Svalbard Vodka was launched in 2016 as a means of recognizing and celebrating the incredible purity of the Spitsbergen archipelago in polar Norway, now known as Svalbard. Our vodka is not just from Svalbard, it actually contains Svalbard in the form of precious glacier water from ice that first formed over 5,000 years ago. During the ensuing millennia, snow falls that blanketed the islands during the dark months of polar winter formed glaciers that cover much of the land today. Our vodka is made with water from glaciers that have been in existence since the construction of the pyramids and Stonehenge.
The Svalbard Treaty, signed in 1920, is the last working element of the Treaty of Versailles. Before the Svalbard Treaty came into power in 1925, the archipelago was legally terra nullius, unowned and ungoverned by any nation. The Svalbard Treaty granted sovereignty of the islands to Norway with a number of special conditions that make Svalbard’s status unique. Most important of these to our vodka is a requirement to preserve Svalbard’s environment.
This requirement, along with the islands’ remote location near the north pole; the lack of roads, bridges and people; and the fact that there are far more polar bears than people in Svalbard, have preserved and protected this mystical land. We believe the framers of the Svalbard Treaty would be proud of their creation and we salute their foresight with a frosty glass of Svalbard Vodka, on the rocks of course.
Explorer and financier
Explorer and financier
Explorer and Environmentalist
Mountaineer and expedition leader
Expedition leader and native-born Svalbardian