J-Day

Yesterday (Nov. 1) was J-day, the day when one of Denmark's most well known and popular breweries, Tuborg, releases their Christmas beer - Julebryg. The brewery comes to the major cities in Denmark and hands out free beer starting at 8:59pm. The tradition started in 1990 and has changed a bit over time, including moving the release due to the large number of hungover Danes according to the Copenhagen Post:

Adopting its name from the Second World War's D-Day, J-Dag was established by Tuborg back in 1990 in connection with the release of its Christmas beer, which occurred on the second Wednesday in November at 23:59.
In 1999, J-Dag was moved to the first Friday in November at 20:59, a move that was primarily agreed upon because there was a lot of trouble with young people not showing up for class the following day.

Even NPR did a story about it. Jon and I went a couple blocks south to some of the bars that were rumored to be stops on the truck's journey around Copenhagen. While we did not see the truck, we did enjoy several Julebryg drafts after 8:59. (The bars cannot serve it until 8:59 or supposedly they will end up on Tuborg's blacklist). 

A photo from the Carlsberg website - unfortunately we did not see the truck or the horse-drawn carriage 

Julebryg on draft, notice the blue Santa hat on the tap.

Women dressed in Tuborg outfits were at the bar handing out blue Christmas accessories, including these awesome Santa hats. Since the beer has blue labeling, all the Christmas items are blue. They also handed out flashing light sticks (you can see one in the background), which of course initiated some light saber fights.

Spoils from last night: blue blowup Christmas tree. It says "Merry Christmas and Happy Tub' years"

Still enjoying the light-up hat this morning with some paleo pancakes.