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.

As a result, generations of Swedes grew up drinking at home, limiting their trips to the few pubs there were until the weekend after their monthly pay check arrived.

All hope seemed lost until an unlikely saviour came along to the rescue – the European Community.

On the first day of induction into the EU in 1995 the Swedish Government was forced to abolish the law prohibiting the sale of any beer above 5.6%. At the same time the state monopoly on importing alcohol was withdrawn, allowing private companies free range to source beers from around the world. 

This sudden exposure to new beer styles and flavours has had a dramatic effect on the modern Swedish beer and pub scenes. 

Encouraged by a revitalised interest in beer, a new generation of micro-breweries has begun emerging, offering a real variety of styles and, at long last, taste. Names to look out for include Nils Oscar Brewery, Jämtland Brewery and Slottkällans Brewery.

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.

Akkurat: From the outside it looks like a car park, and inside the atmosphere can be kind of boring. That's probably because everyone's too busy concentrating on what they're drinking, as this is THE beer pub in Sweden with the greatest selection of bottled and draft beer anywhere. If you like beer, you must visit Akkurat.

Black and Brown Inn: Not the most exciting place, but they serve hot dogs for 10kr a piece until closing time, so that makes them a winner in my book

Oliver Twist: Usually impossible to find a place to stand on the weekend, let alone sit down, OT has some of the best beers in Stockholm and the best cared for lines. They also vary their selection often, so there's plenty of reasons to keep coming back.

Bishops Arms (Bellmansgatan) Location-wise this place is perfect, it's in a quiet corner of Söder up on Bellmansgatan The beers are ok, but if you like whisky this is where to go. I think they still do live music on Sundays, and have outdoor seating. However, if you are lucky you'll get the small table by the extremely fake fireplace.

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!

Darren Packman was born in 1969 in the south east of England but always harboured ambitions to migrate south to warmer climes. The move to Umeå in the north of Sweden therefore came as something of a shock. Darren is a qualified journalist who worked on both regional and national newspapers for five years before moving into public relations, where he spent an additional five years writing about everything from beer to historic castles. After moving to Sweden in 2000, Darren, along with his Swedish wife Sara, started Marmalade Communications, a copywriting and translation web-based agency providing services to both Swedish and international clients. Darren has also worked as the Export Manger for Britain’s oldest brewer, and so has spent much of the past five years flying around Europe getting people drunk, including lots of Swedes, Danes and Finns. This hasn’t exactly been difficult work. You can read about Darren’s experiences of moving to Sweden and living there on his own blog at http://lagomlife.blogspot.com To contact Darren Click Here