I asume the ship was quite a bit lighter by the time they returned.

I like aquavit, but consider it something to sip rather than guzzle. Never understood how the Norwegians could go through multiple bottles of it at Christmastime.

I know what you mean about Scandinavian drinking. A number of years ago I went to a whiskey bar in Scotland with a Dane and a Norwegian. We managed to make our way about halfway through the menu, which was many pages of just whisky.

I'm off today to my home brew club meeting. We sponsored a home brew contest at the local brewing company last week. About 150 entries of three bottles of each beer. The judges usually only needed one bottle of each. So today we'll get together and try to finish off the leftovers. I tried some of them last week while I was "helping" at the competition. Some tasty stuff in there.