Vikingfjord Vodka is a brand of vodka

Vodka

Vodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....

, distilled

Distillation

Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....

 from potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

es and bottled by the Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 company Arcus. It is distilled through a five-column

Fractionating column

A fractionating column or fractionation column is an essential item used in the distillation of liquid mixtures so as to separate the mixture into its component parts, or fractions, based on the differences in their volatilities...

 process, using only glacial water

Water

Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...

 from the Jostedalsbreen

Jostedalsbreen

Jostedalsbreen is the largest glacier in continental Europe. It is situated in Sogn og Fjordane county in Western Norway. Jostedalsbreen lies in the municipalities of Luster, Balestrand, Jølster, and Stryn. The highest peak in the area is Lodalskåpa at a height of .Jostedalsbreen has a total area...

 glacier in South-Western Norway.

Vikingfjord Vodka is sold in Norway, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Vikingfjord won the Gold Medal in the 2006 San Francisco Worlds Spirits Competition in the Unflavored Vodka, 40% category.

History

Viking Fjord Vodka was launched in 1985 by a partnership between the Norwegian state-owned wine and spirits monopoly Vinmonopolet and the US supplier Heublein. initial sales were not good, and in 1986 Heublein was acquired by Grand Metropolitan, which already distributed a number of well-known, established vodka brands. A few months later, Heublein stopped marketing Vikingfjord.

Vinmonopolet decided to go for its domestic market and, in 1986, launched Viking Fjord, its premium vodka made with Norwegian glacial water.
Four years after the Norwegian launch, the Norwegian design agency Grid was commissioned to redesign the bottle. At the same time the product name is changed from Viking Fjord to Vikingfjord Vodka. The relaunched Vikingfjord Vodka sold well. In the same year, Arcus AS, a privately-owned company independent of Vinmonopolet which had taken over production and distribution, decided to work the export market to a greater extent. In 2001, Vikingfjord Vodka was relaunched in the USA, this time more successfully.

Vikingfjord Vodka has since won several prizes in international wine and spirits competitions and is a bestseller in Norway. Demand is also high outside Norway. Its sales success has justified continued development of products and flavours. At the start of 2007, three flavoured vodkas were added to the range: Blueberry, Apple and Citrus. In the following year, all flavours won prizes in The International Wine & Spirit Competition and The International Spirit Challenge.