2350) "Föroya Bjór", Faroe Islands: SEPAC - 2022: "Local Beverages" Theme: Posta/Postverk Foroya (Postal Works of the Faroe Islands) has issued a Postal Stamp of 29.00 DKK commemorating the well-known Distillery of the Faroes: Date of Stamp issue: 16.05.2022:
About Sepac:
The Small European Postal Administration Cooperation (SEPAC) is an association of 13 European Postal Authorities:
- Åland,
- the Faroe Islands,
- Gibraltar,
- Greenland,
- Guernsey,
- Iceland,
- the Isle of Man,
- Jersey,
- Liechtenstein,
- Luxembourg,
- Malta,
- Monaco, and
- Vatican City.
Luxembourg was not originally a member of SEPAC but it joined at the end of 2006. San Marino decided to leave and is no longer a member, as of 03/2020. SEPAC is smaller than PostEurop.
Vatican City does not participate in these issues.
The following criteria are requisites for membership:
- The postal administration must be located in Europe.
- The postal administration must be independent.
- The postal administration must have a small market with more than 50% of its philatelic customers living outside the country.
The theme of the 2022 SEPAC Stamp Issue is ”Local Beverages” :
In the Faroe Islands, the leading company in the field is the old brewery "Föroya Bjór".
About Föroya Bjór:
Föroya Bjór has for almost a century and a half supplied the Faroese with beverages, be it beer or soft drinks of various kinds, and in recent years, more hard hitting drinks.
1888 – Símun í Vági:
In 1883, 20-year-old Simon Frederik Hansen, ”Símun í Vági” in colloquial speech, travelled to Denmark to learn to be a baker. In addition to learning professional baking, Símun also learned how to brew beer during his stay in Denmark.
In 1888, he returned to the Faroe Islands and started his own bakery - and in the same year he started making beer in the basement of his home in Vági (now Klaksvík). What kind of beer he brewed or how it tasted is lost in the mists of time, but it undoubtedly tasted great and the strength must have been reasonable.
This experiment led to the start of ”Föroya Bjór”, a brewery which over time has developed into the Faroe Islands’ largest brewery and a leader in the field.
Símun in Vági was an enterprising and creative person.
In addition to being a baker and brewer, he was also a farmer and a shipowner. He also designed Föroya Bjór’s iconic logo, the "Faroese Ram", which is featured on the stamp issue.
A devastating event:
Due to growing problems with alcoholism in the wake of free trade, the abstention movement grew mightily in the Faroe Islands around the turn of the last century.
After a referendum in 1907, beer with stronger alcohol content than 2.7 percent was banned in the islands.
This meant that Föroya Bjór and other Faroese breweries were only able to produce light lager beer as well as white beer.
Paradoxically, the Faroese were allowed to import stronger beer from Denmark - they were just not allowed to brew it themselves - and the same was true of wine and spirits.
As if this was not enough, times changed for the worse.
World War I brought harsh conditions to the Faroe Islands, as well as, to the rest of the world.
In 1929, the stock markets crashed on Wall Street, triggering yet another worldwide financial crisis that lasted well into the thirties.
The misfortunes of these times also affected the small brewery in Klaksvík, but Símun managed to cope with the recession and keep the company running fairly well.
Einar the Elder:
In 1935, Símun í Vági died. He and his wife Karin had 8 children and their fourth child, Einar Fróvin Waag, took over the management of the brewery.
Einar had inherited his father’s visionary and enterprising mind and already the following year, at the age of 36, he bought a soft drink machinery from a company called "Smæran” in Tórshavn (the Capital of the Aland Islands).
The soft drink production gave the necessary kick to Föroya Bjór, which under Einar’s leadership developed from being a small company to a large and modern industrial establishment.
In 1952, Einar built a new and larger factory close to the old brewery - the factory being expanded several times during the fifties and sixties.
Einar Junior:
In 1968, Einar’s son, Einar Waag Jr. went to Munich in Germany where he underwent training as a brewmaster. Two years later, in 1970, he took over the management of Föroya Bjór. He was only 23 years old.
He owned the brewery together with his brother Heini, but in 2008 Einar bought Heini’s share and is now the sole owner of the company.
Now a fourth generation descendant, Annika Waag – Einar’s daughter – works as an operations and development manager in the old family brewery.
A desert journey of 74 years finally ends:
In 1980, changes were finally made to the bizarre and baffling Faroese alcohol legislation.
Breweries were again granted permission to make beer with more than 2.7 percent alcohol content.
Föroya Bjór and its competitor "Restorffs Bryggjarí" (brewery) in Tórshavn soon started marketing real lagers and strong beers and a 74 years’ desert journey with diluted lagers finally came to an end.
Soon the supply of beers became more varied. Both breweries experimented with different beer types and strengths, but while Restorff’s brewery gradually ran into financial difficulties and eventually closed down in 2007, Föroya Bjór continued with product and production development, offering varied selections of beer and soda.
Present Day:
Presently, Föroya Bjór is responsible for 65% of Faroese beer sales and 45% of soft drink sales on the islands and has a presence in foreign markets, including in Denmark.
In recent years, production of distilled alcohol products has also begun under the manufacturer’s name ”Einar’s Distillery”.
In 2016, a new pot still was installed at the brewery with the aim of producing Faroese hard liquors such as aquavit, vodka, gin, cask aquavit, bitter and rhubarb liqueur. These products met with great success in the domestic market.
In addition, Föroya Bjór also embarked upon whiskey production but according to EU legislation whiskey must be stored for at least 3 years in oak barrels.
In November 2020, the first Single Malt Whiskey was launched. It was a huge success and sold out in less than an hour.
During 2021, 5 issues were added, between 500 and 1000 bottles each time and selling out instantaneously.
Both local and international experts have given the whiskey extraordinarily high grades - between 87 and 94 out of 100 possible. To meet the high demand, a new Washstill is in the works.
The Stamp:
The SEPAC - 2022 Stamp of 29.00 KR
A First Day Cover (FDC) shows a picture of the Foroya Bjor Brewery at left. The FDC is titled - "sepac 2022 Foroya Bjor".
The sepac - 2022 stamp issued is affixed at top right cancelled with a special cancellation stamp of Klaksvik Post Office. The cancellation date is - "16.05.2022."
A First Day Cover (FDC) having a Block (set of four stamps affixed at top right).
A Block (set of four stamps) - Lower Marginal
A Block (set of four stamps) - Upper Marginal
A Full Sheet (FS) consisting of 20 Stamps
A Maxi Card - Maxi Cards have all three elements on the same face - the picture, the stamp and the Cancellation Stamp/Postmark. The Picture shows the Brewery.
A Post Card
Technical details:
Issue Date: 16.05.2022
Designer: Anker Eli Petersen
Printer: bpost, Belgium
Process: Offset
Size: 26.66 mm x 40.00 mm
Values: 29.00 DKK
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