Alcohol and Drugs History Society

Drinking on the job: brewery workers at Carlsberg in Denmark

An attempt by Carlsberg management to end the practice of brewery workers (including truck drivers) drinking beer for free on the job ended at least temporarily as a result of a strike.  The Danish brewery seems to be the only major beer maker to allow workers to drink on the job.  This free beer is in addition to the crates of beer that workers can take home each month.  For details, see here.

Scandinavian brewing history (articles)

Most of the British publication Brewery History, no. 121 (2009) consists of a special Scandinavian theme.

Siri Aanstad, "Introduction: the Scandinavian Brewing Industry" (26-28)

Siri Aanstad, "A Small, Global Adventure: Mapping Norwegian Beer Exports in the 19th Century" (29-50)

Martin Jes Iversen and Andrew Arnold, "Carlsberg: From Exporter to an Integrated Multinational Enterprise" (51-62)

Martin Jes Iversen, "Carlsberg and the Cartels" (63-67)

Peter Sandberg, "The Pressure of New Innovations on Transnational Cartels and Trade Organisations: The Tin Can and the Increased Competition between the Swedish and Danish Brewing Industries since the 1950s" (68-85)

UK teenagers as binge drinkers

According to a recent study, United Kingdom teenagers are the third worst binge drinkers, after only Denmark and the Isle of Man (usually considered by foreigners as part of the UK.  UK girls indulged in binge drinking even more than UK boys.  For more, see here.

Vintage beer from Denmark at $400 per bottle

The Danish brewer Carlsberg now offers a vintage beer at $400 per bottle. Jacobsen Vintage No. 1 2008 is 10.5% alcohol and can age in the bottle for ten to fifteen years. It is a barley wine, based on a nineteenth-century English strong ale. For more, see here.

Carlsberg and Heineken to buy and break up Scottish & Newcastle

The Danish brewer Carlsberg and the Dutch brewer Heineken have jointly offered over 15 billion dollars to purchase the British brewer Scottish & Newcastle which they then will divide. Carlsberg hopes to strengthen its position in Russia, while Heineken will focus on Western Europe.

Carlsberg and Heineken to bid for (and divide) Scottish & Newcastle?

Business sources say that the Danish brewer Carlsberg and the Dutch brewer Heineken plan a joint offer to take over Scottish & Newcastle and then divide the assets of the British brewer. For more, see here.

Germany retreats from smoking ban

The federal government in Germany has retreated from its plan to restrict smoking in restaurants and bars at least in part because the post-war constitution appears to assign such a power to the states. Germany, along with heavy-smoking Denmark and Luxembourg, remains a bastion for smokers in Wesern Europe. For more, see here.

'Ashtray Queen' agrees to stub it out in public

The chain-smoking Queen Margrethe of Denmark, who has been cruelly dubbed the “Ashtray Queen”, has bowed to public opinion and decided to stop smoking in public.

The Times (of London) reports.

Denmark and Europe's drinking crisis (article)

Elisabeth Rosenthal, "Europe at Tipping Point," International Herald Tribune, 25 June 2006. Europe produces more than a quarter of the world's alcohol, including more than half of its wine. Perhaps as a result governments have failed to regulate alcohol drinking seriously. This is despite, in the words of a report commissioned by the European Union, that the EU has "the highest proportion of drinkers and the highest level of alcohol consumption." Especially among youth Denmark stands out as a country of problem drinkers. In Denmark the minimum drinking age is 16 (until recently 15), low taxes keep prices cheap, and advertising is unfettered. For details, see here.

beer and brewing in Denmark (book)

Kristof Glamann, Beer and Brewing in Pre-Industrial Denmark (Odense: Syddansk Universitetsforlag; distributed in North America, Portland, Oregon: International Specialized Book Services, 2005).