Vinmonopolet Oslo - Vika

No Longer In Business

I’ve been here several times in the last 5 years and allot has happened. On the first visit we could hardly find the beer shelf but on the last visit they even had a fridge to keep the beer cold. The prices are very high though and actually fairly close to what the pubs charge. Make sure to check out the food store in the same mall, they had some nice low ABV beers that I hadn’t tried before.

I like going here when I’m in Oslo. Nice selection of local breweries, import is partly standard and partly nice. I was surprised they had quite some Japaneese beer. To bad beerprizes are absurd in Norway,

The employees initial attitude gives a hint at what sort of clients they usually cater for. But that aside, when you first get them going, they are quite knowledgeable, and talkative. Almost too talkative, but I won’t hold that against them. The selection is quite good. Both not quite up to what I expected, based on what I’ve been told.

I thought I had rated this "specialist" Vinmonopolet store already - have visited 3 times, but my vistits from now on will be less mandatory, as Vinmonopolet Kvadrat (nearer my home turf) has also achieved the "specialist" store status. In Oslo, Vika is still the place to go. Good selection. Friendly staff. There is nothing to do about the outrageous beer prices in Norway, though ...

Note to tourists: in Norway all beers of 4.7% and above can only be sold in government controlled Vinmopolet stores, no real beer stores in Norway. This Vinmopolet location is well located because close to the touristy downtown part of Oslo, less than 10 minute walk from the main tourist spots. This Vinmopolet is located on the upper floor of an ugly small shopping mall, I hate going to shopping malls, even more so for craftbeer. Ok so here I am, my first visit to a Vinmonopolet and I knew beforehand that this location is one of the two Vinmopolet that offers an expanded beer selection (the other one being in Bergen) so I was pretty excited to do my first bottle shopping in Norway. What a letdown. One 20 feet wide row of beers + 2 little cold beer fridges. Maybe 200 different bottles. Half the selection is Norway micros, half are imports. They don’t seem to stack up on anything or have any special reserve, what you’ll find there is what is currently being distributed by the various breweries at this moment. I ended-up only buying Brewdog Lost Abbey Lost Dog and some Kinn Vestkyst, all overpriced, get used to it, this is Norway, bottle shopping is depressing in Norway. Quick note, this place seems to sell out more quickly than the Vinmopolets with smaller selections, there were a few beers I wanted that were sold out at this location that I found at other Vinmonopolet locations.

The selection had lots of Ægir, Nøgne Ø and Haandbryggeriet as the best in the Norwegian section. The foreign beers included De Molen and Revelation Cat as the better breweries. Plenty of standard beers as well. I didn’t get any service and I didn’t ask for it either, so that’s hard to quantify.

Here is where you can get beers that aren’t at other Vinmonopols, but be quick to get new releases because the beers go out fast. Overall they have one of the best beers available on bottle in Norway. Note that the shop is well hidden inside a shopping center that is not necessarily easy to spot from the outside. Also note that the special releases that are only available here is not to find in the webshop, you will have to go there and see for your self what they might be selling.

The store is hidden away, the employees are snooty and rude, and thought I might just have visited at a bad time, their selection of beer was pitiful.

A part of the chain of wine/booze/beer monopolies in Norway, but Vika and Vinmonopolet Valkendorfsgate in Bergen has a special status and usually has special releases that you can’t get at regular Vinmonopol shops. The people I’ve talked to who worked there really are interested in beer and knows their stuff. Plain and simple the best bottle shop in Norway (haven’t been to Bergen).

Just when I was dissing the monopoly, a guy at Handverkersteune told me about this place. Head and shoulders above othe Vinmonopolets that I visited, although still not comparable to average beer stores in other countries. This one did have a solid selection of Aegir, Haand, a hald dozen deMolen, a couple of sours from Mikkeller and the usual American sudpects you can find in bars. Worth a look.