American Influence
Visitors from the states would be quickly forgiven if —for just a moment— they forgot they were in Sweden while looking around any number of bars around Stockholm or Gothenburg (a southern coastal city, home to the biggest port in Scandinavia and also a brewing and beer hotspot) because of the American brewery paraphernalia on the walls or beer coming from the taps. As Sweden continues to grow its own beer culture identity, it is still very clearly enamored with the United States.
It was mid-afternoon and two men sat together at the bar inside the Rover, a Gothenburg establishment specializing in beer but with a whisky collection designed to impress even the most discerning of drinkers. Together they ponied up 275 Swedish krona, the equivalent of $40, to purchase and split a bottle of Boulevard Brewing Co.’s Saison Brett. Their eyes went wide and they fell silent as they carefully took their first sips.
Bottles of Samuel Adams Utopias stand stoic behind the bars at Bishop Arms in Stockholm or Ölrepubliken in Gothenburg. The going rate was about $10 for .34 ounce.
At Nynäshamns Angbryggeri in early spring, a poster near the entrance invited patrons all the way to Denver, where during the 2014 Craft Brewers Conference, Swedish brewers would gather with American counterparts including Dogfish Head and Ska Brewing Co. (which had both recently sent brewers to Scandinavia to work on collaboration beers) for a tap takeover. Indeed, when they all did arrive at Denver’s Star Bar in April, all the brewers were wearing matching hockey jerseys.
Even at the airport, it’s hard not to escape the American invasion. At Gothenburg’s international terminal, a Boston-themed sports bar was advertising a special beer, available only at its bar and created in cooperation with Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery.
Similar, Just Younger
Peel back the layer a bit, beyond the newness of the modern beer excitement, and you will find that Sweden is not much different from other countries that know good beer. There are the geeks who seek out only the new, and the rare. The purists who complain about contract brewers, known here as “ghost brewers.” There are the passionate, uncompromising bar owners, who yield great influence over the brewers. There is price gouging for rare beers.
Then there are the brewers, the soldiers in the battle for taste and innovation, and customers’ dollars, respect and return business. In the end, all they can do is their best and stay true to their vision and give drinkers solid, flavorful ales and lagers.
Thomas “Bing” Bingebo (the brewer at Oceanbryggeriet in Gothenburg, a place known for collaboration brews with bar owners and celebrities alike as well as smirk-inducing names like Pornstasch, an American pale ale) says there is also a social responsibility among brewers to ease the fears some in the country still have of the stigma associated with alcohol.
“Some people think that if you have a beer on a Monday that you’re an alcoholic,” he said. “That’s why many of the brewers here are going for lower-alcohol beers.”
For now, those leading the Swedish beer revolution must work on creating a definition of what craft beer means to the country, to continue educating the newly converted and finding ways to bring others into the fold. The beer guild needs strengthening, and over all, it needs to make sure that enthusiasm continues to build.
“Many people who still like lager beers more are getting are crazy about IPAs,” says Lars Ericsson, owner of Nynäshamns Angbryggeri, in the coastal town of Nynäshamn. “We can’t just make a beer for just 200 people; we have to make beer that people want more of, but beer with flavor.”
Go to the next page to see a list of the best places to drink beer in Stockholm.
John Holl
John is the editor of All About Beer Magazine and the author of three books, including The American Craft Beer Cookbook. Find him on Twitter @John_Holl.