Julebryg

Before I get to the point of this post, let me say In Your Face, Suckas to every Republican who spent excess energy gloating at me after the election two years ago. I only wish I could be in the States to enjoy every moment of Republican defeat. Thankfully, I will be there for the election that will knock Bush out of power, sure to go down in history as one of the best days in my life. It's nice to daydream every once in a while.

But, back to Julebryg. Friday night I got to witness one of the more peculiar Danish traditions, the launch of Tuborg's Christmas beer. Nearly every Danish beer comes out with a Christmas beer, but "J-day" is when Tuborg's beer starts being sold at the bars. This national celebration used to be held on Tuesday nights but the Danish government actually asked Carlsberg (which owns Tuborg) to move it to a Friday night because so many people were hungover at work on Wednesdays.

Unsure really of what this tradition entailed, a group of us met up Friday night and headed to Råadhusplasen (the city center), which was completely and utterly TRASHED from the MTV awards the night before. Instead of the big party with free beer we were expecting to find, we saw a small train decorated with Tuborg fliers and a giant Tuborg truck. Eventually we figured out that the Tuborg truck goes around to bars and brings them two cases each of free Tuborg, along with blinking Tuborg hats and such.

When the back of the truck opens, instead of case after case of beer, we see this lively group of people:who then go in to a bar with the free beer and merch and sing the Tuborg Christmas song to the tune of Jingle Bells. After hearing this about 5 times, I was sick of it, but I heard it many more. So did they, which might explain why they weren't cheerful at all, despite wearing ridiculous Santa-esque costumes.

All over the city, bars were celebrating the launch; some even had fake snow machines. We, being lame Americans who thought it would be a big deal to miss the 20:59 launch, got tired early and headed back before midnight, when most Danes were heading out to celebrate.

Anyway, for your reading delight (although I'm guessing most of you won't be able to sing along since y'all have no idea how to pronounce Danish), the lyrics to Julebyrg.

Julen står for dør'n
for voksne og for børn
Og hvis du er julemand
så skal du ta' din dørn

Julen er et ræs
Du får "julestress"
Indtil Tuborg-julemanden
kommer med et læs

Julebyrg, julebyrg
Tuborg julebyrg
Ventetiden bli'r så sød
Julehjerte-glød

Julebyrg, julebryg
Tuborg julebyrg
Nyd den kold, og ønsk en ven
Glæd'lig jul igen

Don't ask me what it all means, but it was something to do with the beer being for everyone and being a good way to relieve Christmas stress and enjoy time with friends.