Danish Luxury

Drinks Beer Bryggeriet Refsvindinge

Skibsøl

A Danish ship's beer, a bottom-fermented hvidtøl of 2.4 per cent brewed by Bryggeriet Refsvindinge on its own smoked malt.

Visit bryggerietrefsvindinge.dk

A bottle of Skibsøl before the brewery's team
A bottle of Skibsøl before the brewery's team

Pictures © Bryggeriet Refsvindinge, from bryggerietrefsvindinge.dk.

Why it is renowned

The Danish Gastronomic Academy gave the brewery its diploma of honour in 2021 for keeping skibsøl alive, writing that without the Rasmussen family and their village brewery this piece of Danish heritage would have disappeared.1 The Danish national encyclopedia Lex records Refsvindinge as the brewery that took the style up again.2

The story

Skibsøl takes its name from the Danish navy, which carried it as provisions; Kongens Bryghus brewed it for the fleet and Wibroe in Helsingør for merchant ships.21 It was brewed on smoked malt, whose phenols kept it from spoiling on long voyages through the tropics, and it quenched thirst without much alcohol.21 Danish breweries stopped making it in the late 1980s.2 Bryggeriet Refsvindinge took it up again in 1994 as a bottom-fermented hvidtøl of 2.4 per cent.2 It is brewed only on the brewery's own smoked malt and is said to taste of rope and tar.34

Sources
  1. Ellen Skjødt Rasmussen, Det Danske Gastronomiske Akademi. gastronomisk-akademi.dk, read 1 October 2026.
  2. skibsøl, Lex. lex.dk, read 1 October 2026.
  3. Specialøl fra Refsvindinge Bryggeri. bryggerietrefsvindinge.dk, read 1 October 2026.
  4. Om Refsvindinge bryggeri. bryggerietrefsvindinge.dk, read 1 October 2026.

Last checked 1 October 2026, against the maker's own pages.