Alcohol in Sweden: It is strictly regulated, but has its essence in cultural heritage
Anyone who was been in this huge Scandinavian country knows: drinking alcohol in Sweden is extremely expensive. Why? Due to the high alcoholism rate in Sweden, alcohol consumption is strictly regulated. One can buy beer and cider until 3,5% in the supermarket, but all other spirits are only available from Systembolaget.
Systembolaget – One of the world’s biggest wine & spirit retailers
It is the monopoly for wine & spirits distribution in Sweden and controls all direct alcohol beverage sales to the end-consumer. Today Systembolaget is one of the world’s biggest retailers with over 400 stores and approximately 3000 different products all carefully selected via a strict purchasing process. Besides that, the Swedish government requires high taxes on alcoholic drinks and installed very strict penal laws regarding abusive alcohol consumption. In spite of everything, alcohol is a very important and highly estimated cultural heritage in Sweden.
Local gin makers: Organic Gin & high Taste Variety
Until now, Sweden is known for its highly qualified vodka and liquor, but since the beginning of the 2010s, the interest in local gin production and gin consumption is increasing. The Swedish Spirit experts are experiencing a lot and mostly, prefer small handmade production of organic gin with high quality and without any flavour enhancer. In Sweden, you can find the purest clear water, which gives a special taste to the Swedish gin.
Swedish gin production doubled in the last years
In the last five years, the number of Swedish gin producers doubled from 15 to 30 and the sale increased from 10 000 liters to incredible 73 000 liters, according to the statistics of Systembolaget. For the gin makers, the most important thing is to create not only a good gin to mix it with cocktails, but a “sipping gin” of very different tasting gins, which you can enjoy in its pure way.
Why Swedish Gin?
As it is high quality, pure Swedish water, the carefully selected ingredients and the 100% lack of flavour enhancers, Swedish gin is on its way to become a big player in the world of gin – for example Hernö Gin is the most often awarded gin in Europe! Besides using only highly qualified organic ingredients, Swedish gin makers offer the richness of the Swedish nature in their creations – typical nordic botanicals like lingonberries, raspberries and blueberries – as well as try to achieve high quality in all parts and each detail of the complete production chain. According to Systembolaget, the demand in Sweden is particularly high to premium gin and will raise even more in the future, in Sweden as well as in the whole world.
So, enjoy the purest nature of Sweden in one glass of gin!
Skal!
