Stig Bareksten, a Norwegian distiller, began working in the booze industry back in 1993. Having previously worked as a bartender (even attending bar school in London), Bareksten made the move into distillation in 2011 when he joined OSS Craft Distillery in Bergen, where he would eventually create Bareksten Gin. In 2015 he then co-founded Det Norske Brenneri.
The inspiration for the range of Bareksten spirits comes from the surrounding Norwegian forests, which is also where the brand sources a lot of its ingredients. Alongside local and organic botanicals, Bareksten spirits are made from a traditional Norwegian potato base in a single shot distillation. The 600-litre still is left to run slowly, taking nine hours to run in total. A handful of botanicals are suspended above the still in a vapour basket, the rest is added to the spirit for a full 24-hour maceration period. By 2019, the process of making this base will be entirely in house.