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Let’s start with the beer, as countries with thriving pub cultures tend to produce quality beers. Sweden’s international reputation for producing beer is not good. In fact, if I asked you what comes from Sweden, is easy to assemble, mass-produced, pretty to look at but often lacking in substance I wouldn’t be talking about furniture from IKEA - I’d be talking about the beer. In a recently published guide to the world’s top 500 beers, Sweden gets a single solitary mention (even Namibia gets more). Ironically it is for Carnegie Porter – a rugged, tasty stout which until the 1950s could only be prescribed by a doctor, and which brand owner Pripps tried to scrap in the late 1970s until public protests bought it back to the shelves. Perhaps the most telling measure of how low expectations of Swedish beer have sunk is how Swedish beer drinkers order it – automatically asking for a ‘stor stark’ (quite literally ‘big and strong’). Having given up years ago trying to differentiate their beers by taste, many Swedes simply do it by strength and price – the higher and cheaper the better. It was a very different picture in Sweden in the early 1840s, when the introduction of bottom-fermenting beer by Fredrik Rosenqvist marked the beginning of a revival in beer consumption among a population of traditionally heavy spirit drinkers. Rosenqvist
had spent time travelling through Germany, where he studied brewing methods.
On his return home he rented a small brewery in Södermalm in Stockholm
and put his new found knowledge to good use. In 1843 Sweden's first lager
was launched.
Since then, however, Swedish society has done practically everything it can to dismantle its brewing industry. And it very nearly succeeded. First to attack was the temperance movement, formed in the early 1900s as a reaction to the increasingly widespread abuse of spirits. The movement lobbied hard for total prohibition, and triggered a referendum in 1922 calling for the banning of all alcoholic drinks over 2.25%. An acrimonious campaign by pro and anti campaigners deeply divided the nation, creating social taboos surrounding the consumption of alcohol which are still very evident today. The victory by those opposing prohibition, with the narrowest of margins – 51% to 49% against – was a hollow one. The real winner was the temperance movement, which although it didn’t yet know it, had already delivered a near knock-out blow to Sweden’s beer culture. Wary of the rising influence of the anti-alcohol movement, the Swedish Government began moves to regulate the brewing industry. By the mid-70s just a dozen brewing groups owned the 25 breweries left in Sweden. Fast forward to 1992 and seven companies owned the remaining 12 breweries. A once thriving beer industry was struggling against the ropes. With so little brewing diversity the country was flooded with bland, heavily processed and excessively taxed Pilsner-style beers. This, coupled
with an increasingly powerful anti-alcohol lobby which demonised social
drinking did not make conditions ideal to establish a lively pub culture.
At the same time new pubs have been sprouting up all over the country, borrowing themes and concepts from other countries in order to compensate for their lack of indigenous pub culture. Stockholm has lead the way in opening a new wave of pubs, making in perfectly possible today to sample beers from more than a dozen countries around the world in a single night. To help guide you around the capital’s pubs I’ve drawn up a list of my personal top 10 Stockholm hostelries. If you like great beer and good food (I'd like to add at a reasonable price - but I'd be lying) then I recommend visiting any of these places. In no particular order: Mackinlay's
Inn: This place isn't great, and it is way overpriced, the only
thing that saves it from obscurity is the selection of beers that you won't
find elsewhere in town.
Soldaten Svejk: Despite what people tell you, this place is not "The Czech Soldier", the name is from the Jaroslav Hasek book, "The Good Soldier Schweik", which is sort of a Catch-22 based in WWI. I think you have to be at the door when they open to get a seat, but it's worth it for the Czech beers, which are delicious. Tudor Arms: They could have pulled this pub down in England, bought it over on a boat and put it back up in the middle of Östermalm. Makes me feel homesick just walking through the door. Good beers, good staff, small, and awesome food. Bull and Bear located near Stureplan, this pub simply serves great beer. I've never had a bad pint in here, and the staff are as professional as they come. Food's a bit average, but the selection of beer (and whisky) more than compensates. Get there early though, as this long and narrow pub gets more crowded than the London underground after 10pm. Man in the Moon difficult to find in the backwaters of town, but once you see the range of beers on offer you'll probably agree the walk will have been worth it. A huge island bar dominates the place, but you can always escape to a quiet corner for a bite to eat. Last time I had dinner here the food was excellent - and very reasonably priced! So enjoy, but
always remember to ring your bank manager before setting out into Stockholm
for a drink, because you may be heading for one of the most expensive hangovers
in the world!
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