Beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

in Sweden has a history that can be traced to the late

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

History

Ale Ale is a style of beer, brewed using a warm fermentation method. In medieval England, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to balance the malt and act as a preservative. Ale ...

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...

history in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

predates written records. Through old writings, such as

Hávamál ''Hávamál'' ( ; Old Norse: ''Hávamál'',Unnormalised spelling in the Codex Regius:''Title'': hava mal''Final stanza'': Nv ero Hava mál q''ve''ðin Háva hꜹ''l''lo i ..classical pron. , Modern Icelandic pron. , ‘Words of Hávi Norse culture produced ale and mead">Viking Age">Norse culture produced ale and mead. Mead was preferred, and ale was the most common. The Scandinavians also had access to wine and beer. Modern reproductions of Norse brews have been known to produce ale as strong as 9 percent Alcohol by volume">ABV Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a common measure of the amount of alcohol contained in a given alcoholic beverage. It is defined as the volume the ethanol in the liquid would take if separated from the rest of the solution, ...

. Up until the 19th century, brewing was mostly a matter of production for household needs. The beer was usually weak in alcoholic content. For celebrations and feasts, stronger "feast-beer" and potent mead were brewed. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the Swedish brewing industry arose. In the mid-19th century, a multitude of small breweries grew into existence in the larger cities of Sweden. In the beginning of the 20th century, a trend of consolidation with mergers and buyouts began, which culminated in the late 1970s and the beginning of 1980. This led to the formation of three large brewery conglomerates;

Pripps Pripps is a former major brewery in Sweden and is now a part of Carlsberg, in which Pripps remains as a trademark. The company was based in Stockholm; their main product was Pripps Blå (Pripps blue). They also owned Ramlösa. Pripps was founde ...

Spendrups Spendrups Bryggeri AB is a Swedish brewery known as Grängesbergs Bryggeri AB until 1983. The company includes the subsidiaries Spring Wine & Spirits, Gotlands Bryggeri and Hellefors Bryggeri. Spendrups Group has approximately 900 employees and s ...

and

Falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...

, which pushed the smaller breweries. This led to a stereotype of the Swedish beers available as easily drinkable

lager Lager (; ) is a Type of beer, style of beer brewed and Brewing#Conditioning, conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be Pale lager, pale, Amber lager, amber, or Dark lager, dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially availab ...

s, lacking in taste and character. In the late 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, a new generation of small breweries spearheaded by the likes of Stockholm's Nils Oscar Brewery began to grow alongside the large companies. These companies offer customers many choices, and many of the beers are produced in Sweden with cultivated

brewing yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...

s (often imported from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

Classification

Swedish law defines two alcohol thresholds that govern where and to whom a given type of beer may be sold. ''Lättöl'', i.e., beer below the lower threshold (2.25% ABV), is considered a ''lättdryck'' (light beverage) and may be sold anywhere with no age restriction. For ''starköl'', beer above the upper threshold (3.5% ABV) may only be sold in

Systembolaget (, "the System Company"), colloquially known as ("the system") or ("the company"), is a government-owned chain of liquor stores in Sweden. It is the only retail store allowed to sell alcoholic beverages that contain more than 3.5% alcohol by ...

stores to people aged 20 or above and in

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

s to people aged 18 or above. ''Folköl'' (people's beer), beer between the two thresholds, may be sold in grocery stores, but only to people aged 18 or older. Since the 3.5% threshold is close to the alcohol content of an international lager beer, many international brands such as

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer (), or simply Heineken (), is a Dutch pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 February 1864, ...

Carlsberg Carlsberg may refer to: Places * Carlsberg (district), a district in Copenhagen, Denmark ** Carlsberg station, its train station * Carlsberg, Germany, a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany * Carlsberg Fjord, Greenland Other uses * Carlsbe ...

and

Pilsner Urquell Pilsner Urquell (; ) is a lager beer brewed at Asahi Breweries' Pilsner Urquell Brewery in Plzeň (German name: Pilsen), Czech Republic. Pilsner Urquell was the world's first pale lager, and its popularity meant it was much copied, and ...

are sold in two versions in Sweden – the internationally renowned product as a ''starköl'' at Systembolaget and a slightly watered-down version as a ''folköl'' in the grocery stores. The modern trend is toward consumers increasingly choosing stronger beer than the 3.5% ABV brands, which are generally sold at grocery stores. Any stronger beer is sold exclusively at the government-owned retail monopoly, Systembolaget.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beer In Sweden

History

Classification

See also

References