Svalbard's Alcohol Quotas
sysselmannen.no
sysselmannen.no
You can't buy wine and liquor at local stores in Norway Svalbard, but there is a great selection in the state run monopoly stores (Vinmonopolet). In Longyearbyen there's one called Nordpolet (The North Pole, a pun on "pol" meaning both pole and being an abbrevation for monopoly).
When weddings used to last for days, the mine bosses here would go to the beer and liquor stores and tell them to stop selling to that group of people. Then when the drinks ran out, the wedding would end and the miners would go back to work.
I guess technically it's not a full monopoly since they do allow distillers in the state to sell thier own product on premise. The place near me was selling some premixed handles for $60-80. Talk about price gouging.
Many states have government run stores, some states allow beer and wine at grocery stores, but liquor must be sold in a separate store. Some states have laws that ban sales after 8pm, some 2am.
Utah is the worst because they limit the alcohol percentage in beer (Mormons don't drink and pushed for these laws) so the companies have to make special shittier Utah beers.
In some states you're not allowed to see the drink being made (maybe also Utah - can't remember) so they make it out of sight and bring it out.
Some counties are dry and you have to drive to the one over (usually lots of stores at the county line). I think some southern states have drive through liquor stores.
One reason I was happy to move to California is the lack of these 'blue laws' [0]. California may have a lot of signs warning you that everything causes cancer (and make it really hard to order a new shower head), but their alcohol laws are pretty permissive.
I don't know if there are any states that don't have open container laws - which is too bad, drinking PIMs in the park in the UK was great fun, and beers outside talking to people is a nice part of the London pub culture that would go well in American cities.
Bars still close at 2am, though, which is lame.
The Svalbard link reminds me of these stories about the volunteer bar in the research base in antarctica:
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/07/on...
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/aug/10/experie...
Louisiana is one. Most people associate New Orleans with drinking in public, but I believe there's no statewide law against it.
That's a big thing in Spain too, they even have a word for it (botellón). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botell%C3%B3n
Here there's a big square where people sit in the sun during the day in small groups and drink.. Nothing wrong with that IMO.
I always thought it was named because staying at in such an isolated place, with month-long days and nights, for even a short period would feel like a "long year", but found on the Wikipedia page that it's actually named after John Munro Longyear.
Good one.
> but feeling "fully self-actualized" is equally accomplished by achieving your goals or lowering your goals until they're easily achievable.
It's more correlated with finishing what you set out to do. But there's definitely a useful component of comparing yourself with others - if your bar is too low you'll know it even if you don't have the courage to raise it.
> Those with healthy self-esteem feel self-actualized, those with poor self-esteem will feel as though they're never at their best.
Why with the worst way to interpret this? Those who feel accomplished build self-esteem. Yes, it is circular, but it needs to start with something real. You can't just wait to feel good without doing anything to cause it.
The testosterone effect is not true (it went down in Finland and then went back up), and might've been positive (getting married causes both low testosterone and more children). Less children is due to being less religious.
Remember, eugenics isn't real!
This is not even remotely true I don't know what you're basing this on.
Thanks for correcting my mistake.
I paid $20 apiece for shots at a bar in Reykjavik. I paid (IIRC) $5 for a bottle at the airport.
(The bars are especially expensive. I'm told that all the Icelanders pre-game before going out drinking. If you plan to drink while in Iceland, pick it up on your way in.)
Alcohol stronger than beer can only be purchased at the state-run "wine monopoly", alcohol percentage stronger than 60% classified as narcotics and illegal, opening hours for alcohol sale (beer included) are mandated to be much shorter than for stores in general, no alcohol sales allowed on public holidays, Sundays or Saturdays after 3pm/6pm (wine+ and beer, respectively), etc.
Culturally, you can trace this back to the Protestant Christian heritage, where excessive alcohol consumption was considered both sinful and destructive. I'm certain there was something to the heavily negative view on the health- and socioeconomic effects of alcohol at the time (combined with poverty, hunger, cold, dark winters, isolation and the need for cooperating to thrive in such a climate), so I don't think it just boils down to unsubstantiated religious feelings.
There is still consensus that this is a good way of doing things, although the minority Christian conservative political wing are loudest about it.
However I don't think it's fair to punish everyone for this. Many people have no issues limiting their alcohol and a once-in-a-while binge is not an issue.
But anyway I would never want to go near Svalbard, wayyy too cold for me anyway :) And I couldn't cope with 3 months of continuous darkness.
Antarctica's seasonal peak is around 5,000.
So even when Antarctica might have more people at times, its population density is still way lower.
I doubt local shops have particularly good assortment to choose from, do they?
Their selection is pretty great, but obviously imposes limits vs. a totally open import arrangement. And if a local store doesn't have something in stock, you can order it for later pickup, much like at a library with multiple branches. I don't know how that works in Svalbard, since it's so remote, but I wouldn't be surprised if they follow more or less the same procedures.
Interestingly, since they are a single buyer for millions of people, the Vinmonopolet purchasers get some great deals. And, since it's state-owned and very regulated, there are rules about how much they can mark up a bottle vs. their purchase price. So, you see this weird phenomenon in which people from elsewhere in Europe will fly to Norway to buy a case of some vintage that turned out really well and as a result is super-expensive everywhere else.
It seems this may also be a measure to boost local sales?
Other posters have given more detail but here is some reading:
Alcohol has 1.2 to 80% ABV, anything less is classified as low in alcohol and different rules apply. Anything above isn't meant for consumption.
5.5% ABV drinks are the strongest you can buy in a normal grocery store. It used to be 4.5% and the drinks had to be fermented, no liquor blends for example were allowed. These days they're allowed.
Anything above 5.5% can only be bought from the state run monopoly, Alko, or ordered, which in itself is a complex issue and Finland is breaking the EU directives currently when it comes to that.
Anyone over the age of 18 can buy alcohol up to 22% ABV, you have to be over the age of 20 to buy stronger. Selling >22% stuff to an 18 year old is illegal.
Meanwhile, the Swedes go to Denmark for cheap alcohol, the Danes go to Germany, the Germans to Poland and the Poles to Ukraine. Thus Ukraine is the fixed point of the alcohol-flow function. This theorem was proven when I was a PhD student in a research group which contained a Norwegian, a Swede, a German, a Pole and a Ukrainian - we extrapolated the Danish connection point.
https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/qatar/lifestyle/food-drink/...
EDIT: yes article mentions this
The letter must be addressed to the Qatar Distribution Company, be stamped and signed by an authorised person within the company, and include the following information:
The applicant's position within their company
The applicant's basic salary. The word 'basic' must be used. To get a permit a minimum salary is needed (4,000 riyals or 1,100 US dollars)
Whether the applicant receives an accommodation entitlement or has free accommodation
Whether the applicant is married
When applying for a permit an individual must fill in an application form, pay a returnable deposit and state their religionLooking at the situation now though, it looks like it might be a very tiny bit more liberal, in that you still need a "personal consumption licence", but the quota appears to have been done away with.
When I read this my first thought was something like, "I bet that those who don't drink are making a bit of profit on the side by selling their allowances." However, I'm guessing that for Svalbard's dedicated drinkers ...they're finding a way around the import restrictions.
It would be interesting to hear how folks deal with the restrictions by someone that lives on Svalbard or has spent significant time there.
If you don't mind the higher price I'm sure you can still import it as long as you pay the duty. (The linked page merely says that you cannot import tax-free.) So ultimately it's the same situation as in (the rest of) Norway, but with some small allowance of cheaper tax-free alcohol. If they didn't have the quotas, people would arbitrage it.
24 bottles of liquor, 6 bottles of fortified wines, nearly 300 cans of beer, and unlimited wine annually is low? I'd hate to be the liver of anybody drinking that much.
Looking at the numbers on a smaller scale, if you don't count the unlimited wine, the monthly quota works out to be about 2.2 drinks / night - about 1.5 shouts of liquor and less than 1 light beer a night.
Thats a pretty resonable amount of alcohol to consume - just slightly higher than the 14 drinks / week maximum that many health authorities recommend.
How would you feel if the government regulated how much sugar or salt you can eat, how many hours of video games you can play, or maybe even forced you to exercise 400 hours (per year)?
That's actually an interesting idea... Not saying I'd recommend it, but I'd be interested in how this affects a population at a large scale.
Requiring physical activity might lead to population demand for parks, more social interaction, less isolationism, less conflict. And I've had times where a hard limit on video games would've been nice. Incentivizing a society to not fall to their vices doesn't sound too bad.
One reason this would be bad is there is actually very little evidence that salt is bad for you. It's entirely possible most people don't get enough salt.
Adults of legal drinking age can choose not to drink or to drink in moderation by limiting intake to 2 drinks or less in a day for men and 1 drink or less in a day for women, when alcohol is consumed. Drinking less is better for health than drinking more.
2/day is a recommended upper bound, applied on days where alcohol is consumed. Not the same as "you can drink 2/day year -round without consequence."
So a bottle of wine, a six pack, five shots, every week.
Gives me a headache just thinking about it.
I believe that there are studies that show that amount of alcohol significantly reduces life expectancy.
Being a remote town in the far north with unusual day/nighy cycles does require some strange laws to keep everyone safe and sane I guess.
Also, Tom has been there ofc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFJ-ze2-SqU
That's not quite what it says. Firearms are only a recommendation.
> Due to the polar bear threat in Svalbard, anyone travelling outside the settlements must be equipped with appropriate means of frightening and chasing off polar bears.
> The Governor of Svalbard also recommends having firearms with you.
If a polar bear is charging me, I want his ancestors to feel what I'm going to do to him.
A handgun may well not have the stopping power. But something like pepper spray (bear mace) might.
I believe it became less popular with the popular revolutions of 1848 and the advent of universal conscription.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/268dmc/how_w...
Crossbows on the other hand were practically banned, but this was more because a highly skilled longbowman was more deadly
So it's not like people are going around shooting up polar bears for fun or anything :)
“While part of the Kingdom of Norway since 1925, Svalbard is not part of geographical Norway; administratively, the archipelago is not part of any Norwegian county, but forms an unincorporated area administered by a governor appointed by the Norwegian government, and a special jurisdiction subject to the Svalbard Treaty that is outside of the Schengen Area, the Nordic Passport Union and the European Economic Area.”
Also, from what I remember, there is a weekly quota at the store at McMurdo station in Antarctica, but I think that probably has more to do with limited supply than rampant alcoholism (there is also a quota for soda and LaCroix...).
You have to pay tax on what you drink in Svalbard like the rest of the world.
You also get a small tax free quota.
24 cans of beer consumed in one sitting would be excessive.
The actual quota is less than one can per day, though, which seem too strict to me (with respect to a government restriction, I mean).
Editing to add - it is a good thing if it has changed.
Last time I drank alcohol was pre-COVID. I only drank 1-3 a month and only 2-4 beers and 2-4 shots.
So, I don't drink very often (I don't abstain completely either). Drinking every day seems like something that would really take a lot out of me.
More than I get through, but low for a serious boozer.
The ability to drink other things (scotch, wine, etc) is irrelevant if you only drink beer.
Maybe it is just the lives I've seen ruined by alcohol that as made me grumpy about alcohol consumpsion, but I would be concerned if someone is drinking enough to have a hangover every weekend.
Probably a thriving market in non-drinkers selling their quotas, too
“A prescribed number or percentage that may serve as, for example, a maximum, a minimum, or a goal.”
Here is the definition....
:a proportional part or share
especially : the share or proportion assigned to each in a division or to each member of a body