The Hirshon Gourmet Norwegian Mulled Wine – Gløgg

Spiced wine has in fact been a popular beverage across the world for more than 3,000 years now – even “The Iliad” mentions soldiers enjoying spiced wine with goat cheese. Sources indicate that the Romans had a similar drink called “conditum paradoxum”, which could be translated as “surprising spices. In a cookbook from the 300’s, “De re coquinaria” (On the Art of Cooking), there is a recipe for the Roman version of “gløgg”.

Another precursor to gløgg was “Hypocras”, which was considered a health drink, or medicine. In writings from Antiquity, there is mention of healing spices and herbs being added to heated wine. Hypocras was named after Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine.

In the Nordic countries, hot wine has been a common drink since at least the 16th century. The original form of gløgg, a spiced liquor, was consumed by messengers and postmen who travelled on horseback or skis in cold weather.

Sweden saw the arrival of glögg during the 1500’s. King Gustav Vasa was the first famous person to have proclaimed “glögg” their favorite drink. “Lutendrank” was an early version of glögg. The King inspired his son, Erik XIV, to also become a lover of glögg. For his coronation in 1561, Erik ordered 201 “kannor” (500 liters, or some 130 gallons) of glögg.

DENMARK: The Danish word gløgg is imported from the Swedish glögg. Early on it was called glødet vin which evolved into the word glødg, and is used today.

NORWAY: The word gløgg stems from the Swedish “glödgat vin”, mulled wine, from the 1600s. Hanna Winsnes, born in Drammen in 1789, wrote Norway’s first published cookbook, “Skrub”, in 1845. It has a glögg recipe, to be served warm.

FINLAND: Glögg came to Finland via Sweden. During Finland’s Prohibition (1919-1932) glögg drinking vanished almost completely. When the prohibition was done away with, glögg was advertised in magazines directed to the Swedish-speaking part of the Finnish population. Hence, in the 1950s-1960s, drinking glögg was enjoyed almost exclusively among that part of the Swedish-Finnish population. A decade later, recipes for glögg started appearing in Finnish magazines as well, and since then, most of Finland has incorporated glögg in its Christmas celebration.

German-speaking people drink “gluhwein”, a warm, spiced wine. In English, it is called “mulled” wine. The French and Swiss name it “vin chaud”, and the Italians “vin brulé” (French for burnt wine). Romania: “vin fiert”; Serbia: “kuvano vino”; Poland: “grzane wino”; Slovakia: “varené vino”; Russia: ”глинтвейн”, Czech Republic: “svarené vino”; Slovenia: “kuhano vino”; Hungary: “forralt bor”; Brazil: “quentao”, and in Chile it is called “navegado”.

As noted on norwegianamerican.com:

There is evidence that spiced wine dates as far back as ancient Egypt, circa 3150 BC, when it was used for medicinal purposes and was considered to be a remedial elixir of the afterlife. Egyptian medicinal wine was laced with pine resin, figs, and herbs such as balm, coriander, mint, and sage, according to spicyvines.com.

Reports of wine being enhanced with herbs and spices during the Roman Empire have been documented in early writings of Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD). The Vikings weren’t around until the eighth to the 11th century.

Glögg, gløgg, and similar words are the terms used for mulled wine in the Nordic countries—sometimes misspelled as glog or glug. It is spelled gløgg in Norwegian and Danish, glögg in Swedish and Icelandic, and glögi in Finnish and Estonian, according to Wikipedia. If you’re in Germany or Austria, ask for Glühwein. In France, it is vin brulé, which is ignited with a long match. (Tip: do not imbibe until the flame is out.)

But hold those fireworks. All these versions share a history with mulled wine.

However you spell it, the hot beverage is popular from Halloween through Christmas, and beyond to New Year’s Eve and other cold winter days.

Gløgg usually contains fruit and nuts. Many recipes call for a red wine base, with the addition of port, sherry, vodka, or akevitt. But there are a variety of recipes that use white wine, or non-alcoholic fruit juices such as black currant, grape, or apple cider as a base.

Generally the main ingredients of alcoholic glögg are red wine, sugar, spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, and orange. Stronger spirits such as vodka, ake­vitt, or brandy are optional. There’s no need to purchase high-end red wine for this liquid treat, as the spices, fruit, and nuts will overpower the wine to a degree. In fact, rumor has it that spiced or mulled wine was invented to cover up bad-tasting wine!

The main admonishment from devotees of gløgg: do not boil the mixture, because the alcohol will evaporate.

In Sweden, gingerbread and lussebullar (also called lussekatter), a type of sweet bun with saffron and raisins, are typically served. It is also traditionally served at Julbord, the Christmas buffet. In Denmark, gløgg pairings typically include æbleskiver sprinkled with powdered sugar and accompanied by strawberry marmalade. In Norway, gløgg is paired with rice pudding or riskrem.

Since the early 19th century, gløgg has been a common winter drink, mixed and warmed with juice, syrup, and sometimes with a smaller quantity of harder spirits or punsch. At the end of the 19th century, gløgg mixed with wine was drunk, but due to prohibition, consumption of gløgg almost stopped completely.

While mulled wine (hõõgvein) was long known and popular in Estonia, Swedish-style glögg (glögi in Estonian) spread into Estonia only in the 1980s and 1990s, mostly via Finland, and local commercial production of glögi started in Estonia in 1995.

Gløgg recipes vary widely; variations commonly start with white or sweet wine or spirits such as brandy or cognac. The production of gløgg begins by boiling water and adding spices to it. After a few minutes of simmering, the mixture is sieved and fruit juice, wine or clear spirits are added.

Other versions begin by warming up the wine, alcohol, and sugar (not boiling it) and letting the spices steep in it overnight. The most common spices in gløgg are cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and ginger. Other common ingredients can include citrus peel from oranges or lemons, raisins, or almonds.

Gløgg can also be made without alcohol by replacing the wine with fruit or berry juices. Ready-made gløgg is usually based on grape juice, sometimes also blackcurrant juice, mixed fruit juice, apple juice or wine. There are also stronger, rum-based types of gløgg.

All gløgg is warmed up before use, but if it is wine-based or high in alcohol content, it should not be heated to boiling point. It is common to add whole almonds or raisins to gløgg while it is being warmed up or just before drinking.

The Nordic tradition of boozy drinking is of course, well-known thanks to the thousand-year brewing heritage of the region – and most especially, the Norwegian tradition of both mead and aquavit are two spirits that I have chosen to respectfully incline my metaphoric Valhalla drinking horn towards in this recipe!

The classic gløgg is based on a fruity red wine such as Beaujolais – but to add a more muscular spine to the drink, I have substituted Taylor Ruby Port for a portion of the Beaujolais (without altering the flavor tonality on the palate) as well as some aquavit (the classic Norwegian caraway-flavored spirit – buy My preferred brand here).

I have also chosen to add some herbaceous mead to the drink to bring gløgg more properly inline with Norway’s more…boisterous… Viking past. I am very fond of elderberry mead (buy it here) in this recipe, but feel free to substitute your favorite sweet, or herbal mead (or even a decent Sauternes). I also add a goodly hit of cardamom bitters to My gløgg recipe – cardamom is, of course, a classic flavor in Norwegian cooking and the bitters offset the sweetness of the drink very well indeed.

Citizens – I hope you will join Me in raising your punch glass of gløgg and wishing your Beloved Sovereign bon chance with His newest excursion to Norway in a few weeks! 😀

Battle on – the Generalissimo

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