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Svalbard's Alcohol Quotas

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41–50 of 163 posts

Re: Svalbard's Alcohol Quotas

#42
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 cans a beer a day would not be excessive by most standards, that would add up to 60 cans a month. 24 cans of beer consumed in one sitting would be excessive.

Is it really so common to drink alcohol every day?

Depends on culture, both national and local. In some it's very common (like my dad has a beer every day after work, or France / Italy where a glass of wine at lunch is not uncommon).

Re: Svalbard's Alcohol Quotas

#43

> Private individuals resident in Svalbard must purchase their alcohol quota in Svalbard and are not able to import tax-free alcohol from the mainland to Svalbard. I doubt local shops have particularly good assortment to choose from, do they?

same goes for Iceland, only place you can buy alcohol outside of a bar is from a government shop that closes at 18:00.

Iceland has their own breweries and i think you can get very reasonable beer, for example domestic ones

Re: Svalbard's Alcohol Quotas

#44
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 cans a beer a day would not be excessive by most standards, that would add up to 60 cans a month. 24 cans of beer consumed in one sitting would be excessive.

Is it really so common to drink alcohol every day?

I suspect it's not uncommon to find people who have wine nearly every day. Someone who is drinking two beers on many days is likely to have six on some days, making up for the odd day that they have zero.

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).

Re: Svalbard's Alcohol Quotas

#45
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 cans a beer a day would not be excessive by most standards, that would add up to 60 cans a month. 24 cans of beer consumed in one sitting would be excessive.

Is it really so common to drink alcohol every day?

A glass of wine after work to wind down is pretty popular no? (Culture: scandinavia)

Re: Svalbard's Alcohol Quotas

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 cans a beer a day would not be excessive by most standards, that would add up to 60 cans a month. 24 cans of beer consumed in one sitting would be excessive.

I almost feel the opposite: drinking every day is too much. One night out once a month is okay. (not drinking 24 bottles a night, though, except when celebrating Russ)

I've known plenty of daily drinkers and I have no idea how they do it. If I have even one drink I can notice the effects the next day. Not that I'll be hung over per se, but just a little more tired, little less focused, little less patient with my kids.

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.

Re: Svalbard's Alcohol Quotas

#47
Norwegian here. The reason for the quotas is historical and were put in place to limit miners' consumption of beer and liquor. Interestingly there's practically no quota on wine, presumably because miners didn't care much for that.

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).

Re: Svalbard's Alcohol Quotas

#49
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 cans a beer a day would not be excessive by most standards, that would add up to 60 cans a month. 24 cans of beer consumed in one sitting would be excessive.

Is it really so common to drink alcohol every day?

It’s not in the UK at any rate, the average varies between 12 and 17 units of alcohol per week depending on age with most of that falling on Fridays and Saturdays. 2 cans of beer per day works out at 28 units, so is certainly substantially more than average. I would guess there is a bubble affect though, most of my friends drink only on special occasions line parties, and regular drinking at home would be perceived as alcoholic behaviour by most of them.

Re: Svalbard's Alcohol Quotas

#50

> Private individuals resident in Svalbard must purchase their alcohol quota in Svalbard and are not able to import tax-free alcohol from the mainland to Svalbard. I doubt local shops have particularly good assortment to choose from, do they?

AFAIK Svalbard is weird in both immigration laws and a distinct tax structure from Norway. My guess is it has to do with tax avoidance schemes rather than consumption.
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