Lars Olsson Smith (12 October 1836 in Kiaby – 9 December 1913 in

Karlskrona Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to ...

), also L.O. Smith, was a Swedish

spirits Spirit(s) commonly refers to: * Liquor, a distilled alcoholic drink * Spirit (animating force), the non-corporeal essence of living things * Spirit (supernatural entity), an incorporeal or immaterial being Spirit(s) may also refer to: Liquids ...

manufacturer and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He was called "The King of Spirits" (''Brännvinskungen'') because of his domination of spirits production in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

during the end of the 19th century. He started the production of ''Absolut Rent Brännvin'' which was later renamed

Absolut Vodka Absolut Vodka is a brand of vodka, produced near Åhus, in southern Sweden. Absolut is a part of the French group Pernod Ricard. Pernod Ricard bought Absolut for €5.63 billion in 2008 (equivalent to € in ) from the Swedish state. Absolut ...

Biography

At the age of 8, Lars Olsson got a position in a general store in

Karlshamn Karlshamn () is a locality and the seat of Karlshamn Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden. It had 13,576 inhabitants in 2015, out of 31,846 in the municipality. Karlshamn received a Royal Charter and city privileges in 1664, when King Charles ...

after his father's bankruptcy and was so well treated by his foster father consul Carl Smith that he took the name Smith. From 1850, he had employment in

first in the general store, then with a shipping agent. In 1858, he established an agency for a number of distilleries in

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

and

Blekinge Blekinge () is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's second-smallest provin ...

as well as a modern facility on

Reimersholme Reimersholme is a small island in central Stockholm, lying to the west of Södermalm and to the south of the neighbouring island Långholmen. Reimersholme is inhabited by 2,324 people, living in 1,527 dwellings, and with an average annual incom ...

. The distilleries Smith installed there made him rich by producing spirits with an unusually low

fusel alcohol Fusel alcohols or fuselol, also sometimes called fusel oils in Europe, are mixtures of several higher alcohols (those with more than two carbons, chiefly amyl alcohol) produced as a by-product of alcoholic fermentation. The word ''Fusel'' is G ...

value. The most well known was the ''tiodubblat renat'' ('ten times purified') which ran the communal distilleries out of business. Smith, as a result, faced reprisals from the city of Stockholm and relocated to Reimersholme, outside the city limits. He sold the product from the Fjäderholmarna islands, from which he had boats transport the alcohol to Stockholm. In 2011, a memorial stone was erected in Kiaby, the village where Smith was born.

External links

* The Absolut Group's L.O. Smit
website

References

Nordisk familjebok (, 'Nordic Family Book') is a Swedish language, Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. The public domain edit ...

, Uggleupplagan (1917), Smith, Lars Olsso

1836 births 1913 deaths Swedish businesspeople Members of the Första kammaren People from Kristianstad Municipality {{Sweden-business-bio-stub