Well, this is Norway, so the selection remains pretty bad and the prices stunningly high, but I guess this is the one place to go to get yourself a few bottles to bring back home. Forget about beer advice.

a good amount of beers, thats all but that is what we want :-) except the prices

Seems to be slipping. A good selection, including some you usually have to order, like Old Specled Hen, but no Julebokk, to mention one.

Very good selection af beer, according to Norwegian standards. Almost 95 % of available beers in the Vinmonopolet system was seen during my visit in October 2011.

Decent selection of beer. Above average of the Vinmonopolet stores in Oslo. Located in the basement of the Oslo City shopping center, right next to Meny (which have one of the best selection of beer below 4,75% ABV.) Convenient location in the city center next to the central station and bus terminal.

The price being what it is. What I like about the vinmonopolet is that you can go to their website, review their 72 beers and see which of their many locations spread across the country has which one. Quite service-oriented. Then again, I’m only here a few days so bought a couple of Nogne’s, Aass’s and a bottle from Lithuania. Those 5 bottles pushed me over the eur32 $40 mark... But they are good beers nonetheless.

Go here if you want to buy beers to take home with you. The selection is pitiful, but you will find at least quite a bit of Nøgne Ø, some Haandbryggeriet, some heavier Norwegian mass-produced beers (typically the bocks), and some Belgian and German beers. The selection tends to vary a little.

Every time I visit a Vinmonopolet store I feel baffled that the government can force the total selection of beers in a country to be this ridiculouly small. I can understand the idea behind the extreme taxes, but why limit the selection to near nothing? Admittedly there has been some improvement the last few years, but it’s still mediocre to say the least.

Vinmonopolet is a chain of government-owned liquor stores. They have a monopoly on the sale of beer above approx 4.75% abv, so a stop here is a MUST (beer under 4.75% is sold in grocery stores). The selection was typical for Scandinavia - lame. Try the Aass beer, it’s quite enjoyable. Also, some new Norwegian micros are springing up that are actually quite notable, such as Nogne O and Haandbryggeriet, so check them out.

The rating must be seen in connection with the poor selection in Norway. Also, the service rating would be higher is this site was named Ratewine. The knowledge of beer is next to zero. The upside of this store is that they have most of the beers available in Norway with an ABV of 4,8% +.