Visiting Aurora Spirit - the world’s northernmost distillery
Introduction
Aurora Spirit, located in Lyngen, Norway, is the world’s northernmost whisky distillery. Best known under their brand name Bivrost, they started production in the Summer of 2016. I first visited them in December 2016, and finally managed to visit them again this Spring. They have come quite a way in that time, let me tell you.
What started as an ambitious idea back in 2016 has turned into quite the accomplished success in 2025. Just last year they launched the ninth and final expression in their Nine Worlds of Norse Mythology series; the Midgard (see review). Since then they have launched their first core range product, a major milestone in any distillery’s history, the Yggdrasil (see review).
They do produce and sell other products here as well, it is not all whisky. For years they have had both gin, aquavit and vodka available to buy.
Getting there
The Aurora Spirit Distillery is not all that easy to visit. I mean, there’s paved roads, there’s an airport in Tromsø etc, but still. It is the world’s northernmost distillery after all, so expect to put in some effort in reaching them.
Your best bet is to fly to Tromsø airport, rent a car, and settle in for a two hour drive which includes a 30 minute ferry crossing. Easy peasy!
If you find taking the trip out to the distillery a bit too much of an adventure, you can now also experience Aurora Spirit and their Bivrost whisky in the city center of Tromsø. The distillery recently opened the Tromsø Whisky Experience, which is a combined warehouse and visitor center. See Tromso Whisky on Facebook for more info.
Arrival
Upon arrival you will not be in any doubt that you hav arrived in the right place. The distillery itself is cathedral like in appearance. Situated on an old decommissioned NATO base, complete with old warehouses and mines.
The distillery itself. Quite impressive, right?
A large expansion is underway, as you can see on the right in the picture above.
The visitor center
The visitor center at Aurora Spirit is truly an experience in itself. It is one of the best visitor centers I’ve visited. In Norway I would say it is only the visitor center at Berentsens Bryggeri that is in the same division. There are so many details to admire here. It is all very authentic and feels thoroughly real. No “fake viking” vibes anywhere in sight.
The bar at the visitor center.
More details from the bar at the visitor center.
I wish I had oak cask stave furniture like this at home!
You can buy merch here as well, of course.
More cool details.
Even more cool details.
Early stage production equipment, used by the previous generation in Lyngen. Note the fancy, low-tech temperature switch on the left hand apparatus!
The trophy cupboard displaying every single bottlings so far, including both whisky, gin, aquavit and vodka.
The distillery
The distillery is expanding, as you could see from the picture above. In 2024 they produced around 40k lpa, and the aim is to expand this to around 100k lpa over the next year or two. All whisky is triple distilled. The first few years around 10% of their production was peated, last year around 20% of the production was peated, and the aim is around 50% over time.
They used to cooperate with nearby brewery Mack to get their wash, but starting in late 2020 they have done some mashing themselves (what they call homebrew), and as of a few weeks back they produce all the wash themselves. In other words, it is all done in house now. Personally I think this makes perfect sense, as they have more control and from the numerous cask samples I got to try I do believe switching to this “homebrew” also marks a definite step up in quality as well.
There are several exciting experiments or projects going on at the distillery. This includes playing around with different yeast strains (including kveik), using locally grown Arctic barley, trying unusual cask types like teak wood casks etc.
The fermentation tanks, with a capacity of 6000 liter each.
The new mashtun in the background there. The capacity is approximately 4000 liter.
This where the magic happens.
A new separate gin still being setup during our visit.
I’m feeling equal parts awkward and relaxed in the giant, Game og Thrones-esque “chair” in the still room.
In the corner we found this early model of R2D2…
The warehouse
The warehouse itself is built in the style of a Viking “longhouse”. Most of it is already filled, so we assume a second warehouse is in the planning stage.
A couple of years ago they started experimenting with shaving and recharring used casks. Last year they recharred 38 casks, and the aim for 2025 is 70 casks. These casks are marked by red painted cask ends in the warehouse.
At Aurora Spirit they do experiment with local, Arctic barley as well, and when they use Arctic barley in production they also use kveik instead of “regular yeast”. In 2020 they filled one cask with newmake made using Arctic barley and kveik, and they have slowly increased this year over year. Last year they pridyced 2600 litres of this super exciting newmake.
What a lovely, colorful display of casks!
Notice the details on the far wall.
The Viking inspired details can be found everywhere, including in the warehouse.
More details from the warehouse.
This special cask has physically travelled to the South Pole, and is Pingvin (Penguin) Approved.
A lot of casks in the warehouse are marked “Spheric Spirits”. Not surprising, as the head of research and development at Aurora Spirit is Benedict John Skelton from Spheric Spirits.
Here we see Janis Sloka, the distiller and master of all things at Aurora Spirit. He was high and low treating me to innumerable cask samples.
A few bonus bits
I am a whisky nerd at heart, as you know. And I love taking pictures of more or less everything when visiting a distillery. So. here are a few bonus pictures from this visit.
Dark and ominous vibes in a deep corner of the warehouse.
Cold yet warm. Arctic climate and sunshine in a glass.
Again, I love the attention to detail at the distillery and the surrounding area.
Even the Tesla destination charging has received a very whisky-esque makeover.
The opposite of cabin fever
As mentioned in the introduction the Aurora Spirit distillery is not all that easy to reach. But fear not, they have put up ten small cabins right on the shore, just a few meters from the distillery. Each cabin sleeps two, and includes all the amenities and facilities you could want - including a fully equipped kitchen and a stunning view!
The cabins as we arrived. No sun the first day, but that was to change.
How about waking up to this view?
Also the view from the cabin.
The great outdoors
THe last item on our itinerary was an electric snowmobile safari along the foot of the Lyngen Alps. The weather was perfect and I just have to share a few pictures of the amazing scenery, even if the pictures do not do the landscape justice at all.
Well, I’ll just let this picture speak for itself.
Look at this!
We had a comfortable and smooth ride on these powerful electric snowmobiles.
Aurora Spirit is a destination in itself, whether you love whisky or not. It is quite impressive what they have achieved so far, and this is only the start of the adventure. I strongly believe that Aurora Spirit, Norwegian whisky and Nordic whisky has a bright future.
Skål!
- Thomas
