New evidence of "Nordic grog" discovered in Scandinavia
Thursday, January 16, 2014 - 07:30
in Paleontology & Archaeology
A blazing fire was not the only thing to keep Bronze and Iron Age Scandinavians warm through long cold winters. From northwest Denmark, circa 1500-1300 BC, to the Swedish island of Gotland as late as the first century AD, Nordic peoples were imbibing an alcoholic "grog" or extreme hybrid beverage rich in local ingredients, including honey, bog cranberry, lingonberry, bog myrtle, yarrow, juniper, birch tree resin, and cereals including wheat, barley and/or rye —and sometimes, grape wine imported from southern or central Europe.