The world’s northern-most brewery is celebrating 10 years of brewing beer above the Arctic Circle.

Up in the High Arctic at 78 degrees north, 2025 will be a year of celebrations, with Svalbard Bryggeri (Brewery) toasting its 10th anniversary this year, and marking 100 years, and a much bigger celebration, of Svalbard law.

In addition to these anniversaries, the island will also literally light up on 8 March when the sun returns, as the earth begins to tilt towards the sun, bringing more joy to the polar regions. 

Master brewer Tizian Wieland told The Canmaker: “We’ll have specially designed [cans] for the 10-year anniversary and the Svalbard law anniversary.” 

The cans will be designed in-house by UK-born designer Charlie Wrightson.

Founded by former coalminer and airline pilot Robert Johansen, Svalbard Bryggeri is based in Longyearbyen on Svalbard, with a 2,500-strong population. It took Johansen four years to change the law on the Norwegian outpost to permit commercial brewing in 2015. 

Svalbard Brewery’s five core beers are sold under the Spitsbergen brand in Norway and are exported to Germany and Netherlands. The range comprises two German-style beers, a Weiss beer and Pilsner, and three British-style beers, an IPA, Pale Ale and a Stout. The beers are canned on site using Cask canning machinery.

Special edition cans of the bourbon barrel-aged Gruve 3 (Coal Mine Number 3) are supplied coated in black in a nod to Svalbard’s high-carbon content anthracite coal, according to Wieland. This is where Johansen had worked and is now only open as a visitor experience. The last working mine – Gruve 7 – is closing this year, as the island focuses on climate research and tourism.

Scientists have noted the dramatic rise in temperatures on Svalbard. Between 1960 and 2023, the average temperature rose by 5 degrees centigrade, with local wildlife – Arctic foxes, seals, reindeer and polar bears – having to cope with unpredictable weather.

However, the brewery is doing its bit to keep emissions low, replacing CO2 with nitrogen, using waste products from brewing to heat the building, and producing five core beers, seasonal beers and canned filtered glacial water, which is a back-up to the local unfiltered water supply.

Everything on the island must be shipped or flown in, including the 330ml standard brite cans supplied by Ball Packaging from its plant in Fosie, Sweden.

He said the benefit of cans in the Arctic winter is that “they don’t explode” and in the summer, “there’s no UV influence” from the 24 hours of daylight.

“It’s the best solution for the environment, it’s very light, so better to transport and can be recycled on the mainland. Cans are the most viable solution for us.”