahead. You know when it closes, you know when your " planned " party is, just go buy it the day before. And if you are unable to go yourself during opening hours, ask a friend or family member. This really is a first world problem...
While it is more difficult to access alcohol in Norway it is also a good thing. It's not impossible or difficult. But you can't just decide eleven o'clock in the evening that you want beer. Alcohol sales closes doen around 8 o'clock in the evening for lighter beer in the stores and 6 o'clock in the Vinmonopolet (winemonopoly). The thought behind the strict times and regulations is based on the intoxicating effects alcohol has and for health and security we have some stricter alcohol sales laws in Norway. Stronger alcohol is strictly regulated and can only be sold in Vinmonopolet. This so at least we can have some controll over who buys alcohol and especially critical for children that have alcoholic parents around Christmas and other holidays. While Vinmonopolet is the only one who can sell certain types of alcohol it also has the best variety in brands and alcohol types in the world with thousands of different brands and types. You can also order online and pick it up at the shop if you want to. It's not as difficult as some may say as it is viable most of the times.
Many people complain, but those are often the ones that may be a bit on the dumber side and only buy alcohol the day when they need it. Those of us with a little bit of sense buy it in good time, and often keep a small storage of alcohol at home, so that we're always ready for a spontaneous party
If you suddenly feel like getting a pizza, you just go and buy one, or order some take-out. Why should it be any different with alcohol? Why should I have to plan ahead?
@@larsdahl6594 Because whereas pizza is food, alcohol is an addictive psychoactive drug, with harmful effects on both individuals and society, and for everyone to be able to go and buy alcohol whenever they feel like it is an easy way to end up with a society filled with alcoholics. I'm also certain that many would drive under the influence to acquire more alcohol if they were to run out during the evening, and had the option to buy more.
@@bjokvi91 And if you eat too much pizza, you become a morbidly obese person who eventually ends up in hospital. Who died and made you God to decide whether or not I should be able to enjoy "psychoactive" drugs? Alcohol is a socially acceptable "drug", if you like, that has been part of our culture for millennia. Give me one good reason (not just what you think or "feel") why the government should be the sole purveyor of said drug that you so strongly disapprove of. Kind of hypocritical that the same Big Brother that is so concerned about our well-being, is the only one allowed to supply us with the dreaded poison.
@@larsdahl6594 Eating too much pizza is not addictive, and one person having eaten too much pizza does not directly harm others. Who said it's my decision..., i'm just pointing out a reason for things being the way they are. No, i don't disapprove of alcohol, not at all, and i never said that, once again i'm just pointing out a reason. That so called Big Brother also pays your hospital bills, and the hospital bills of everyone suffering from alcohol addiction or that are harmed by alcohol in other ways, so for harmful substances to be regulated is a reasonable compromise, given that prohibition has been proven to be a terrible solution.
@@bjokvi91 Big Brother does NOT pay my hospital bills (nor yours). Where do you think that money comes from? It was ours to begin with, and the health care we receive in return is mediocre at best. Your argumentation is very poor, you have an immature understanding for how the world works. You do however show a disturbing appreciation for authoritarianism. Du er bare en liten diktatorpode som liker å bestemme over andre, som tror din moral er bedre enn andres. #LetsGoBrandon
Raising prices and regulating time is an attempt to make alcohol a treat, and not an escape, and although yes it's a buisness so it makes money, the policies try to operate against substance abuse instead of trying to make more money. It's strict, but it does have merit. Also it's not a new thing by any stretch, you're considered either ignorant or just a baffoon if you're consistantly rushing in at the last second. It is annoying to be sure, and for the most dedicated people you can still get lots and lots of alcohol, but having it so buying liquor and other alcohol an active mental choice instead of a passive walking down the grocery store isle and throw in a case or 2 because it's routine kind of thing, is pretty nice. I think the idea that it makes people think a little more about it, is the actual beneift to all the rigmarole, even though it's super annoying when you really want some and forgot all about getting it ahead of time.
A friend of mine was buying two sixpacks on a saturday when the alcohol sale ends at 18:00 (6pm). He got to the register at 17:59 and managed to scan one, but when the clerk scanned the other one it was 18:00 and wad denied. So he went home with one sixpac of beer. 😂
You have to be 18 years old to buy alcohol (wine, beer) but 20 to purchase hard liquor (anything with an alcohol content of 22%). Most bars and clubs have an age restriction, usually 20-21 years of age. Grocery stores sell beer and cider but are not permitted to sell anything above 4.7% alcohol content, and are only allowed to sell alcohol before 8 PM on weekdays and before 6 PM on Saturdays and not at all on Sundays and some holidays including Ascension Day, the eves of Christmas and New Year, Easter, Pentecost, and the public holidays 1st and 17th of May and on voting days at both the national and local levels. Liquor, wine, strong beers and ciders (i.e. anything stronger than 4.7%), is sold through the state-run Vinmonopolet (literally, the wine monopoly) shops. There are 337 Vinmonopolet shops (as of Jan 1 2021) in Norway. The monopoly shops generally close at 6 PM on weekdays and 3 PM on Saturdays. Check the opening times for individual stores.
It’s becouse it was Saturday that they close early. Weekdays they close at 6 PM. This was also recorded right before Christmas when it’s extra busy. Btw. You can buy beer until 8 PM in the grosery store at weekday 6 PM on Saturdays
From Wikipedia; "Vinmonopolet is a Norwegian limited company owned by the state at the Ministry of Health and Care. The company has a national monopoly on retail sales of wine, spirits and strong beer. That is, beverages with a higher alcohol content than 4.75%" Any alcohol lower that that, like regular beer, can be purchased at supermarkets.
Liquor stores in Pennsylvania (U.S.) are state owned. The employees are state employees. They're all called "Wine and Spirits" but we always called them "the State Store" coming up. Beer is sold out of bars or at stores licensed to sell beer, bottled wine can only be purchased at the wine and spirit stores and no alcohol is sold in supermarkets.
What they was trying to tell, is that beer up to 4,7% alcohol can be bought in regular stores. All stronger beer, wine and liqour must be bought at Vinmonopolet. Regular stores can sell beer until eight on weekdays, and six on saturdays. Vinmonopolet has shorter opening hours, and is 100% owned by the state.
Fun Fact; Very few include alcohol in any party around Christmas in Norway. Or at least they try to wait until the kids are asleep, and we take it very casual. Correct me any fellows if I'mm wrong
Depends. Some don’t drink at all in front of the kids, some make an effort to model healthy drinking habits by showing that you can have a glass of wine with dinner without having to get drunk. Depends on the approach. My parents did the latter. Worked pretty well actually. Neither me or my brother are big drinkers today.
Norway used to have a huge problem with alcoholism back when this was instituted. I live in a town where statistics indicate about 10% of the population have a drinking problem, granted this town is near the top of that statistic. So the idea is that if you can't manage your life well enough to manage to get there in time... They also aren't allowed to sell you alcohol if you are obviously intoxicated. Anything at 5% alcohol or less can be sold in grocery stores. Bars, discos, restaurants, etc. do ofc serve alcohol... at a profit. They also are also not allowed to serve you if you seem to be drunk and those rules are a bit strict. Ofc there is a serving shut off time; 2:30 AM, which can be regulated by the individual municipality and since party poopers always come to power somewhere, local cut off can be earlier than 2:30 AM. The age limit is 18 for anything that has an alcohol level of less than 22% and 20 years for 22% and up. Alcohol content above 60% is considered a restricted substance (though not under the narcotics laws) and is treated as such in customs! Do f.x. not take Jamaican 80% rum through customs! Since it is illegal to import without a special permit you will be prosecuted for smuggling! Separate rules govern industrial, medicinal, and utilitarian alcohol ofc. Vinmonopolet is technically a private company but the health department owns all the shares. Most other state owned shares are owned through the department of commerce. Alcohol is heavily taxed. The tax varies with the type of alcohol, but in most cases it is between 50 cents and slightly more than a dollar per percent per liter. For hard liquor f.x. it is NOK 8.22 x amount% x amount Liter, so almost 73 dollars for two liters of a 48% liquor just in taxes. Add the price of the product and 25% sales tax on top of that. Other taxes on some types of packaging and in some cases environmental taxes may also apply before the sales tax is added. Hence.. you need a lot of money to purchase alcohol; trying to make it impossible to be an alcoholic. This does ofc result in smuggling, both privately and through organized crime. There is however a legal quota you can bring across the border for personal use.
Beer and cider up to 4.7% are sold in regular supermarkets, all alcoholic drinks above that are only sold at Vinmonopolet. Vinmonopolet is open until 6pm Monday to Friday and 3pm Saturday. closed on Sunday. You can buy alcohol in the supermarket until 8pm Monday to Friday and until 6pm Saturday Ju must be 18 to have alcohol up to 21% and 20years to buy stronger than that
Mate we have cellars of alcohol. Especially for Christmas. The people that are prevented the most from drinking are the youth. They usually only buy enough for one party at a time, I assume financial reason. And this also makes them plan for it ahead of time. Meaning that in theory they decide how much to drink while sober, which help reduce over drinking. My parents have a wine fridge upstairs and a alcohol cellar downstairs for the stronger stuff. My grandparents have a wine cellar with other spirits aswell. We have never had a problem with Christmas Eve alcohol 😂 also stores in general are closed on red days, we already plan our food purchase etc ahead of time because of this. Would actually be weird if alcohol was exempt from this.
We can by beer from 08 AM to 08 PM on weekdays, 08 AM to 06 PM Saturdays in regular stores. On Sundays everything is closed. Everything above 4,7% is regulated by the "Vinmonopol", usually open from 10 AM to 5 or 6 PM in weekdays, 10 AM to 15 PM on Saturdays.
The alcohol shop is open to 6 pm on monday to friday, but beer can be bought to 8 pm. on saturday the alcohol shop close 3 pm, and beer can be bought to 6 pm, that is more than enough time to buy what you plan to drink that d ay or weekend, very few people here complain over this rules. And its good gor the people , so that they just cant go alcohol even when they are drunk at night ;)
Grocery store can sell alcohol up to 4,7% alcohol. And only in government approved times. 8-20 on weekdays and 8-18 on Saturday. On sundays the sale of alcohol is closed everywhere. In Vinmonopolet (a government owned liquor sales point) is the only place you can buy alcohol containing stronger than 4,7%. They are open 10-18 on weekdays and 10-16 on saturdays. On holidays alcohol sales are prohibited. Sales is normal on Election Day, it used to be closed. Not anymore. Sometimes the sale closes early the day before a holiday also. This varies from county to country.
When I was younger I thought this was a pain, but nowadays I am OK with it. All it takes is some planning, and one can buy bear or cider in the regular stores :) The GOOD thing about it is that there is a flat tax on ABV (Alcohol By Volume). When there is a release of good quality red wine (for instance) they are not priced by demand but by ABV, and what it cost to purchase for Vinmonopolet. This leads to people traveling from neighbouring countries to buy new release of wine since it is cheaper than when adding popular demand to the equation. Not sure if that made any sense, but I have come to like Vinmonopolet.
There is actually studies that shows that selling alcohol just in one place, keeps the consumption down. Where i live we didn't allow selling alcohol in grocery stores either a few years ago, there was a own store for alcohol under 4.7%. When we finally allowed selling beer and things like that in the store, the consumption went up and never came down to the same level and number of alcoholics went up. As a alcoholic once told me "before it was easy to just avoid the stores where they sold alcohol, but now it's hard to stay away when it's in your face every time you are buying groceries".
You was wondering if Vinmonopolet was really run by the government, and yes it is. Matter in fact, it is under the Ministry of Health and Care Services. There is usually a least one store in each municipality and in some of the bigger ones they have multiple ones. An important thing is that they are not allowed to have a big profit. So that has some strange effects. Cheap and poor wine get kind of expensive because of taxes. But really expensive wine can be cheaper in Norway than in many other countries because they don't add any profit. Another thing is that since the store has exclusive rights to sell alcohol in Norway they are really big customers on the world market. If there is something you want and they don't have it in the store, they can order it. Almost anything. If you live more than 30 km from the nearest Vinmonopolet you can order alcohol and get it delivered to your door without paying for the delivery. There is a limit of 750 kg (around 600 bottles) but still...
Really, so it's not allowed to store alcohol in your own home either? Rules like this does not work. At all. Anyway I am British and in this house we have "drunk in front of the kids" since day one. My kids have never seen me drunk though, maybe it's a very Norwegian problem that you have to get drunk every time you drink? I live in UK, and here we have spirits in even petrol stations if you really need to buy it the same time as you fill up your car. Also of course in every shop regardless how big the shop is and in most restaurants etc. In Norway it's more restricted, but when I am in Norway I don't find it difficult to buy alcohol, you just adjust to the different rules and make sure you buy it according to that, it's no problem with it. The purpose of restricting it is to try to limit consumption, not for so called normal people but for people that might have a problem. But how efficient is is? Not sure at all. Also to drive after drinking in Norway is very restricted, with only 0.025% alcohol allowed in your blood so you can hardly drink one beer in Norway if you want to drive legal. In UK this limit is more than 4 times higher at 0.08%. Still it's no more deaths in traffic in UK because of selling alcohol at petrol stations (yes I HAVE looked up the relevant statistics, even if most Norwegians refuse to believe it!) and having a 4 times + higher limit so I think the restrictive rule sin Norway has NO influence on the drink related problems so I think the rules are silly and not necessary. Another thing is that when I go to a typical pub in UK I hardly see anyone that is "drunk", but when going to a typical Norwegian pub you see it all the time. Maybe the restrictive rules actually has the opposite effect. I go to Norway at least once a year and has done for over 20 years so I was always a bit puzzled by the extreme views on this by Norwegians. For example in UK it's regarded as perfectly safe to have one or two pints in the pub with or without food and then drive home but in Norway many Norwegians would look at you in total disgust just by discussing such a proposal so I conclude Norwegians are very weird regarding this subject.
@@truxton1000 You can have alcohol in your house. It's not Saudi Arabia It's just the shop is shut on holidays. You can have as much alcohol at home as you like.
@@sandersson2813 Yes I know, so the politics about closing early does not really work then in terms of "stopping abuse", maybe you stop ONE case of abuse, but in the meantime annoy 1 million people. And before you say "just that one person helped" makes it justifiable: in that case you should stop people from buying it at all as that would be the ultimate sacrifice, right?
@@truxton1000 It's no different to Oddbins or any other off licence being shit on a Sunday or Bank holiday. You can't buy alcohol in Scotland before 11am on a Sunday either, it's just a stupid rule. Doesn't actually stop anyone, and if you're desperate, you can still buy beer in a supermarket I think you are reading too much into it. You can't go to a bank on a bank holiday either. It's no big deal.
There is not a Vinmonopol at every place or town in Norway, so you can have them send you alcohol through the mail, so you can get it at the local post office, or store that have postal services (There is not alot of towns with their own postoffice, then usually some stores have the same service). The trick is however that they can't give you the package outside the openinghours of the Vinmonopol, even that the postal service at like here the store is open to 8 pm... so they can't give you the package from Vinmonopolet at like 7 pm monday if you have a package waiting from them.
It is NOT hard to get alcohol in Norway! Most of the time people know when they have to be at the counter with the alcohol they want to buy, whether it be in a regular store (Beer and cider up to 4,75 %) or Vinmonopolet for everything stronger than 4,75 %.
From 8 - 23 you can buy beer in a grocery store up until 4.7%. Monday to friday. Closes 6 on saturday. Vinmonopolet opens at 10 -18 monday to friday. Closes 3 on saturday. Also its legal to brew your own beer. (Strong beer,if you want to)But not any booze.
Hold on! Vinmonepolet is open until 18.00 on weekdays and 16.00 on Saturdays, closed on Sundays! I am 60 years old myself and have never had problems buying what I have needed!
One can think it is rediculus to limit the hours during the day in which you can buy alcohol, or the fact that anything above 4,7% can only be sold at our wine monopoly (Vinmonopolet), but the fact is that alcohol related illnesses in Norway (especially from long-term use) and Sweden (which operates under this model) is far lower that Italy, France, Russia etc. where alcohol is widely available at all hours. Our average alcohol consumption is lower due to inaccessibility and price :) And its not like you -cannot- buy alcohol. You just have to...plan for it. Buy what you like and stockpile it at home...
The liquor store in Norway - there is only one - Vinmonopolet, it means "Wine Monopoly" is fully owned by the Norwegian government. Specifically the Health and Welfare department. That is why the opening hours and price structures are so strange and counter intuitive. Their goal is not to sell the most product as possible, but to make sure alcohol consumption in Norway stays at a healthy level. You can only buy session beer in the grocery stores - no stronger than 4.7% ABV. This is why many Norwegians go on what we call "Harrytur" to our neighbour countries like Denmark or Sweden, where alcohol is a lot more affordable and easy to buy - well in Sweden it is actually harder than in Norway, you can only buy beer at 3.5% ABV in their stores - they also have a wine monopoly for stronger stuff. That is why we usually take a two hour cruise to Sweden, and buy duty free alcohol on the boat. In Denmark alcohol is as accessible as in the US, you can buy it everywhere.
You can buy beer and some spirits up to a certain percent in grocery stores up to 8 in the evening on weekdays and 6 on saturday, but if you want harder spirits, booze and liquor you have to go to Vinmonopolet, (and yes, it's state run) which is open to 6 in the weekdays and 3 on saturday. There are a couple of reasons for the limited hours, but one worth mentioning is because of public health awareness, as the state wants to limit the possibility of alcohol abuse. The only other place you can buy booze is at bars, which you can buy untill 3 in the middle of the night, but its expensive.
Most liquer-stores in the smaller cities at least closes around 03:30pm, in grocery stores you can buy beer, wine coolers and cider all at around 4,5% vol/alc. Grocery stores closes their beer etc sale at 07:30 pm in working days i believe, and 06:00 pm at saturdays, closed at sundays. If you don't mind crossing the law, the moonshine blows your mind, and i never minded too much =D
Here in Poland it is really rare to see a grocery store without any alcohol. Most of them don't survive long as this is a highly competitive market. Simply put grocery shops without alcohol usually just go out of business. Also any big supermarket in Poland has a vodka section as big as this whole Norwegian alcohol store. Not to mention there are other sections for beer, for wine and cider, and other. Then there are also dedicated alcohol stores. Some of them are these exclusive galleries with all the international alcohol you can possible think off which are great when you look for a present. However the most typical alcohol store is a small one that is run 24/7 and has the most popular and the cheapest brands for your everyday alcoholic. And at last if everything fails than all gas stations in Poland sell alcohol, are open 24/7 and you can find them in the most rural places. What you might find interesting is that all of the mentioned stores sell tiny vodka bottles of 100ml and 200ml. Usually consumed within the first 50 steps when walking away from the store. Alcohol is not a problem in Poland, our alcohol coverage is almost as good as the reception of 4G mobile Internet. There is always something within the walking distance. And if you are too shitfaced to walk you can call always a taxi and the driver will get you a bottle to the door, although it is at least twice the price. Recently even Glovo, the food transportation company will go and get the alcohol to your doorstep. And if you are younger than 18 years old than you better have an older friend.
13:10 You would think people could go earlier, but you would be surprised how many people dont seem to understand the point of a closing hour. There is a vinmonopolet near where I work. And in the middle of covid when I got off work 30 minutes before they closed there would ALWAYS be a line out of the store, through the mall, up the stairs, out the main doors to the mall and 50 or so meters down the road. And I'm not even joking. The thing is people complain about the closing hours for buying alcohol is the problem. But you see the exact same problem with normal stores. People always ruch to the store 5 minutes before it closes to buy the stuff they need even tho they had the whole day. And I get it some people work late, I get it, I work until midnight myself. But you know what? I plan ahead, so I go to the store the day before to buy dinner for the next day. Or I go before I got to work. It literally isnt that hard. Even for christmas and other days its closed. Go the day before, or two, or three, or a week or two before and the "problem" is solved. And for the thing with closing earlier on Saturdays and not open on Sunday when more people want to buy more alcohol. Thats the point. So people wont go out and buy more when they are already drunk. Thats one less stupid thing you can do when drunk. And no "but people could just stock up before so it doesnt help" isnt a good agrument. People obviously have a problem with it so it obviously is doing domething. Also if you can "just stock up".... then do it and you wont have a problem I also think the strict rules is a big part of why we can buy some alcohol at 18 in Norway. You can see it reflected in bars where many of them have a age limit at 21 or higher to get in. Meaning in a bar where you can buy alcohol all day an into the night there is a higher age limit, while places where there is a time limit there is a lower age limit. Again, this makes it harder to make dump choices when you are drunk especially for younger people
"wouldn't you want the alcohol to be on sale longer" well yes ofcourse... If profits are your focus. Forcing their sober selfs to plan means they decide how much they will drink while sober. Instead of drunkenly walking into the stora and going I'm not THAT drunk one more bottle won't hurt
It’s open 10.00- 18.00 mon-fri, and 10.00-15.00 sat. You can buy beer at the local groseries. It’s to reduce risk of impulse alcohol shopping. The health care is free, so I think it’s suitable they have regulations for health benefits. You can buy alcohol before events if you plan a little bit further than the next 10 minutes🤪 you know this guy, he is making a comic twist to all his reaction videos😂
I just stock up on the things I like and have a few bottles. It really isn't that difficult, it's ever so slightly annoying to plan, but not more than that I go mid-week or whatever. On the flip side, being government owned, vinmonopolet doesn't mark up the alcohol, so if you enjoy low alcohol stuff that is normally expensive (eg. fine wine), due to them purchasing for an entire country, they get better price from the producers, which means we get the product at that price + tax, the tax raises with the alcohol volume, hence why fine wine can be cheaper here than elsewhere. A fun example was a wine a friend got for me in France, was over 50€ in France, but when I got home and found it here, I paid under 30€ for the same bottle, as it was a part of their standard selection of wines.
They have great non alcoholic options for people who don’t drink too. It’s pretty nice actually. It feels way more expensive and special than just having to get a soda at the grocery store if you don’t/can’t drink.
if you think norwegians can't buy things such as beers "easily" then you haven't been paying attention however strong spirits / booze such as cognac, wine, whiskey etc and special branded beers that's the ones you most likely have to go to the Vinmonopolet, but if you are a simple guy when it comes to alcohol who drinks beers pretty much grocery stores will do pretty okay depending on which store you chose to go to has diffrent imported / exported beers.. ofc depening on the situation you having with if it's a big celebration. it's up to you what you wanna get, Norwegian Vinmonopol doesn't always have the abillity to find those "rare" bottles of for example Conor McGregor's Proper 12 whiskey
When I like a drink, I just go down to my basement, and I have this bar there...You can also get booze in the post/mail... And of course, in a pub and on ferries going thru international waters, you can easier buy alcohol there. But that means you will have to take this mini cruise...
Statistics has shown that the availability deside how many people get addicted or not. It the most important factor. You must plan when to buy and if you plan, then your not addicted...
You think the wine monopoly should be open longer in the weekends because people are out partying. But that is the precise reason why it closes earlier; you are supposed to buy your alcohol while you're sober. We recognize that alcohol is one of the most dangerous drugs that people use. The good thing about having a state monopoly, is all employees in all stores are educated in wine and spirits, so you can ask deep questions and get very good answers. They also have an online store where you can get pretty much any wine or spirits in the world delivered. Also, the best wines are sold to the early bird; there are no auctions.
Norwegians who have been on vacation and had a good time often want to buy some alcohol to bring home with them, this could be wine from Italy or maybe a bottle of Irish whiskey. We are allowed 3 bottles of wine, if we bring 4 bottles we have to pay tax to the government. You are allowed one bottle if whiskey, then you have to pay tax on everything else you bring in to the country. Swedish people are basically allowed more than they can carry tax free, but not us Norwegians
Like the norwegian guy said in the beginning.. it is a similar thing in Sweden. The only place to buy stronger beer or wine or anything with alcohol - the only place to go is SystemBolaget. In Denmark it is quite different though.. more like in the States, I guess..
Yes, the government does own the liquor store. Which is not surprising, because we have a mixed economy and the government owns (and own large shares) of the biggest companies in the country. Yes, it's a bit over the top. I barely ever drink, but most norwegians need alcohol to get through the weekend so I can understand why this can be frustrating. You usually see loooong lines of people outside Vinmonopolet at the start of the weekend (and people line up early to get a hold of it).
A major factor is that they don’t want to promote the sale of alcohol. There are never 2 for 1 and the stores have strict rules on how they are setup in order to not have products be more promoted than others. A mom and pop will place a 2 for 1 on a liquor bottle to sell more which the government wants to avoid.
I don't really see this as a big issue. It can of course be inconvenient if you've forgot something, but it's not difficult to get what you want if you observe the opening hours - as you would with a lot of other things. The upside is the quality of the selection, and the competent people in the stores. And because of the 'market power' with suppliers of the store, you can get high quality expensive stuff relatively cheap (accounting for the high taxes, of course...).
Vinmonopolet is actually quite nice about it, If you show up at the cashier at 6pm on a saturday with beer in your cart at the grocery store it will be confiscated as they are not allowed to sell it past 6pm.
This video is not correct. You can buy alcohol from 8h till 20h in the evening in regular stores and 24/7 in pubs. But alcohol is super expensive. 100nok for a glass of beer in a pub will properly be our cheapest option and a minimum of 50nok for a bottle of beer in a shop. So poor people can't really effort alcohol and visitors from other countries are shocked 😨
First of, in grocery stores u can only get beer & cider up to 4,7% alc, the rest u have to buy at Vinmonopolet(liquor store). It has been like this for many many years so i am used to it, you know the opening hours so if u want alcohol, you'll get there in time, if not, so be it, then u are not eager enough, simply enough. when we get to like denmark or germany where u can buy liquor at grocery stores and beer at gas stations we just shake our heads coz that is just strange for us coz we are not used to it. but i dont drink or smoke anymore so now i literly couldnt care less about it. :P
Really? Sounds Soviet to me. I live in UK, and here we have spirits in even petrol stations if you really need to buy it the same time as you fill up your car. Also of course in every shop regardless how big the shop is and in most restaurants etc. In Norway it's more restricted, but when I am in Norway I don't find it difficult to buy alcohol, you just adjust to the different rules and make sure you buy it according to that, it's no problem with it. The purpose of restricting it is to try to limit consumption, not for so called normal people but for people that might have a problem. But how efficient is is? Not sure at all. Also to drive after drinking in Norway is very restricted, with only 0.025% alcohol allowed in your blood so you can hardly drink one beer in Norway if you want to drive legal. In UK this limit is more than 4 times higher at 0.08%. Still it's no more deaths in traffic in UK because of selling alcohol at petrol stations (yes I HAVE looked up the relevant statistics, even if most Norwegians refuse to believe it!) and having a 4 times + higher limit so I think the restrictive rule sin Norway has NO influence on the drink related problems so I think the rules are silly and not necessary. Another thing is that when I go to a typical pub in UK I hardly see anyone that is "drunk", but when going to a typical Norwegian pub you see it all the time. Maybe the restrictive rules actually has the opposite effect. I go to Norway at least once a year and has done for over 20 years so I was always a bit puzzled by the extreme views on this by Norwegians. For example in UK it's regarded as perfectly safe to have one or two pints in the pub with or without food and then drive home but in Norway many Norwegians would look at you in total disgust just by discussing such a proposal so I conclude Norwegians are very weird regarding this subject.
Norway has strict rules for what time of day you can buy alcohol. For beer, which can be sold at regular grocery stores, those times is somewhat up to the store to decide (Within reason) 2:58 "Vinmonopolet" is a chain of stores owned by the government through the Health & Welfare department. 9:10 That is not unusual. a lot of stores here in Norway have shorter opening hours on the week-ends. Just because you're going to a party isn't a valid excuse for having longer opening hours. You should have done your shopping earlier. 10:33 If you're at a mall with a "Vinmonopolet" on the 23rd of December, or before any other major holiday, you'll probably see a long queue of people going there. 11:54 If you're planning a trip, and plan on drinking, then you should plan to buy alcohol ahead of time. 13:07 They sell beer in grocery stores, and some might have non-alcoholic wine. I can also say, as a previous store employee, that some people are REALLY familiar with the alcohol sale times.
Revolutionary. It’s not like you l have 5 full business days plus some of Saturday to get alcohol for a weekend party or anything. Truely a great mind.
During one of the lockdowns, Oslo closed its liquor stores. People were really mad - we Norwegians love our alcohol, and I bet you we drink even more and go even harder out than you guys. Yeah, the capacity of the neighbouring cities' liquor stores during that lockdown was insane. I've never seen a line of people so big to get into a liquor store.
Not buying alcohol on christmas is not just about not wanting people to be drunk, but is also about that people is not supposed to work unless it is necessary, like healthcare workers, on holidays. If you work on holiday you have to get paid more, and vinmonopolet is government run...
I don't care, I mean it's open until six in the evening on weekdays... and we have beer and stuff in the grocery store, but that sale end at eight on weekdays and six on Saturdays. I'm used to it so I really don't mind
"She won't let these two poor guys in, just because their two minutes late?" Why would they let in more people after closing hours? The only reason the door isn't closed on the dot, is because they have to process and let out the customers who have flooded the store JUST before closing - because this is a Saturday (they close later in workdays), and people are rushing to get the weekend drinking supplies they very easily could have gotten the rest of the week. I have no problem with the way this is done. As an American, I'm sure you find this to be a "horrible government overreach", but it's really for people's own good. Sure, it sometimes makes that party you've planned less "fun", but how well did you really plan it, if you've waited until 3 o'clock on the day to get the booze and wine...? It's mostly about restricting access to strong alcohol to people who have already started drinking, which happens more in the late afternoon or at night or in the weekends, to buy more strong alcohol (because we tend to just want more to drink when we're on a bender). So when you're asking "wouldn't it make sense to keep the stores open longer when people would want to buy more?", the opposite is really the goal. Bottomline; alcohol IS readily available at MUCH of the time in Norway (this guy is just cranking things up on purpose, picking a busy Saturday just before closing for the "shock value"), but the goal is to not have people overindulge, like they could in the past. You can of course go to a restaurant or bar in the evenings and get liquor and wine there, but they can cut you off if you are overly drunk. (And OF COURSE we have alcohol on Christmas, by buying it beforehand, just like you're saying Americans do. Just like we would shop other things for Christmas beforehand. The point is not to have 24/7 access to alcohol, so people don't drink more when they are already drunk, which is when we often are the most 'thirsty'. ) (Also, important sidenote about the election day rule; most people here, unlike in the US, get election day off from work, in order to go vote. In order to stop people from using that day to just party instead, alcohol is not sold in stores that day.)
16:54 yeah... this happens in Norway too...not that I know anything about that, hah But yeah, Vinmonopolet has little signs on the liquor shelves stating the minimum age (20) so that it is clear what you can or cannot buy. And the times the store is open are often written on a wall by the entrance. I have sometimes just forgotten the time and walked there to see the store closed. Regular grocery stores also close off the alcohol (weaker alcohol) when it hits 8 or 6 so that it is obvious that it can´t be bought. It gets annoying, especially if I forget the time and come too late, but hey, its smart. It makes you really think if you actually need that bottle of rum or wine with those prices and hours. It hinders some impulse buying, too.
It"s for health reasons and due to the dangers of heavy alcohol usage and derpession during the lon dark winters. Basically you can buy stronger alco in this state-governed store chains. But you can still buy beers and ciders whenevetr and wherever. And its heavily taxed and expensive. But again, isnt it the same with cigarettes? Cigarettes would be pretty cheap without heavy taxation, mainly due to health concerns. Well, both about trying to steer people to consume less of certain products. In Hungary alcohol is available whenever, wherever, but buying cigarettes only can be done in the tobacco shops heavily regulated, with all the same appearance. Also sugar tax/junk food tax for heavily sugared fizzy drinks is for the same reason.
couple of facts, you are allowed to make things like beer, or regular wine at home, but cant sell it or make it stronger (illigal) you can also buy alcohool at bus and resturants afther the 8 and 6 pm. but cant bring it with you. i dont think mc donalds and burger king sells alcohool at all here, and the same with movie teaters. but things like domino pizza (dont think we have a lot of those, one of the big one here in norway is "pizzabakeren" and "pepes pizza" do sell alcohool for consumption in the resturant.
Yes, technically it is the Health Department (Helse- og omsorgsdepartementet) which own all the shares (stock) in AS Vinmonopolet. The sale is controlled for health reasons, which is also why alcohol advertising is forbidden. But the people who work there take pride in knowing a lot about their products.
Grocery-stores sell beer/cider under 4,7% alcohol. 08-20 on weekdays, 08-18 on saturdays. Wine Monopoly (anything above 4,7%) is open 09-18 on weekdays (some close at 17 mon-wed), and saturdays are open from 10-16 now. Sundays and Bank-Holidays are always closed. What he mentioned about election-days and such only goes for the liquor-store. Can still get beer from stores. An argument behind the restricions is that they don’t want us to be able to buy more last-minute, or when already drinking. (Which is stupid, as it’s illegal to buy while intoxocated/sell to intoxicated people anyway.) So basically; stock up WELL in advance, or run out. Those are our options.
Yeah, it's a pain in the ass, I understand why it is there, it's a pain in the ass to make you buy less and to not serve the intoxicated. Still, closing at 15 on a Saturday has always been agitating when you got shit to do. Yeah, I'll admit that U.S was very strict with the age limit when I went there(I was 19 at the time), had already been drinking for a year legally, but I couldn't even get a budlight anywhere.
And yes, everything over 4.7% has to be sold by the government owned "Vinmonopolet" or at the right time in the day by government approved pubs, bars and discoes.
It's not "difficult to buy" alcohol in Norway, but the rules are somewhat comprehensive and *difficult to remember*. You are not supposed to stock up last minute, or during a party when you run out. You have to plan a head. Maybe stock your liquor cabinet and beer/wine cellar in case of unexpected impulse parties. 22% acohol or more, is 20 years old to buy. Less than 22% is 18 years old. Anything above 4.7% is only available in government owned "Vinmonopolet" (literally = wine monopoly) 4.7% or less can be sold through regullar stores. Stores needs a permit from the local government to legally sell alcohol. Usually it is easy to get, but you lose it if you break the rules. Some councils used to prefer dedicated beer stores (beer monopoly) in their municipality, either owned privately or by municipality. The last beer monopoly was ended in 2012. More than 2.5% alohol is subject to government controlled hours, generally from 8 am: Until 18 pm during week days Until 15 pm on "day before Sundays" (aka Saturdays), and days before religious holidays. Closed on Sundays, on religious holidays, on 1st of May (labour's day), on 17th of May (constitution day) and election days. 0.7-2.5% alcohol can be sold during normal opening hours, but still at least 18 years old to buy. Less than 0.7% is considered "alcohol free", regarding age limits and opening hours.
"Vinmonopolet" means "The wine monopoly". It's the only monopoly in Norway. And yes, it is owned by the state. They are the only store that are allowed to sell drinks containing more then 4,7% alcohol. (Bars and restaurants can also sell drinks, and they can do it 24/7) Normal stores can sell beer or premixed drinks (max 4,7%) until 20:00. When you are 18 years old you can buy alcohol up to 21,9%. When you are 20 you can buy up to 60%. Anything over 60% is illegal. Almost every store is closed on Sundays. Norway has a law that says that only small stores are allowed to be open on Sunday. There are a few exceptions. This makes it natural that Vinmonopolet is closed too. That said, the small stores that are open, can't sell beer on Sundays anyway. But this dose not mean Norwegians don't drink! We drink a lot
Here's some more random facts :) Legal drinking age in Norway for alcohol up until 4.7% alcohol is 18, and anything stronger is 20 years. For driving cars is also 18, 21 for driving big trucks. 16 for sex, except if you're about the same age yourself, then your partner can be a bit younger. You need to be 18 to marry. You can't buy guns in Norway, except if you are above 18 and have a permit. You can't get a permit unless you have a valid reason to have a gun. "Personal protection" is not a valid reason in Norway, so in practice, you will have to be an active member of a gun club or you want to get a license for hunting, or if you work as a police officer. Police training in Norway is minimum 3 years. If you want to work as a security guard, you can't carry a gun, and that's still at least 3 months of training to become one. Probably unrelated, but Norway is also considered by many as the founders of Black Metal, and are still one of the main exporters of Black Metal music in the world.
He was not praying when holding his hands together, he was holding his hands and asking nicely, it's a way to sort of beg in a non-beggy way.:P PS: Wine monopoly. Not beer monopoly.
A note: It is the Christian Conservative party that is primarily responsible for the system being as it is. The idea is that drunkenness is bad for society and specifically family life. The odd opening (closing) hours logic is that nobody should buy alcohol on a whim - or buy "as the party is going".
You can buy alcohol 6 out of 7 days a week at a shop or Vinmonopolet. Apart from that, you can buy alcohol in restaurants, bars or pubs 7 days a week. Does it sound difficult? Does it sound like we have too little access to alcohol? If you need more access to alcohol than this, you simply have a serious alcohol problem. The state does not control our daily lives, after all they do run the shops that gives us unlimited access to alcohol. The only restrictions are age and whether you are already under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol sales and other shops closed on Sundays are from olden times due to the church keeping the day of rest holy, one of the very few things in religion that is good. Everyone knows when the holidays are and when the alcohol outlets are open and closed, everyone can buy what they need when the outlets are open. I honestly don't see the problem!
Norway is way more Soviet than most other countries, I find it weird that so many support this "system". I live in UK, and here we have spirits in even petrol stations if you really need to buy it the same time as you fill up your car. Also of course in every shop regardless how big the shop is and in most restaurants etc. In Norway it's more restricted, but when I am in Norway I don't find it difficult to buy alcohol, you just adjust to the different rules and make sure you buy it according to that, it's no problem with it. The purpose of restricting it is to try to limit consumption, not for so called normal people but for people that might have a problem. But how efficient is is? Not sure at all. Also to drive after drinking in Norway is very restricted, with only 0.025% alcohol allowed in your blood so you can hardly drink one beer in Norway if you want to drive legal. In UK this limit is more than 4 times higher at 0.08%. Still it's no more deaths in traffic in UK because of selling alcohol at petrol stations (yes I HAVE looked up the relevant statistics, even if most Norwegians refuse to believe it!) and having a 4 times + higher limit so I think the restrictive rule sin Norway has NO influence on the drink related problems so I think the rules are silly and not necessary. Another thing is that when I go to a typical pub in UK I hardly see anyone that is "drunk", but when going to a typical Norwegian pub you see it all the time. Maybe the restrictive rules actually has the opposite effect. I go to Norway at least once a year and has done for over 20 years so I was always a bit puzzled by the extreme views on this by Norwegians. For example in UK it's regarded as perfectly safe to have one or two pints in the pub with or without food and then drive home but in Norway many Norwegians would look at you in total disgust just by discussing such a proposal so I conclude Norwegians are very weird regarding this subject.
@@truxton1000 Regarding what you say about Norway being similar to the Soviet Union when it comes to alcohol is probably one of the stupidest things I have heard. If there was one thing that was extremely available everywhere, strictly still is extremely available, it's alcohol. The Soviet Union, and now Russia, is world famous for its extreme alcohol problems. We have a completely different drinking culture in this country than in many other countries. We tend to save our alcohol consumption for the weekends rather than the pint after work or the glass of wine with dinner that is more common in other countries. Whether it is wrong or not depends entirely on what we think is ok and works for us. Having a less tolerance for alcohol and driving is not a problem at all, and the limit is actually 0.02%. Why on earth should it be permitted to drink before driving? It is demonstrably more risky to drive under the influence of alcohol than without. This is also the reason why we do not sell alcohol at petrol stations. Drinking and driving do not belong together. And the limit has to go somewhere and this is where we have set it. It's that simple. The advantage of Vinmonopolet as a major player is that they are one of the world's largest customers among producers of wine and spirits in the world. They have enormous bargaining power and therefore get access to some of the world's best and rarest goods that small players don't have the chance to buy. That is why Vinmonopolet has one of the world's best selections when it comes to wine and spirits. In addition, the profit from Vinmonopolet contributes to income for the state and thus to maintaining the welfare state of Norway. What you personally think is silly and unnecessary has little relevance to how we prefer to do it in our country. We do not criticize your system and call you weird, but only register that "ok, this is how they do it there".
@@Valfodr_jr When I said equal to Soviet Union I meant the way the people accept strict and extreme control from the government. that you defend the governments drinking policy for driving just confirms this. As the UK got 0.08% and not having more deaths in traffic confirms I am right. If you in Norway had someone argue that we should rise the level to 0.08 as in the UK it would have been a total outcry from all corners of society on how stupid this would be, not to talk about the possibility of selling vodka and whisky from petrol stations. Of ALL my life in the UK I have not heard ONE voice or person questioning the alcohol laws in here, probably because the politics here is on common sense and facts, not feelings and assumptions. And yes, feel free to criticize the UK system if you want, we call that freedom of speech, but yes I know that this freedom is not as valued in Norway, also based on my previous discussions when I have visited Norway as Norwegians have a VERY hard and extreme views on certain subjects. But yes the nature is really beautiful. And yes some vinmonopols has a good selection but often I find the most attractive deals are sold out on the first day they are available, in the UK you can easily get very good wines and spirits if you seek out specialist dealers, and usually at a much much better price than in Norway. In the meantime I will continue to have a normal life here in the UK, and even choose to drink a beer with my dinner even if I should feel the need to go somewhere in the car a bit later, it's called "normal life".
@@steinarhaugen7131 The real problem is that all these silly rules are unnecessary and extreme. Another problem is when Norwegians are questioned and perhaps criticized for it they defend it with all they have, and label the person that criticize to be extreme, when the opposite is the truth! I call that gaslighting, because that's what it is.
Yes the government literally owns the hard alcohol stores. In Finland you can get up to 5,5% stuff at normal stores, but everything over that is government run Alko only
3pm is the closing time on Saturday, while 6pm on a weekday. The monopoly on wine and spirits only sold in the (Vinmonopolet) is built up to control the sales but actually provides one of the best selections of wine on sale. There aren't any new laws or sales hours, and everyone knows this. It isn't that hard to plan these hours; people want you to make exceptions for them. If you want beer, you can go to a grocery store that has longer sales hours for alcohol. However, those are the hours you need to follow if you want wine or anything stronger. That's how it is. I don't understand why they complain that much.
Just like USA, Norway had a prohibition era about 100 years ago. When alcohol became legal again the government wanted control, and their solution was Vinmonopolet, the state regulated stores. The opening hours are easily found online so planning a visit is easy. Alcohol up to 4,7% is sold in grocery stores, anything above that is sold at Vinmonopolet. Norway does not have a legal drinking age. It's illegal to sell/provide alcohol to anyone under 18, but if they can get it they can drink it. For example we do not arrest drunk 16 years old like you do in USA
A lot of the questions you have boils down to alchohol not being available when most people would want it. That's the point. You're not supposed to buy alchohol while already intoxicated. This is especially true for christmas eve, which is the worst day of the year for children with alchoholic parents or family members.
These rules prevent nothing.
We all know about it, we all plan around it.
The only difference is that people stock up on alcohol because of this, so alcohol in Norway is usually more accessible due to the fact that you pretty much always have alcohol at home.
@@Raffalius I dont know anyone that stocks up on alcohol to "plan" around this, except during Hollidays, which is like 2 days in a row where the store is closed for alcohol sales. Other than that I think most people just manage to get their asses to the store between 9-20 or 9-18 on weekends, to buy their beer for the evening, and 10-18 or 10-16 if you want the booze.
If people stock up, its the same reason as anywhere else, so they dont have to go to the store every time they want a glass of wine or w/e. Or the higher % booze which is usually something you have for a while.
@@genialefyr Most people i know have a basement etc where they stock up on alcohol. I guess it depends on where you live in Norway maybe. If you live in Oslo you probably live in a small apartment, and dont want to waste your space on alcohol.
@@Raffalius this is not correct. Going by the the average alkohol consumption pr capita in Norway, which is much lower compared with most industrialised nations. We have gone up compared to the average 1996 figures, but still much lower then Scandinavian nations, US, Canada, UK, Europe in general. So the law (however we would like to feel about it) does have an effect, but there’s also a comparable high focus on the challenging sides to alcohol consumption in and around family/kids etc. We also have a total ban on alcohol, tobacco and medicine commercials, which I very much approve of.
@@Raffalius Prevents nothing according to the stats in your Excel doc?
«You're planning a party and you're ten minutes late»..Pretty lousy planning if you ask me 😄
You missed the point though. «Should be open longer in the weekend so more people can buy». That's kind of the point, they don't want to sell more 😉 Nor do they need to, it's the state :D If you plan a party for weeks and don't buy the alcohol before the last day.. well, too bad you suck in planning 😄
Agreed. Honestly I like having a bottle around the house so so don’t need to go out and buy one anyway. The whole point is to prevent people who can’t prevent themselves from drinking the alcohol they have at home from getting more very easily.
The upside, is that Vinmonopolet is probably one of the best places in the world to buy alcohol.
The staff is pretty knowledgeable, and the assortment of wares is excellent.
You can also order and buy online and either pick it up at a store, or pay to have it delivered to your local post office, or directly home.
Yeah, this is awesome. They even offer wine tasting courses, and other courses.
Well, that's no excuse for Norway's strict alcohol laws
@@se6369 OS isn't saying that it is either, they are just pointing out an upside with the rules as they are.
Personally I doubt creating a world class alcohol chain store was intended when the laws were made.
I also want to add that for me, as a 24 year old Norwegian who sometimes enjoys alcohol in limited amounts Vinmonopolet, its opening hours, and the sale of 4.7-% in grocery stores works just fine. And Vinmonoplolet does have a great browsing experience, both in store, and online. They even offer tasting courses, and other courses teaching you about alcohol (like brewing, fermenting, and distilling).
@S E No, but the reduction in alcoholism is.
@@MissCaraMint 1. you need to prove it prevents alcoholism
2. even if you do, it's still not a good reason, people can choose for themself if they want to drink or not. It's also a limitation on everyone
Much like in the US, Norway had prohibition too. Alcohol was a really big problem amongst the poorest ppl. the "Wine monopoly" AKA Vinmonopolet is a direct result of this. - You can buy alcohol (no stronger than 4,7%) in grocery stores until 8 in the evening on workdays (Monday-Fridays) and until 6 in the evening on Saturday and it's closed on Sundays. For every other stronger kind of alcohol you need to go to the "Wine monopoly"(closing 6 in the evening during weekdays and 3 on Saturdays, closed on Sundays). Other than that you could go to pubs/bars, but it's gonna be fairly expensive
or just buy the 2.4% beer which is sold around the clock even on Sundays in stores like 7/11. If you really need that beer in ya.
they changed the saturdays and the day before holyday rules 2 years ago. its was from 8:30 to 15:00 before, now its from 10:00 to 16:00. 1 1/2 hour later in the morning, but 1 hour later than before for closing.
@@genialefyr 2,4?😆, might as well drink water or move to Sweden then😂
@@sebastianflesjandersen939 That is very true, it is literally watered down 4,7 %, was just to inform that it is possible, since most people dont even know about it.
@@sebastianflesjandersen939 Think id rather just call the booze taxi than move to Sweden tho ;)
Fun fact about the State-owned Wine Monopoly: Due to this one organisation is buying wine and liquers for a whole country they stand out in the market, they are actually the largest buyer in Europe, and they buy a lot and varied. They carry about 30.000 different products, though not all are in every store but can be ordered on-line and be collected at your local store.
If you ask me, Norwegians drink way too much, and having this controlled store is a good thing. Just seeing how everyone panicked when the stores closed down for a tiny bit during the beginning of covid, just proves how ridiculus the relationship woth alcohol is.
It really is not that difficult; plan accordingly, and its all fine. And even going one evening with no alcohol wont kill you.
Not difficult, just a pain in the ass.
well, it did start to reduce the amount of deaths. since people kept drinking themselfs to death.
That would be a good argument (even if I disagree fundamentally with the premise that it's a good thing for Big Brother to decide when, where, and how much you can drink) only if it worked. It doesn't. Everybody knows this. The reason binge drinking is so common in Norway is precisely because the sale and consumption is so strictly regulated. The government has no legitimate interest in this kind of invasive, detailed regulation of people's lives.
Drugs in many forms have been in our culture since early days.
Humans using substances is not new or strange, we've done it for thousands of years.
Well if it wasn't so controlled, people would be much more relaxed about it. Ofc people can be upset, being 5 minutes late could end up ruining your dinner party on the weekend or whatever. The government should not interfere with your personal life or personal choices. I believe the government should only provide basic things like roads, healthcare and such and stop trying to be everybody's strict parents.
I think it’s far weirder that you have to be 21 to buy a bottle of beer in the US ... but are allowed to drive a car on your own when 16 and buy a gun when 18. Cars and guns ARE lethal when handled by young, unexperienced users. ;-)
Agreed
so is alcohol though
Cars are extremely heavy duty machinery that are often lethal. People don’t think about that because they are so common.
As a Norwegian I rly like this arrangement. It forces people to plan ahead while they are sober. Sure, a lot of people have stuff stocked up, but the kind what will drink everything available when they're drunk tend to run out quite often and then won't be able to just stop by a store and drink themselves to death. Norwegians have a pretty out of control drinking culture, and I'm grateful for Vinmonopolet and the laws that keep things from being worse. I'm studying abroad in Hungary where there are no such limitations, and alcoholism is endemic
Sales in grocery stores is 8-6 weekdays and 8-15 on Saturdays, but only low alchol under 4.5% . Vinmonopolet is open 10-18 weekdays and 10-15 Saturday. Its mostly okay. A good thing is we get a lot of cool one-of-a-kind wines and such that a lot of small liquor stores could never get. Alchol as a luxury item is taxed high, so prices are high aswell. When you get healthcare from the government, the government has more of incentive to keep alchol and tobacco consumption lower for better overall population health. I think overall we are okay with this system, we complain about it ofcourse, but dont really want to change it is my feeling
Wrong!
Alcohol sales up to 4,7% in grocery stores is from 8am to 8pm (08.00 - 20.00) on weekdays.
8am to 6pm in the weekend.
For stronger alcohol Vinmonopolet is open from 10am to 6 pm on weekdays, and 10am to 4pm on the weekend👍
Most businesses close early on Christmas Eve in Norway, even the buses stop running at 4pm (only day of the year when that happens, all other holidays the buses still run fairly normally), so that most people possible can go home and celebrate with their loved ones. It's not just alcohol sales, and besides, it doesn't mean people can't have alcohol on days the stores are closed, they just need to plan for it.
It's also custom to have a "bar cupboard" at home. I find that many adults have lots of alcohol stored even if they don't drink as much. Literally bottles of different liqours, wine and champagne. So for a lot of adults who can handle their alcohol, they simply have a stockpile at home at all times for sudden opportunities or guests. It's also very common to gift bottles of wine for any occation. I just buy some alcohol I like at the supermarket and keep around so I never worry about missing the sale. Also we have a really great selection of ciders. When traveling I've never come across anything like the nordic ciders actually. Especially Sweden produces excellent ciders of wide variety and we consume a lot of it (at around $4-5 for 0.5 liters/16.9 oZ).
Judging from the ribbons some of them wear on their lapels - this must be the day before the 17th of May (major celebration). Together with Christmas this is the busiest days of the year for this type of store.
I think the opening hours until 3pm is a covid thing only. Normally it closes at 6 on weekdays and 4 on saturdays.
Also, the short hours is mostly to prevent people from purchasing alcohol while inebriated.
Since groceriy stores are not allowed to sell beer with more than 4.7% alcohol, they can keep the sale going a few hours longer.
I checked when the video was made.
19th of December 2014. Not covid times.
Though I checked on Vinmonopolet´s website and my closest store closes at 16.00 on Saturdays now, not 15. So they must have changed something between the time the video was made and now.
Ive been buying alcohol in Norway for 18 years. Its not a covid thing
Never heard of it closing 4 on saturdays before like 3 years ago
It’s becouse it’s Saturday. It had nothing to do with Covid. Also if it was Covid they woulden’t be allowed to have so many peoples in at once
Think of it this way; if you buy and use a lot of alcohol (whether it's an addiction or not) and you need health services due to your alcohol use, directly from the alcohol itself or accidents related to it, the tax money you pay to buy alcohol goes directly back to helping you deal with these issues. On top of that, the time regulations is just for your own benefit. It does not stop us from drinking though! xD
Side note: the woman was counting the amount of people entering and exiting the store (probably during covid).
They're not really directly earmarked for that exact purpose, but yeah,..I think that's the reasoning behind it. Would've been interesting to see exactly where all income from taxes etc. goes in the "statsbudsjettet"😅
With public healthcare the government is more invested in ensuring people have as healthy a live style as possible.
Maybe that's true in Norway, in Sweden all that money goes straight to immigration :DD Our motto is "never save your own, save everybody else in the most expensive way possible and shove your own people down in the dirt and if you don't agree you are the worst person alive and we are going to censor you because you, and then we are going to call you fascist." Alright I might have some supressed anger sorry xD
I understand that some find it annoying that you gotta buy the alcohol by 6PM on weekdays / 3PM saturdays unless any special holiday.
At the same time i dont see the problem, plan ahead. You know when it closes, you know when your " planned " party is, just go buy it the day before.
And if you are unable to go yourself during opening hours, ask a friend or family member.
This really is a first world problem...
This is not a problem - it is cultural and we are used to it. On the positive, the quality of what they sell at Vinmonopolet is very high.
While it is more difficult to access alcohol in Norway it is also a good thing.
It's not impossible or difficult. But you can't just decide eleven o'clock in the evening that you want beer.
Alcohol sales closes doen around 8 o'clock in the evening for lighter beer in the stores and 6 o'clock in the Vinmonopolet (winemonopoly).
The thought behind the strict times and regulations is based on the intoxicating effects alcohol has and for health and security we have some stricter alcohol sales laws in Norway.
Stronger alcohol is strictly regulated and can only be sold in Vinmonopolet.
This so at least we can have some controll over who buys alcohol and especially critical for children that have alcoholic parents around Christmas and other holidays.
While Vinmonopolet is the only one who can sell certain types of alcohol it also has the best variety in brands and alcohol types in the world with thousands of different brands and types.
You can also order online and pick it up at the shop if you want to.
It's not as difficult as some may say as it is viable most of the times.
Many people complain, but those are often the ones that may be a bit on the dumber side and only buy alcohol the day when they need it.
Those of us with a little bit of sense buy it in good time, and often keep a small storage of alcohol at home, so that we're always ready for a spontaneous party
If you suddenly feel like getting a pizza, you just go and buy one, or order some take-out. Why should it be any different with alcohol? Why should I have to plan ahead?
@@larsdahl6594
Because whereas pizza is food, alcohol is an addictive psychoactive drug, with harmful effects on both individuals and society, and for everyone to be able to go and buy alcohol whenever they feel like it is an easy way to end up with a society filled with alcoholics.
I'm also certain that many would drive under the influence to acquire more alcohol if they were to run out during the evening, and had the option to buy more.
@@bjokvi91 And if you eat too much pizza, you become a morbidly obese person who eventually ends up in hospital. Who died and made you God to decide whether or not I should be able to enjoy "psychoactive" drugs? Alcohol is a socially acceptable "drug", if you like, that has been part of our culture for millennia. Give me one good reason (not just what you think or "feel") why the government should be the sole purveyor of said drug that you so strongly disapprove of. Kind of hypocritical that the same Big Brother that is so concerned about our well-being, is the only one allowed to supply us with the dreaded poison.
@@larsdahl6594
Eating too much pizza is not addictive, and one person having eaten too much pizza does not directly harm others.
Who said it's my decision..., i'm just pointing out a reason for things being the way they are.
No, i don't disapprove of alcohol, not at all, and i never said that, once again i'm just pointing out a reason.
That so called Big Brother also pays your hospital bills, and the hospital bills of everyone suffering from alcohol addiction or that are harmed by alcohol in other ways, so for harmful substances to be regulated is a reasonable compromise, given that prohibition has been proven to be a terrible solution.
@@bjokvi91 Big Brother does NOT pay my hospital bills (nor yours). Where do you think that money comes from? It was ours to begin with, and the health care we receive in return is mediocre at best. Your argumentation is very poor, you have an immature understanding for how the world works. You do however show a disturbing appreciation for authoritarianism. Du er bare en liten diktatorpode som liker å bestemme over andre, som tror din moral er bedre enn andres. #LetsGoBrandon
Raising prices and regulating time is an attempt to make alcohol a treat, and not an escape, and although yes it's a buisness so it makes money, the policies try to operate against substance abuse instead of trying to make more money. It's strict, but it does have merit. Also it's not a new thing by any stretch, you're considered either ignorant or just a baffoon if you're consistantly rushing in at the last second. It is annoying to be sure, and for the most dedicated people you can still get lots and lots of alcohol, but having it so buying liquor and other alcohol an active mental choice instead of a passive walking down the grocery store isle and throw in a case or 2 because it's routine kind of thing, is pretty nice. I think the idea that it makes people think a little more about it, is the actual beneift to all the rigmarole, even though it's super annoying when you really want some and forgot all about getting it ahead of time.
A friend of mine was buying two sixpacks on a saturday when the alcohol sale ends at 18:00 (6pm). He got to the register at 17:59 and managed to scan one, but when the clerk scanned the other one it was 18:00 and wad denied. So he went home with one sixpac of beer. 😂
Too bad😂😂
You have to be 18 years old to buy alcohol (wine, beer) but 20 to purchase hard liquor (anything with an alcohol content of 22%).
Most bars and clubs have an age restriction, usually 20-21 years of age.
Grocery stores sell beer and cider but are not permitted to sell anything above 4.7% alcohol content, and are only allowed to sell alcohol before 8 PM on weekdays and before 6 PM on Saturdays and not at all on Sundays and some holidays including Ascension Day, the eves of Christmas and New Year, Easter, Pentecost, and the public holidays 1st and 17th of May and on voting days at both the national and local levels.
Liquor, wine, strong beers and ciders (i.e. anything stronger than 4.7%), is sold through the state-run Vinmonopolet (literally, the wine monopoly) shops. There are 337 Vinmonopolet shops (as of Jan 1 2021) in Norway. The monopoly shops generally close at 6 PM on weekdays and 3 PM on Saturdays. Check the opening times for individual stores.
It’s becouse it was Saturday that they close early. Weekdays they close at 6 PM. This was also recorded right before Christmas when it’s extra busy. Btw. You can buy beer until 8 PM in the grosery store at weekday 6 PM on Saturdays
From Wikipedia; "Vinmonopolet is a Norwegian limited company owned by the state at the Ministry of Health and Care. The company has a national monopoly on retail sales of wine, spirits and strong beer. That is, beverages with a higher alcohol content than 4.75%" Any alcohol lower that that, like regular beer, can be purchased at supermarkets.
Liquor stores in Pennsylvania (U.S.) are state owned. The employees are state employees. They're all called "Wine and Spirits" but we always called them "the State Store" coming up. Beer is sold out of bars or at stores licensed to sell beer, bottled wine can only be purchased at the wine and spirit stores and no alcohol is sold in supermarkets.
What they was trying to tell, is that beer up to 4,7% alcohol can be bought in regular stores. All stronger beer, wine and liqour must be bought at Vinmonopolet. Regular stores can sell beer until eight on weekdays, and six on saturdays. Vinmonopolet has shorter opening hours, and is 100% owned by the state.
Fun Fact; Very few include alcohol in any party around Christmas in Norway. Or at least they try to wait until the kids are asleep, and we take it very casual. Correct me any fellows if I'mm wrong
Depends. Some don’t drink at all in front of the kids, some make an effort to model healthy drinking habits by showing that you can have a glass of wine with dinner without having to get drunk. Depends on the approach. My parents did the latter. Worked pretty well actually. Neither me or my brother are big drinkers today.
It closes at 18:00 now, beer you can get in normal shops until 20:00
Norway used to have a huge problem with alcoholism back when this was instituted. I live in a town where statistics indicate about 10% of the population have a drinking problem, granted this town is near the top of that statistic. So the idea is that if you can't manage your life well enough to manage to get there in time...
They also aren't allowed to sell you alcohol if you are obviously intoxicated.
Anything at 5% alcohol or less can be sold in grocery stores.
Bars, discos, restaurants, etc. do ofc serve alcohol... at a profit. They also are also not allowed to serve you if you seem to be drunk and those rules are a bit strict. Ofc there is a serving shut off time; 2:30 AM, which can be regulated by the individual municipality and since party poopers always come to power somewhere, local cut off can be earlier than 2:30 AM.
The age limit is 18 for anything that has an alcohol level of less than 22% and 20 years for 22% and up.
Alcohol content above 60% is considered a restricted substance (though not under the narcotics laws) and is treated as such in customs! Do f.x. not take Jamaican 80% rum through customs! Since it is illegal to import without a special permit you will be prosecuted for smuggling!
Separate rules govern industrial, medicinal, and utilitarian alcohol ofc.
Vinmonopolet is technically a private company but the health department owns all the shares. Most other state owned shares are owned through the department of commerce.
Alcohol is heavily taxed. The tax varies with the type of alcohol, but in most cases it is between 50 cents and slightly more than a dollar per percent per liter. For hard liquor f.x. it is NOK 8.22 x amount% x amount Liter, so almost 73 dollars for two liters of a 48% liquor just in taxes. Add the price of the product and 25% sales tax on top of that. Other taxes on some types of packaging and in some cases environmental taxes may also apply before the sales tax is added. Hence.. you need a lot of money to purchase alcohol; trying to make it impossible to be an alcoholic. This does ofc result in smuggling, both privately and through organized crime. There is however a legal quota you can bring across the border for personal use.
you can still buy beer at any supermarket which has longer opening hours
Beer and cider up to 4.7% are sold in regular supermarkets, all alcoholic drinks above that are only sold at Vinmonopolet.
Vinmonopolet is open until 6pm Monday to Friday and 3pm Saturday. closed on Sunday.
You can buy alcohol in the supermarket until 8pm Monday to Friday and until 6pm Saturday
Ju must be 18 to have alcohol up to 21% and 20years to buy stronger than that
Mate we have cellars of alcohol. Especially for Christmas. The people that are prevented the most from drinking are the youth. They usually only buy enough for one party at a time, I assume financial reason. And this also makes them plan for it ahead of time. Meaning that in theory they decide how much to drink while sober, which help reduce over drinking. My parents have a wine fridge upstairs and a alcohol cellar downstairs for the stronger stuff. My grandparents have a wine cellar with other spirits aswell. We have never had a problem with Christmas Eve alcohol 😂 also stores in general are closed on red days, we already plan our food purchase etc ahead of time because of this. Would actually be weird if alcohol was exempt from this.
You can buy between 8:00 and 20:00 from Monday-Friday and 8:00-18:00 on Saturday, close on Sunday. Expect from the restaurant and bars.
We can by beer from 08 AM to 08 PM on weekdays, 08 AM to 06 PM Saturdays in regular stores. On Sundays everything is closed. Everything above 4,7% is regulated by the "Vinmonopol", usually open from 10 AM to 5 or 6 PM in weekdays, 10 AM to 15 PM on Saturdays.
The alcohol shop is open to 6 pm on monday to friday, but beer can be bought to 8 pm. on saturday the alcohol shop close 3 pm, and beer can be bought to 6 pm, that is more than enough time to buy what you plan to drink that d ay or weekend, very few people here complain over this rules. And its good gor the people , so that they just cant go alcohol even when they are drunk at night ;)
Grocery store can sell alcohol up to 4,7% alcohol. And only in government approved times.
8-20 on weekdays and 8-18 on Saturday. On sundays the sale of alcohol is closed everywhere.
In Vinmonopolet (a government owned liquor sales point) is the only place you can buy alcohol containing stronger than 4,7%. They are open 10-18 on weekdays and 10-16 on saturdays.
On holidays alcohol sales are prohibited. Sales is normal on Election Day, it used to be closed. Not anymore. Sometimes the sale closes early the day before a holiday also. This varies from county to country.
When I was younger I thought this was a pain, but nowadays I am OK with it. All it takes is some planning, and one can buy bear or cider in the regular stores :)
The GOOD thing about it is that there is a flat tax on ABV (Alcohol By Volume). When there is a release of good quality red wine (for instance) they are not priced by demand but by ABV, and what it cost to purchase for Vinmonopolet. This leads to people traveling from neighbouring countries to buy new release of wine since it is cheaper than when adding popular demand to the equation. Not sure if that made any sense, but I have come to like Vinmonopolet.
There is actually studies that shows that selling alcohol just in one place, keeps the consumption down. Where i live we didn't allow selling alcohol in grocery stores either a few years ago, there was a own store for alcohol under 4.7%. When we finally allowed selling beer and things like that in the store, the consumption went up and never came down to the same level and number of alcoholics went up. As a alcoholic once told me "before it was easy to just avoid the stores where they sold alcohol, but now it's hard to stay away when it's in your face every time you are buying groceries".
Yeah that makes sense.
You was wondering if Vinmonopolet was really run by the government, and yes it is. Matter in fact, it is under the Ministry of Health and Care Services.
There is usually a least one store in each municipality and in some of the bigger ones they have multiple ones. An important thing is that they are not allowed to have a big profit. So that has some strange effects. Cheap and poor wine get kind of expensive because of taxes. But really expensive wine can be cheaper in Norway than in many other countries because they don't add any profit.
Another thing is that since the store has exclusive rights to sell alcohol in Norway they are really big customers on the world market. If there is something you want and they don't have it in the store, they can order it. Almost anything.
If you live more than 30 km from the nearest Vinmonopolet you can order alcohol and get it delivered to your door without paying for the delivery. There is a limit of 750 kg (around 600 bottles) but still...
Most liquor stores in Canada are the same. Less strict, but still government run
The reason for no alcohol in hollyday have a reason. It is for the kids. The holliday is for the kids not drunk parentes or grendparents
That's bullshit
Really, so it's not allowed to store alcohol in your own home either? Rules like this does not work. At all. Anyway I am British and in this house we have "drunk in front of the kids" since day one. My kids have never seen me drunk though, maybe it's a very Norwegian problem that you have to get drunk every time you drink? I live in UK, and here we have spirits in even petrol stations if you really need to buy it the same time as you fill up your car. Also of course in every shop regardless how big the shop is and in most restaurants etc. In Norway it's more restricted, but when I am in Norway I don't find it difficult to buy alcohol, you just adjust to the different rules and make sure you buy it according to that, it's no problem with it. The purpose of restricting it is to try to limit consumption, not for so called normal people but for people that might have a problem. But how efficient is is? Not sure at all. Also to drive after drinking in Norway is very restricted, with only 0.025% alcohol allowed in your blood so you can hardly drink one beer in Norway if you want to drive legal. In UK this limit is more than 4 times higher at 0.08%. Still it's no more deaths in traffic in UK because of selling alcohol at petrol stations (yes I HAVE looked up the relevant statistics, even if most Norwegians refuse to believe it!) and having a 4 times + higher limit so I think the restrictive rule sin Norway has NO influence on the drink related problems so I think the rules are silly and not necessary. Another thing is that when I go to a typical pub in UK I hardly see anyone that is "drunk", but when going to a typical Norwegian pub you see it all the time. Maybe the restrictive rules actually has the opposite effect. I go to Norway at least once a year and has done for over 20 years so I was always a bit puzzled by the extreme views on this by Norwegians. For example in UK it's regarded as perfectly safe to have one or two pints in the pub with or without food and then drive home but in Norway many Norwegians would look at you in total disgust just by discussing such a proposal so I conclude Norwegians are very weird regarding this subject.
@@truxton1000 You can have alcohol in your house. It's not Saudi Arabia
It's just the shop is shut on holidays. You can have as much alcohol at home as you like.
@@sandersson2813 Yes I know, so the politics about closing early does not really work then in terms of "stopping abuse", maybe you stop ONE case of abuse, but in the meantime annoy 1 million people. And before you say "just that one person helped" makes it justifiable: in that case you should stop people from buying it at all as that would be the ultimate sacrifice, right?
@@truxton1000 It's no different to Oddbins or any other off licence being shit on a Sunday or Bank holiday.
You can't buy alcohol in Scotland before 11am on a Sunday either, it's just a stupid rule. Doesn't actually stop anyone, and if you're desperate, you can still buy beer in a supermarket
I think you are reading too much into it. You can't go to a bank on a bank holiday either. It's no big deal.
There is not a Vinmonopol at every place or town in Norway, so you can have them send you alcohol through the mail, so you can get it at the local post office, or store that have postal services (There is not alot of towns with their own postoffice, then usually some stores have the same service). The trick is however that they can't give you the package outside the openinghours of the Vinmonopol, even that the postal service at like here the store is open to 8 pm... so they can't give you the package from Vinmonopolet at like 7 pm monday if you have a package waiting from them.
It is NOT hard to get alcohol in Norway! Most of the time people know when they have to be at the counter with the alcohol they want to buy, whether it be in a regular store (Beer and cider up to 4,75 %) or Vinmonopolet for everything stronger than 4,75 %.
Sounds like hell.
From 8 - 23 you can buy beer in a grocery store up until 4.7%. Monday to friday. Closes 6 on saturday. Vinmonopolet opens at 10 -18 monday to friday. Closes 3 on saturday.
Also its legal to brew your own beer. (Strong beer,if you want to)But not any booze.
Also I pesonally I would not get my facts from this guy.
Hold on! Vinmonepolet is open until 18.00 on weekdays and 16.00 on Saturdays, closed on Sundays! I am 60 years old myself and have never had problems buying what I have needed!
It's 3 pm on saturdays.
Beer Can be bought in the groserystores untill 8 pm. But Vinmonopolet closes at 6 pm during the week
One can think it is rediculus to limit the hours during the day in which you can buy alcohol, or the fact that anything above 4,7% can only be sold at our wine monopoly (Vinmonopolet), but the fact is that alcohol related illnesses in Norway (especially from long-term use) and Sweden (which operates under this model) is far lower that Italy, France, Russia etc. where alcohol is widely available at all hours.
Our average alcohol consumption is lower due to inaccessibility and price :)
And its not like you -cannot- buy alcohol. You just have to...plan for it.
Buy what you like and stockpile it at home...
The liquor store in Norway - there is only one - Vinmonopolet, it means "Wine Monopoly" is fully owned by the Norwegian government. Specifically the Health and Welfare department. That is why the opening hours and price structures are so strange and counter intuitive. Their goal is not to sell the most product as possible, but to make sure alcohol consumption in Norway stays at a healthy level. You can only buy session beer in the grocery stores - no stronger than 4.7% ABV. This is why many Norwegians go on what we call "Harrytur" to our neighbour countries like Denmark or Sweden, where alcohol is a lot more affordable and easy to buy - well in Sweden it is actually harder than in Norway, you can only buy beer at 3.5% ABV in their stores - they also have a wine monopoly for stronger stuff. That is why we usually take a two hour cruise to Sweden, and buy duty free alcohol on the boat. In Denmark alcohol is as accessible as in the US, you can buy it everywhere.
You can buy beer and some spirits up to a certain percent in grocery stores up to 8 in the evening on weekdays and 6 on saturday, but if you want harder spirits, booze and liquor you have to go to Vinmonopolet, (and yes, it's state run) which is open to 6 in the weekdays and 3 on saturday. There are a couple of reasons for the limited hours, but one worth mentioning is because of public health awareness, as the state wants to limit the possibility of alcohol abuse. The only other place you can buy booze is at bars, which you can buy untill 3 in the middle of the night, but its expensive.
Most liquer-stores in the smaller cities at least closes around 03:30pm, in grocery stores you can buy beer, wine coolers and cider all at around 4,5% vol/alc. Grocery stores closes their beer etc sale at 07:30 pm in working days i believe, and 06:00 pm at saturdays, closed at sundays.
If you don't mind crossing the law, the moonshine blows your mind, and i never minded too much =D
And, moonshine doesn't really have a closing time :)
You can buy beer in the supermarket.
Here in Poland it is really rare to see a grocery store without any alcohol. Most of them don't survive long as this is a highly competitive market. Simply put grocery shops without alcohol usually just go out of business.
Also any big supermarket in Poland has a vodka section as big as this whole Norwegian alcohol store. Not to mention there are other sections for beer, for wine and cider, and other.
Then there are also dedicated alcohol stores. Some of them are these exclusive galleries with all the international alcohol you can possible think off which are great when you look for a present. However the most typical alcohol store is a small one that is run 24/7 and has the most popular and the cheapest brands for your everyday alcoholic.
And at last if everything fails than all gas stations in Poland sell alcohol, are open 24/7 and you can find them in the most rural places.
What you might find interesting is that all of the mentioned stores sell tiny vodka bottles of 100ml and 200ml. Usually consumed within the first 50 steps when walking away from the store.
Alcohol is not a problem in Poland, our alcohol coverage is almost as good as the reception of 4G mobile Internet.
There is always something within the walking distance. And if you are too shitfaced to walk you can call always a taxi and the driver will get you a bottle to the door, although it is at least twice the price. Recently even Glovo, the food transportation company will go and get the alcohol to your doorstep.
And if you are younger than 18 years old than you better have an older friend.
13:10 You would think people could go earlier, but you would be surprised how many people dont seem to understand the point of a closing hour. There is a vinmonopolet near where I work. And in the middle of covid when I got off work 30 minutes before they closed there would ALWAYS be a line out of the store, through the mall, up the stairs, out the main doors to the mall and 50 or so meters down the road. And I'm not even joking. The thing is people complain about the closing hours for buying alcohol is the problem. But you see the exact same problem with normal stores. People always ruch to the store 5 minutes before it closes to buy the stuff they need even tho they had the whole day. And I get it some people work late, I get it, I work until midnight myself. But you know what? I plan ahead, so I go to the store the day before to buy dinner for the next day. Or I go before I got to work. It literally isnt that hard. Even for christmas and other days its closed. Go the day before, or two, or three, or a week or two before and the "problem" is solved.
And for the thing with closing earlier on Saturdays and not open on Sunday when more people want to buy more alcohol. Thats the point. So people wont go out and buy more when they are already drunk. Thats one less stupid thing you can do when drunk. And no "but people could just stock up before so it doesnt help" isnt a good agrument. People obviously have a problem with it so it obviously is doing domething. Also if you can "just stock up".... then do it and you wont have a problem
I also think the strict rules is a big part of why we can buy some alcohol at 18 in Norway. You can see it reflected in bars where many of them have a age limit at 21 or higher to get in. Meaning in a bar where you can buy alcohol all day an into the night there is a higher age limit, while places where there is a time limit there is a lower age limit. Again, this makes it harder to make dump choices when you are drunk especially for younger people
"wouldn't you want the alcohol to be on sale longer" well yes ofcourse... If profits are your focus. Forcing their sober selfs to plan means they decide how much they will drink while sober. Instead of drunkenly walking into the stora and going I'm not THAT drunk one more bottle won't hurt
Exactly. It’s the alcohol equivalent of preventing people from going to the grocery store hungry.
It’s open 10.00- 18.00 mon-fri, and 10.00-15.00 sat. You can buy beer at the local groseries. It’s to reduce risk of impulse alcohol shopping. The health care is free, so I think it’s suitable they have regulations for health benefits. You can buy alcohol before events if you plan a little bit further than the next 10 minutes🤪 you know this guy, he is making a comic twist to all his reaction videos😂
I just stock up on the things I like and have a few bottles. It really isn't that difficult, it's ever so slightly annoying to plan, but not more than that I go mid-week or whatever.
On the flip side, being government owned, vinmonopolet doesn't mark up the alcohol, so if you enjoy low alcohol stuff that is normally expensive (eg. fine wine), due to them purchasing for an entire country, they get better price from the producers, which means we get the product at that price + tax, the tax raises with the alcohol volume, hence why fine wine can be cheaper here than elsewhere.
A fun example was a wine a friend got for me in France, was over 50€ in France, but when I got home and found it here, I paid under 30€ for the same bottle, as it was a part of their standard selection of wines.
They have great non alcoholic options for people who don’t drink too. It’s pretty nice actually. It feels way more expensive and special than just having to get a soda at the grocery store if you don’t/can’t drink.
if you think norwegians can't buy things such as beers "easily" then you haven't been paying attention however strong spirits / booze such as cognac, wine, whiskey etc and special branded beers that's the ones you most likely have to go to the Vinmonopolet, but if you are a simple guy when it comes to alcohol who drinks beers pretty much grocery stores will do pretty okay depending on which store you chose to go to has diffrent imported / exported beers.. ofc depening on the situation you having with if it's a big celebration. it's up to you what you wanna get, Norwegian Vinmonopol doesn't always have the abillity to find those "rare" bottles of for example Conor McGregor's Proper 12 whiskey
When I like a drink, I just go down to my basement, and I have this bar there...You can also get booze in the post/mail... And of course, in a pub and on ferries going thru international waters, you can easier buy alcohol there. But that means you will have to take this mini cruise...
Statistics has shown that the availability deside how many people get addicted or not. It the most important factor. You must plan when to buy and if you plan, then your not addicted...
You think the wine monopoly should be open longer in the weekends because people are out partying. But that is the precise reason why it closes earlier; you are supposed to buy your alcohol while you're sober. We recognize that alcohol is one of the most dangerous drugs that people use. The good thing about having a state monopoly, is all employees in all stores are educated in wine and spirits, so you can ask deep questions and get very good answers. They also have an online store where you can get pretty much any wine or spirits in the world delivered. Also, the best wines are sold to the early bird; there are no auctions.
Norwegians who have been on vacation and had a good time often want to buy some alcohol to bring home with them, this could be wine from Italy or maybe a bottle of Irish whiskey. We are allowed 3 bottles of wine, if we bring 4 bottles we have to pay tax to the government. You are allowed one bottle if whiskey, then you have to pay tax on everything else you bring in to the country. Swedish people are basically allowed more than they can carry tax free, but not us Norwegians
Like the norwegian guy said in the beginning.. it is a similar thing in Sweden.
The only place to buy stronger beer or wine or anything with alcohol - the only place to go is SystemBolaget.
In Denmark it is quite different though.. more like in the States, I guess..
Yes, the government does own the liquor store. Which is not surprising, because we have a mixed economy and the government owns (and own large shares) of the biggest companies in the country. Yes, it's a bit over the top. I barely ever drink, but most norwegians need alcohol to get through the weekend so I can understand why this can be frustrating. You usually see loooong lines of people outside Vinmonopolet at the start of the weekend (and people line up early to get a hold of it).
A major factor is that they don’t want to promote the sale of alcohol. There are never 2 for 1 and the stores have strict rules on how they are setup in order to not have products be more promoted than others. A mom and pop will place a 2 for 1 on a liquor bottle to sell more which the government wants to avoid.
I don't really see this as a big issue. It can of course be inconvenient if you've forgot something, but it's not difficult to get what you want if you observe the opening hours - as you would with a lot of other things. The upside is the quality of the selection, and the competent people in the stores. And because of the 'market power' with suppliers of the store, you can get high quality expensive stuff relatively cheap (accounting for the high taxes, of course...).
Vinmonopolet is actually quite nice about it, If you show up at the cashier at 6pm on a saturday with beer in your cart at the grocery store it will be confiscated as they are not allowed to sell it past 6pm.
This video is not correct. You can buy alcohol from 8h till 20h in the evening in regular stores and 24/7 in pubs. But alcohol is super expensive. 100nok for a glass of beer in a pub will properly be our cheapest option and a minimum of 50nok for a bottle of beer in a shop. So poor people can't really effort alcohol and visitors from other countries are shocked 😨
First of, in grocery stores u can only get beer & cider up to 4,7% alc, the rest u have to buy at Vinmonopolet(liquor store). It has been like this for many many years so i am used to it, you know the opening hours so if u want alcohol, you'll get there in time, if not, so be it, then u are not eager enough, simply enough. when we get to like denmark or germany where u can buy liquor at grocery stores and beer at gas stations we just shake our heads coz that is just strange for us coz we are not used to it. but i dont drink or smoke anymore so now i literly couldnt care less about it. :P
The state also pay for our health, so it’s logical they have some premises.
Really? Sounds Soviet to me. I live in UK, and here we have spirits in even petrol stations if you really need to buy it the same time as you fill up your car. Also of course in every shop regardless how big the shop is and in most restaurants etc. In Norway it's more restricted, but when I am in Norway I don't find it difficult to buy alcohol, you just adjust to the different rules and make sure you buy it according to that, it's no problem with it. The purpose of restricting it is to try to limit consumption, not for so called normal people but for people that might have a problem. But how efficient is is? Not sure at all. Also to drive after drinking in Norway is very restricted, with only 0.025% alcohol allowed in your blood so you can hardly drink one beer in Norway if you want to drive legal. In UK this limit is more than 4 times higher at 0.08%. Still it's no more deaths in traffic in UK because of selling alcohol at petrol stations (yes I HAVE looked up the relevant statistics, even if most Norwegians refuse to believe it!) and having a 4 times + higher limit so I think the restrictive rule sin Norway has NO influence on the drink related problems so I think the rules are silly and not necessary. Another thing is that when I go to a typical pub in UK I hardly see anyone that is "drunk", but when going to a typical Norwegian pub you see it all the time. Maybe the restrictive rules actually has the opposite effect. I go to Norway at least once a year and has done for over 20 years so I was always a bit puzzled by the extreme views on this by Norwegians. For example in UK it's regarded as perfectly safe to have one or two pints in the pub with or without food and then drive home but in Norway many Norwegians would look at you in total disgust just by discussing such a proposal so I conclude Norwegians are very weird regarding this subject.
Norway has strict rules for what time of day you can buy alcohol. For beer, which can be sold at regular grocery stores, those times is somewhat up to the store to decide (Within reason)
2:58 "Vinmonopolet" is a chain of stores owned by the government through the Health & Welfare department.
9:10 That is not unusual. a lot of stores here in Norway have shorter opening hours on the week-ends. Just because you're going to a party isn't a valid excuse for having longer opening hours. You should have done your shopping earlier.
10:33 If you're at a mall with a "Vinmonopolet" on the 23rd of December, or before any other major holiday, you'll probably see a long queue of people going there.
11:54 If you're planning a trip, and plan on drinking, then you should plan to buy alcohol ahead of time.
13:07 They sell beer in grocery stores, and some might have non-alcoholic wine.
I can also say, as a previous store employee, that some people are REALLY familiar with the alcohol sale times.
"It's ridiculous, your friends have alcohol and you want to have fun."
Extraordinary take.
Revolutionary. It’s not like you l have 5 full business days plus some of Saturday to get alcohol for a weekend party or anything. Truely a great mind.
During one of the lockdowns, Oslo closed its liquor stores. People were really mad - we Norwegians love our alcohol, and I bet you we drink even more and go even harder out than you guys. Yeah, the capacity of the neighbouring cities' liquor stores during that lockdown was insane. I've never seen a line of people so big to get into a liquor store.
thats why there there are a lot of pist Norwegen and Sweedish in the bush in Denmark
Hard alcohol: 09 - 18 Monday - Friday
10-15 Saturday
Beer and cider and stuff;
08-20 Mond - Frid
08 - 18 Saturday
Not buying alcohol on christmas is not just about not wanting people to be drunk, but is also about that people is not supposed to work unless it is necessary, like healthcare workers, on holidays. If you work on holiday you have to get paid more, and vinmonopolet is government run...
In my opinion it all comes down to planning. But it can be problematic to be spontaneous in Norway regarding alcohol.
I don't care, I mean it's open until six in the evening on weekdays... and we have beer and stuff in the grocery store, but that sale end at eight on weekdays and six on Saturdays. I'm used to it so I really don't mind
The state own the liquer shop... litterally
From 4,7 % and lower is sold in the shop. 2,5 % is always sold.
why do people go to the store on Christmas Eve, why wouldn't you stay home with family, and but the alcohol earlier in the week?
"She won't let these two poor guys in, just because their two minutes late?" Why would they let in more people after closing hours? The only reason the door isn't closed on the dot, is because they have to process and let out the customers who have flooded the store JUST before closing - because this is a Saturday (they close later in workdays), and people are rushing to get the weekend drinking supplies they very easily could have gotten the rest of the week.
I have no problem with the way this is done. As an American, I'm sure you find this to be a "horrible government overreach", but it's really for people's own good. Sure, it sometimes makes that party you've planned less "fun", but how well did you really plan it, if you've waited until 3 o'clock on the day to get the booze and wine...? It's mostly about restricting access to strong alcohol to people who have already started drinking, which happens more in the late afternoon or at night or in the weekends, to buy more strong alcohol (because we tend to just want more to drink when we're on a bender). So when you're asking "wouldn't it make sense to keep the stores open longer when people would want to buy more?", the opposite is really the goal.
Bottomline; alcohol IS readily available at MUCH of the time in Norway (this guy is just cranking things up on purpose, picking a busy Saturday just before closing for the "shock value"), but the goal is to not have people overindulge, like they could in the past. You can of course go to a restaurant or bar in the evenings and get liquor and wine there, but they can cut you off if you are overly drunk. (And OF COURSE we have alcohol on Christmas, by buying it beforehand, just like you're saying Americans do. Just like we would shop other things for Christmas beforehand. The point is not to have 24/7 access to alcohol, so people don't drink more when they are already drunk, which is when we often are the most 'thirsty'. )
(Also, important sidenote about the election day rule; most people here, unlike in the US, get election day off from work, in order to go vote. In order to stop people from using that day to just party instead, alcohol is not sold in stores that day.)
It isn't difficult, you just need to buy heavy alcohol ahead of time
16:54
yeah... this happens in Norway too...not that I know anything about that, hah
But yeah, Vinmonopolet has little signs on the liquor shelves stating the minimum age (20) so that it is clear what you can or cannot buy. And the times the store is open are often written on a wall by the entrance. I have sometimes just forgotten the time and walked there to see the store closed. Regular grocery stores also close off the alcohol (weaker alcohol) when it hits 8 or 6 so that it is obvious that it can´t be bought.
It gets annoying, especially if I forget the time and come too late, but hey, its smart. It makes you really think if you actually need that bottle of rum or wine with those prices and hours. It hinders some impulse buying, too.
It"s for health reasons and due to the dangers of heavy alcohol usage and derpession during the lon dark winters. Basically you can buy stronger alco in this state-governed store chains. But you can still buy beers and ciders whenevetr and wherever. And its heavily taxed and expensive. But again, isnt it the same with cigarettes? Cigarettes would be pretty cheap without heavy taxation, mainly due to health concerns. Well, both about trying to steer people to consume less of certain products. In Hungary alcohol is available whenever, wherever, but buying cigarettes only can be done in the tobacco shops heavily regulated, with all the same appearance. Also sugar tax/junk food tax for heavily sugared fizzy drinks is for the same reason.
couple of facts, you are allowed to make things like beer, or regular wine at home, but cant sell it or make it stronger (illigal) you can also buy alcohool at bus and resturants afther the 8 and 6 pm. but cant bring it with you. i dont think mc donalds and burger king sells alcohool at all here, and the same with movie teaters. but things like domino pizza (dont think we have a lot of those, one of the big one here in norway is "pizzabakeren" and "pepes pizza" do sell alcohool for consumption in the resturant.
Yes, technically it is the Health Department (Helse- og omsorgsdepartementet) which own all the shares (stock) in AS Vinmonopolet. The sale is controlled for health reasons, which is also why alcohol advertising is forbidden. But the people who work there take pride in knowing a lot about their products.
Grocery-stores sell beer/cider under 4,7% alcohol. 08-20 on weekdays, 08-18 on saturdays.
Wine Monopoly (anything above 4,7%) is open 09-18 on weekdays (some close at 17 mon-wed), and saturdays are open from 10-16 now.
Sundays and Bank-Holidays are always closed.
What he mentioned about election-days and such only goes for the liquor-store. Can still get beer from stores.
An argument behind the restricions is that they don’t want us to be able to buy more last-minute, or when already drinking. (Which is stupid, as it’s illegal to buy while intoxocated/sell to intoxicated people anyway.)
So basically; stock up WELL in advance, or run out. Those are our options.
Yeah, it's a pain in the ass, I understand why it is there, it's a pain in the ass to make you buy less and to not serve the intoxicated.
Still, closing at 15 on a Saturday has always been agitating when you got shit to do.
Yeah, I'll admit that U.S was very strict with the age limit when I went there(I was 19 at the time), had already been drinking for a year legally, but I couldn't even get a budlight anywhere.
And yes, everything over 4.7% has to be sold by the government owned "Vinmonopolet" or at the right time in the day by government approved pubs, bars and discoes.
It's not "difficult to buy" alcohol in Norway, but the rules are somewhat comprehensive and *difficult to remember*.
You are not supposed to stock up last minute, or during a party when you run out.
You have to plan a head. Maybe stock your liquor cabinet and beer/wine cellar in case of unexpected impulse parties.
22% acohol or more, is 20 years old to buy.
Less than 22% is 18 years old.
Anything above 4.7% is only available in government owned "Vinmonopolet" (literally = wine monopoly)
4.7% or less can be sold through regullar stores.
Stores needs a permit from the local government to legally sell alcohol. Usually it is easy to get, but you lose it if you break the rules.
Some councils used to prefer dedicated beer stores (beer monopoly) in their municipality, either owned privately or by municipality. The last beer monopoly was ended in 2012.
More than 2.5% alohol is subject to government controlled hours, generally from 8 am:
Until 18 pm during week days
Until 15 pm on "day before Sundays" (aka Saturdays), and days before religious holidays.
Closed on Sundays, on religious holidays, on 1st of May (labour's day), on 17th of May (constitution day) and election days.
0.7-2.5% alcohol can be sold during normal opening hours, but still at least 18 years old to buy.
Less than 0.7% is considered "alcohol free", regarding age limits and opening hours.
"Vinmonopolet" means "The wine monopoly". It's the only monopoly in Norway. And yes, it is owned by the state. They are the only store that are allowed to sell drinks containing more then 4,7% alcohol. (Bars and restaurants can also sell drinks, and they can do it 24/7) Normal stores can sell beer or premixed drinks (max 4,7%) until 20:00. When you are 18 years old you can buy alcohol up to 21,9%. When you are 20 you can buy up to 60%. Anything over 60% is illegal.
Almost every store is closed on Sundays. Norway has a law that says that only small stores are allowed to be open on Sunday. There are a few exceptions. This makes it natural that Vinmonopolet is closed too. That said, the small stores that are open, can't sell beer on Sundays anyway.
But this dose not mean Norwegians don't drink! We drink a lot
Here's some more random facts :)
Legal drinking age in Norway for alcohol up until 4.7% alcohol is 18, and anything stronger is 20 years. For driving cars is also 18, 21 for driving big trucks. 16 for sex, except if you're about the same age yourself, then your partner can be a bit younger. You need to be 18 to marry.
You can't buy guns in Norway, except if you are above 18 and have a permit. You can't get a permit unless you have a valid reason to have a gun. "Personal protection" is not a valid reason in Norway, so in practice, you will have to be an active member of a gun club or you want to get a license for hunting, or if you work as a police officer.
Police training in Norway is minimum 3 years.
If you want to work as a security guard, you can't carry a gun, and that's still at least 3 months of training to become one.
Probably unrelated, but Norway is also considered by many as the founders of Black Metal, and are still one of the main exporters of Black Metal music in the world.
Beer from 0% to 4,7% can be bought in grocery stores. Wine and liquor is only sold in Vinmonopolet...
0% is not beer.
He was not praying when holding his hands together, he was holding his hands and asking nicely, it's a way to sort of beg in a non-beggy way.:P
PS: Wine monopoly. Not beer monopoly.
A note: It is the Christian Conservative party that is primarily responsible for the system being as it is. The idea is that drunkenness is bad for society and specifically family life. The odd opening (closing) hours logic is that nobody should buy alcohol on a whim - or buy "as the party is going".
You can buy alcohol 6 out of 7 days a week at a shop or Vinmonopolet. Apart from that, you can buy alcohol in restaurants, bars or pubs 7 days a week. Does it sound difficult? Does it sound like we have too little access to alcohol? If you need more access to alcohol than this, you simply have a serious alcohol problem.
The state does not control our daily lives, after all they do run the shops that gives us unlimited access to alcohol. The only restrictions are age and whether you are already under the influence of alcohol.
Alcohol sales and other shops closed on Sundays are from olden times due to the church keeping the day of rest holy, one of the very few things in religion that is good.
Everyone knows when the holidays are and when the alcohol outlets are open and closed, everyone can buy what they need when the outlets are open. I honestly don't see the problem!
Norway is way more Soviet than most other countries, I find it weird that so many support this "system". I live in UK, and here we have spirits in even petrol stations if you really need to buy it the same time as you fill up your car. Also of course in every shop regardless how big the shop is and in most restaurants etc. In Norway it's more restricted, but when I am in Norway I don't find it difficult to buy alcohol, you just adjust to the different rules and make sure you buy it according to that, it's no problem with it. The purpose of restricting it is to try to limit consumption, not for so called normal people but for people that might have a problem. But how efficient is is? Not sure at all. Also to drive after drinking in Norway is very restricted, with only 0.025% alcohol allowed in your blood so you can hardly drink one beer in Norway if you want to drive legal. In UK this limit is more than 4 times higher at 0.08%. Still it's no more deaths in traffic in UK because of selling alcohol at petrol stations (yes I HAVE looked up the relevant statistics, even if most Norwegians refuse to believe it!) and having a 4 times + higher limit so I think the restrictive rule sin Norway has NO influence on the drink related problems so I think the rules are silly and not necessary. Another thing is that when I go to a typical pub in UK I hardly see anyone that is "drunk", but when going to a typical Norwegian pub you see it all the time. Maybe the restrictive rules actually has the opposite effect. I go to Norway at least once a year and has done for over 20 years so I was always a bit puzzled by the extreme views on this by Norwegians. For example in UK it's regarded as perfectly safe to have one or two pints in the pub with or without food and then drive home but in Norway many Norwegians would look at you in total disgust just by discussing such a proposal so I conclude Norwegians are very weird regarding this subject.
@@truxton1000 Regarding what you say about Norway being similar to the Soviet Union when it comes to alcohol is probably one of the stupidest things I have heard. If there was one thing that was extremely available everywhere, strictly still is extremely available, it's alcohol. The Soviet Union, and now Russia, is world famous for its extreme alcohol problems.
We have a completely different drinking culture in this country than in many other countries. We tend to save our alcohol consumption for the weekends rather than the pint after work or the glass of wine with dinner that is more common in other countries. Whether it is wrong or not depends entirely on what we think is ok and works for us.
Having a less tolerance for alcohol and driving is not a problem at all, and the limit is actually 0.02%. Why on earth should it be permitted to drink before driving? It is demonstrably more risky to drive under the influence of alcohol than without. This is also the reason why we do not sell alcohol at petrol stations. Drinking and driving do not belong together.
And the limit has to go somewhere and this is where we have set it. It's that simple.
The advantage of Vinmonopolet as a major player is that they are one of the world's largest customers among producers of wine and spirits in the world. They have enormous bargaining power and therefore get access to some of the world's best and rarest goods that small players don't have the chance to buy. That is why Vinmonopolet has one of the world's best selections when it comes to wine and spirits.
In addition, the profit from Vinmonopolet contributes to income for the state and thus to maintaining the welfare state of Norway.
What you personally think is silly and unnecessary has little relevance to how we prefer to do it in our country. We do not criticize your system and call you weird, but only register that "ok, this is how they do it there".
@@Valfodr_jr When I said equal to Soviet Union I meant the way the people accept strict and extreme control from the government. that you defend the governments drinking policy for driving just confirms this. As the UK got 0.08% and not having more deaths in traffic confirms I am right. If you in Norway had someone argue that we should rise the level to 0.08 as in the UK it would have been a total outcry from all corners of society on how stupid this would be, not to talk about the possibility of selling vodka and whisky from petrol stations. Of ALL my life in the UK I have not heard ONE voice or person questioning the alcohol laws in here, probably because the politics here is on common sense and facts, not feelings and assumptions. And yes, feel free to criticize the UK system if you want, we call that freedom of speech, but yes I know that this freedom is not as valued in Norway, also based on my previous discussions when I have visited Norway as Norwegians have a VERY hard and extreme views on certain subjects. But yes the nature is really beautiful. And yes some vinmonopols has a good selection but often I find the most attractive deals are sold out on the first day they are available, in the UK you can easily get very good wines and spirits if you seek out specialist dealers, and usually at a much much better price than in Norway. In the meantime I will continue to have a normal life here in the UK, and even choose to drink a beer with my dinner even if I should feel the need to go somewhere in the car a bit later, it's called "normal life".
Tyler can see the problem. That's the problem. 🙂
@@steinarhaugen7131 The real problem is that all these silly rules are unnecessary and extreme. Another problem is when Norwegians are questioned and perhaps criticized for it they defend it with all they have, and label the person that criticize to be extreme, when the opposite is the truth! I call that gaslighting, because that's what it is.
Yes the government literally owns the hard alcohol stores. In Finland you can get up to 5,5% stuff at normal stores, but everything over that is government run Alko only
One has to remember that the government also offers free rehab for everyone
Informative, that's a laugh, nothing like it is here
3pm is the closing time on Saturday, while 6pm on a weekday. The monopoly on wine and spirits only sold in the (Vinmonopolet) is built up to control the sales but actually provides one of the best selections of wine on sale. There aren't any new laws or sales hours, and everyone knows this. It isn't that hard to plan these hours; people want you to make exceptions for them. If you want beer, you can go to a grocery store that has longer sales hours for alcohol. However, those are the hours you need to follow if you want wine or anything stronger. That's how it is. I don't understand why they complain that much.
I think some of the complaints are exaggerated for the camera.
Just like USA, Norway had a prohibition era about 100 years ago. When alcohol became legal again the government wanted control, and their solution was Vinmonopolet, the state regulated stores. The opening hours are easily found online so planning a visit is easy. Alcohol up to 4,7% is sold in grocery stores, anything above that is sold at Vinmonopolet. Norway does not have a legal drinking age. It's illegal to sell/provide alcohol to anyone under 18, but if they can get it they can drink it. For example we do not arrest drunk 16 years old like you do in USA