-Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following.

[ Wind whistling ] Seafood from Norway.

♪♪ -Telemark -- a world of culture and history where nature knows no bounds, with the flavors of local delicacies.

Adventure awaits in Telemark.

[ Jet engine roaring ] [ Horn blows ] -We have arrived in the city of Tromso, one of the many ports you can reach along the Norwegian coast.

However, choosing to approach it by boat is more than just a mode of transportation.

It's an arrival in style.

-Is there anything interesting to do here in Tromso?

-There is, for instance, this beautiful hotel.

And, of course, there is this.

Airplanes.

Coffee.

Old fishing boat.

A bridge.

This guy.

Skoleboller.

The Arctic Cathedral.

Mountains.

This lady.

This!

And this guy.

-[ Chuckles ] -Wow!

Come on.

[ Laughter ] -I'm Arne Hjeltnes, and I'm gonna show you some exotic places and interesting people up north.

-I'm Stig Bareksten, and I will find good beverages and the nice flavors of the north.

-I'm Sigrid, and I'm looking for some lovely local ingredients for a good meal.

-Welcome to "People of the North."

Tromso is a very popular destination year round.

This far above the Arctic Circle, it's an ideal place to experience Arctic Ocean floating.

This exciting and secure adventure is not confined to daylight hours, making it equally thrilling during the nighttime.

At Polaria, an exceptional aquarium, delve into a fascinating exploration of northern wildlife where charming, bearded seals frolic in the water.

I am not part of the exhibition.

Tromso boasts of must-visit places, complemented by an array of restaurants serving good food and refreshing drinks.

The city is surrounded by breathtaking Arctic landscapes, making it an idyllic setting for a wide range of outdoor activities in every season.

Olhallen, the beer hall in Tromso, has a special place in the Arctic history.

This was the last pit stop for polar explorers and, of course, a welcoming harbor for the fishermen.

-Now we are at the Olhallen.

This is probably one of the most known pubs in the country, and this was established in 1928.

And it's been fishermen, hunters, locals going here for a drink or two.

-[ Laughs ] Cheers.

-Skol.

-Cheers.

Skol.

-Imagine all the stories have been told here since 1928.

-If the walls could talk.

-And if people could remember.

[ Aves and Bel-Ami's "Funny Thing About Love" plays ] -♪ Yeah, uh ♪ ♪ Help me sing ♪ -♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ -♪ Ohhh, ah ♪ -♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ -Where's Sigrid?

-I don't know.

-She's probably taken care of, but we have to find out more about this beer.

-I'm gonna meet the head brewer now, so let's go.

-I'm gonna find the owner.

♪♪ Next to the beer hall is the house where two immigrants started the world's northernmost brewery 150 years ago.

Hello, Harald.

-Welcome.

-What a place.

-Yeah.

This is the old house for the founder.

-Wow.

-Do you want a beer?

-Of course.

Of course I want a beer.

This brewery goes all the way back to two German brothers that came here.

And we're talking early 1800s.

What was Tromso like?

-That was a really small city.

And they came here in 1832, and there was literally nothing.

Tromso grew quite fast in the end of 1800.

But, of course, one of the brothers were baker, and his son was starting in trying to learn bakery here in Tromso and was sent to Germany, to Braunschweig and Hamburg to learn more, and came back to Tromso to continue that.

But he inherited a liquor store from his father-in-law.

He saw all the social problems with the -- -Because they were -- there was a lot of hard liquor.

-Yeah.

And the culture was that when you have money, you spend it.

So he saw that, and he had learned from his period in Germany that beer was a lower-alcohol alternative.

-Less problems with beer, and, of course, Germans know how to make this.

-Yeah.

♪♪ -This is our experimental brewery, 1,000 liter microbrewery with seven fermentors.

And the way we do all the testing, it started with the bayer -- a darker, bottom-fermented beer, full body, originally from Germany and from Bavaria.

As you can see, we have a nice foam, a brownish color, dense foam.

Typical Bayer appearance.

-This is definitely full body, that's for sure.

But I get some fruitiness in the background of it.

-Yeah, from our yeast strain.

We ferment about 13°C, and then you get some ester compounds from the fermentation.

-It's a very delicate beer, though.

For me, bayer is like the all-round beer.

-Mm.

-It works with everything.

If you don't know how to put beer to food, choose a bayer.

-I agree.

-How do you see the future for this region?

-The nature here is spectacular.

The privilege that we can use clean water directly from the mountain.

So it's perfect for making a crisp pilsner.

-It's actually quite healthy.

-Yeah.

As healthy as a beer can be.

[ Laughter ] -What you are looking for in a light lager is that you have no off flavors.

You could feel you have no typical diacetyl or buttery flavors or something.

So it's clean and crisp.

-It's light, but it's definitely a beer.

This is like full flavor, but dry.

-Yeah.

The public, they have more and more focus on sugars.

-Yeah.

-Less sugar and less energy.

This fulfilled all my expectations for pilsner.

Even if it's a no sugar at all.

-We're very glad to hear it.

-Skal.

-Skal.

-Recently, Stig and I took a short detour from Tromso to Lyngen, where there is an attraction for guys like us -- A distillery.

But not just any distillery.

Why didn't we go during the summer?

-Good question.

-[ Laughs ] The world's northernmost distillery -- Aurora Spirits.

Tor, you have to tell us this incredibly crazy idea of putting a distillery in these remote areas of the world.

-It was actually a friend of mine who was in Scotland, and he visited all the distilleries and came back to Northern Norway and said that, "Hey, we got to make a distillery."

We were discussing it and I thought it was kind of crazy, you know?

But we looked into the numbers and after a while we thought, maybe it's not such a bad idea after all.

We got some good qualities up here.

Fresh water, cheap electricity.

So I quit my job, sold away a lot of stuff, raised all the money we had and just went all in with this.

I went back to my friend and said to him, "I'm going.

We're going all in.

We're doing this."

And then he thought I was crazy.

[ Laughter ] ♪♪ For more inspiration, visit our website peopleofthenorth.net.

-This looks like a real bunker.

♪♪ -The whole theme is based around Norse mythology and in Old Norse mythology you had nine different worlds.

We had decided to make a program where we have nine different releases, and the first release is called Niflheim, which was a world of fog and mist and very mysterious place.

-Everything they make here is based on handcraft and local herbs and flavors.

-Mm.

Smells good.

♪♪ -Does it smell of kveik, Stig?

-Smell whiskey.

But I think it's great to combine, uh, the culture heritage when it comes to spirit and whiskey, because that's, uh, two very good things.

-Then in half a year's time or so, this is ready?

-Technically, you can say it's ready.

Uh, if it's something we're going to release, that's another question.

Give it a good whack.

Let's go.

-I hereby declare this case closed.

Back into some more refreshments and delicacies is in our itinerary.

-This is the tiniest, fully-licensed bar in the universe, and it's in the middle of Tromso City.

We're going to take a little break here at the smallest bar in the world.

Arne's at the food festival.

If you are in Tromso in September, you can join the world's northernmost food festival, SMAK.

Taste where local specialties draw a big crowd.

This is a specialty from this area, from Tromso.

Dutta, she was actually unemployed.

You lost your job?

-Yeah, I was a sailor.

And I was sailing in all over the world.

-And then you decided that you had to do something different.

-I need to do something.

I needed some work.

-You needed a job.

And then why donuts?

-Because people like it.

They are, uh -- And they buy it again and again and again.

-A good donut.

What's the secret?

-You make it with love.

-Dutta's donuts.

If you're ever in Tromso... -Or in Harstad or in Sortland or in Norway.

[ Laughter ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Johnny, you are one of the stars in our first season of "People of the North."

-Yes.

-We were at your place.

Now you have opened a pop-up restaurant in Tromso, why?

-There is a big food festival in Tromso which starts on Wednesday, and the next time we had it happening in Tromso is Friday and Saturday.

And in between it was two days where I had my chefs walking around in the big city and a lot of bars.

So I thought it was good to have something else to do.

-So keep them busy.

-Yeah, keep them busy.

So, and then we found this building from Mydland who's a big meat farmer in Tromso who has this house.

And it's very nice that you can rent it for two days and have a pop-up restaurant here.

-And it is actually a very limited experience because there's only four seatings at your pop-up restaurant.

-Yes.

-And then everyone knows that if you want to have your food, you have to go to Alta.

-Yes.

-Thank you Johnny.

-Thanks.

♪♪ -It is time for our gang to contribute.

Stig has invited Thea, sixth-generation brewery owner, for a dry martini session.

I'm here with Thea.

You are the sixth generation.

-Yeah.

-Your position here is?

-Market and event.

So I have the whole building here.

Everything that happens here goes through me.

We have daily tours, we can have mini tasting, beer tastings.

We have events down in Olhallen.

We have dinners upstairs in the living room.

So it's a lot of things happening here.

Martini -- that's all about the gin.

And you can be quite creative when you come to all the other stuff.

So it's gin and I'm going to use this porter as well to kind of give it some sweetness.

And instead of the more traditional, it's dry.

This is a sweeter side.

And I'm going to use orange as well to kind of give it some freshness.

And this will be the next signature cocktail for this bar.

-I'm going to remember it.

-Okay?

♪♪ ♪♪ So, this is a mack martini.

-This is the place where it's happening.

-Yes.

-Here you are.

-Ah!

-Hi.

-Welcome.

-Thank you.

-It's martini time.

-Perfect.

-The best time.

-The best time.

-[ Laughter ] -Now we have a dry martini in your secret little bar in this old building.

How was it?

-Oh, it was really good.

It was -- I feel the mixture between the orange and the sweet sweetness from the porter was really good.

-And you get all the woody notes as well.

-Yeah.

-Mixing the oak porter with the other good things and putting in the orange, it was a good, um -- It's a bit like heavy taste, but also freshness with the orange.

But it reminds me of Christmas.

I like this one.

-Given that you have been brewing here since 1877, I'm sure that it's going to be another couple of hundred years at least, with the fantastic water you have, and that you have your next generation in place.

-Well, I hope so.

-Let's go.

Merry Christmas!

[ Laughs ] For more inspiration, visit our website peopleofthenorth.net.

The Arctic Capital Tromso has lots of attractions to taste and see, but that is definitely true for the surroundings as well.

Outdoor life and great nature is very close in these parts.

And in the autumn, the colors are really breathtaking.

It is time to head out of town because we have a rendezvous with a very special guy who actually holds up a many thousand-year tradition.

♪♪ -Reiulf.

-Hello.

In this area, close to the city of Tromso, how is it for reindeer herding?

-It's a perfect area for reindeer herding.

It's nice mountain-- In the summertime when it's warm, the reindeer likes to go on the biggest mountain when the snow stays longest.

And the green coming up on the side of this snow, it's the best food for reindeer with most energy.

That's how they build these muscles in summertime.

-Do you think your children will take over this herding?

-I pretty much hope that.

-Do they have any choice?

-No.

Not really.

[ Laughter ] I'm quite old fashioned.

The children and my wife are always, of course, everything to me.

But the reindeers are quite strong also.

[ Laughter ] -A proper campfire with coffee and reindeer meat is a well-known Sámi recipe for making life in the North a little bit more pleasant.

-This is your lunch when you're in the mountain, the dried reindeer meat.

-Yeah.

It's nice to put it inside the coffee cup.

Just leave it there until we are finished drinking, then you eat it.

Then you get some salt, uh... -Salt coffee.

-Salt coffee.

-I know that you're not allowed to ask any Sámi reindeer herder how many reindeers do you have.

There is a reason why.

Until... Yeah, maybe middle of 1800s, there were three states pushing the Sámi people to pay tax.

-Yeah.

-It was the Star State, this Russia, it was Swedish, and Danish.

They, all of them wanted money.

And from the Sámi because the border wasn't clear enough.

So they said, "It's my land, it's my land."

So that's probably the biggest reason why Sámi are still not telling people.

I used to tell people, "I will tell you when I have enough."

-[ Laughter ] -And you don't have enough yet.

-No, no, no, no.

-We can see some reindeer here and there.

But this time of year they are particularly scared of people like us.

-Mm-hmm.

-Why?

-This is the mating time.

I don't need to explain what mating time-- -No, I get it.

I get it, I get it.

-You never know about people from the South.

-No, I know we -- we people from the South are ignorant people.

But I know what mating is.

And not to go into too much details, but even people like to be a little left on their own when they mate.

[ Laughter ] ♪♪ ♪♪ Sigrid is inspired by our Sámi friend Reiulf, and has invited Sandra from the local meat producer and butchery Mydland to make an outdoor feast with a cooking pit, a genius method that goes back to the Iron Age, 1500 years ago.

The principle is very easy -- Dig a hole, fill it with rocks, and heat up the stones with a burning fire.

And then you will have an all-natural stove.

-Yes!

-Yes!

[ Speaking in native language ] -While the women are down there preparing the reindeer in this fantastic cooking pit, I have some plans for a little starter.

It's not the king crab.

It's the really new fisheries from Norway.

It's the snow crab.

And it's harvested in the Barents Sea, not far away from Spitsbergen.

It already is wrapped in its own shell.

So we can just throw it on the fantastic fire we have here, and then just break it up and eat it.

-The meat looks great.

-Really good.

This is a good leg from a happy reindeer.

Been running around.

-Wild on the mountains.

-We're going to put some salt on it and then marinate the cured meat in this one.

Wrap it in with the cabbage, at the end just to finish it up as a great gift, cover it with the warm rocks and then the lid at the top.

Wow!

-Yeah!

-Whoo-hoo!

This looks really cool, huh?

-It really does.

-It will stay for six, seven hours.

-Yeah.

-Could be longer even, but I think we'll try it then.

-But I have some sausage with me.

-Great.

Shall we?

-A waiting sausage.

-A waiting sausage we say in Norwegian, yeah.

-Perfect.

Cool.

-Thank you.

-I am preparing some starters for you.

And I know that you, Sandra, you're from a well-known family company here in Tromso.

-I brought some products from Mydland.

-Which is your name.

-Which is my name.

I'm the fifth generation in the Mydland Company.

So here we have reindeer sausages.

-Mm-hmm.

-So I was thinking we could, um, grill them.

-Can't have too much reindeer when you're in Tromso.

-You cannot.

♪♪ -Look at this.

Just barbecue in its own shell.

That's fantastic.

-Mm.

-Mm, this is really good.

-Mm.

It's a little bit sweeter than the king crab.

-Mm.

-Oh, it's absolutely wonderful.

-So tender.

You can almost not call it preparing.

-Yeah, exactly.

-That's why I made it.

-[ Laughter ] -And that's why I left the reindeer to you girls while I prepared this.

Took a long time.

Mm.

Look at this.

Pure meat.

Reindeer meat.

What's the secret with a fantastic sausage?

-The best meat... that's a secret.

And a good, good quality.

-Oh!

Mm!

-You taste the reindeer.

-This is surf and turf.

-It is.

This is what it's all about.

To keep the legacy, really.

-This is the kind of legacy I like.

[ Chuckles ] ♪♪ -Now the meat have been in here for about five, six hours.

Looking very good.

-Oh, oh, wow!

-It's so hot.

This looks fantastic, Sigrid.

-And it's been laying for many hours, and now it will be super exciting to open up and see.

-I think a couple of thousand years ago, people on this island by the coast cooked in this manner.

-Exactly the same way.

♪♪ -It is time to check the Iron Age main course.

Look at this.

It's perfect.

-We'll eat it like they did in the old days, just with their bare fingers.

And then now we have a good blueberry sauce.

-And I actually ordered it medium-rare.

-[ Laughter ] -Perfect.

-This sauce is with blueberry and the oak porter and... -Blueberry syrup and some good cream.

-Everything you need.

-All you need.

-...for an outdoor fiesta at the Kvaloya.

-[ Speaking in native language ] Really fantastic!

-Mm.

Autumn in Tromso is really worth the trip.

And you have so many lovely things to eat here and look at.

-Mm.

[ Chuckles ] ♪♪ For more inspiration, visit our website peopleofthenorth.net.

-We try to catch some cod, try various speed, mainly close to the bottom, but you can retrieve it quite quickly and then stop and let it fall down to the bottom.

So that's a very good... -A cod would be nice.

What do you think about my technique?

-Okay.

But some training will do.

Then we will reach half the way to the island.

♪♪ -It's all about patience.

It's fish guarantee if you go to Northern Norway, right?

-Yeah.

Of course.

Yeah.

We have so much fish here.

-I think he has a catch.

Whoo-hoo!

-Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

Whoo-hoo-hoo!

Look at this one, huh?

-Fresh.

Fantastic.

Good-sized cod.

-Whoo-hoo!

Stig, dinner is ready.

-Well, it's not actually enough for Stig.

So it's dinner for two, Sigrid.

It's going to be dinner for two.

-Ack!

-It's sad, but we have to leave.

-That's sad because it's so much fun to do here.

So much nice people to meet.

And there's so many activities you can do.

-And good flavor, Stig.

-Good flavors.

A lot of good food, a lot of good drinks.

And thanks to two brothers that came here in the late 1800s, we have had a lot of good beers.

-So we recommend an autumn trip to Tromso.

-The Arctic Capital, Tromso never ceased to impress us.

Many of the attractions here are northernmost in the world, but still there is warmth, good food, and very welcoming people.

People of the very North.

-Tellus Works.

For more inspiration, visit our website peopleofthenorth.net.

-Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following.

[ Wind whistling ] -Seafood from Norway.

♪♪ -Telemark -- a world of culture and history where nature knows no bounds, with the flavors of local delicacies.

Adventure awaits in Telemark.

[ Jet engine roaring ] ♪♪