Beer in Sweden has a history that can be traced to the late Iron Age.
Beer in Sweden has a history that can be traced to the late Iron Age.
Ale-brewing history in Sweden predates written records. Through old writings, such as Hávamál, the Norse culture produced ale and mead. Mead was preferred, and ale was the most common.[ citation needed ] The Scandinavians also had access to wine and beer. Modern reproductions of Norse brews have been known to produce ale as strong as 9 percent ABV. [1] Up until the 19th century, brewing was mostly a matter of production for household needs. The beer was usually weak in alcoholic content.[ citation needed ] For celebrations and feasts, stronger "feast-beer" and potent mead were brewed. With the advent of industrialism, the Swedish brewing industry arose.
In the mid-19th century, a multitude of small breweries grew into existence in the larger cities of Sweden. In the beginning of the 20th century, a trend of consolidation with mergers and buyouts began, which culminated in the late 1970s and the beginning of 1980. This led to the formation of three large brewery conglomerates; Pripps, Spendrups and Falcon, which pushed the smaller breweries. This led to a stereotype of the Swedish beers available as easily drinkable lagers, lacking in taste and character.
In the late 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, a new generation of small breweries spearheaded by the likes of Stockholm's Nils Oscar Brewery began to grow alongside the large companies. These companies offer customers many choices, and many of the beers are produced in Sweden with cultivated brewing yeasts (often imported from Germany, Belgium or Britain).
Swedish law defines two alcohol thresholds that govern where and to whom a given type of beer may be sold. Lättöl, i.e., beer below the lower threshold (2.25% ABV), is considered a lättdryck (light beverage) and may be sold anywhere with no age restriction. [2] For starköl, beer above the upper threshold (3.5% ABV) may only be sold in Systembolaget stores to people aged 20 or above and in pubs to people aged 18 or above. Folköl (people's beer), beer between the two thresholds, may be sold in grocery stores, but only to people aged 18 or older.
Since the 3.5% threshold is close to the alcohol content of an international lager beer, many international brands such as Heineken, Carlsberg and Pilsner Urquell are sold in two versions in Sweden – the internationally renowned product as a starköl at Systembolaget and a slightly watered-down version as a folköl in the grocery stores.
The modern trend is toward consumers increasingly choosing stronger beer than the 3.5% ABV brands, which are generally sold at grocery stores. Any stronger beer is sold exclusively at the government-owned retail monopoly, Systembolaget. [3]
Mild ale is a type of ale. Modern milds are mostly dark-coloured, with an alcohol by volume (ABV) of 3% to 3.6%, although there are lighter-hued as well as stronger milds, reaching 6% abv and higher. Mild originated in Britain in the 17th century or earlier, and originally meant a young ale, as opposed to a "stale" aged or old ale.
Low-alcohol beer is beer with little or no alcohol content that aims to reproduce the taste of beer while eliminating or reducing the inebriating effect, carbohydrates, and calories of regular alcoholic brews. Low-alcohol beers can come in different beer styles such as lagers, stouts, and ales. Low-alcohol beer is also known as light beer, non-alcoholic beer, small beer, small ale, or near-beer.
Small beer is a lager or ale that contains a lower amount of alcohol by volume than most others, usually between 0.5% and 2.8%. Sometimes unfiltered and porridge-like, it was a favoured drink in Medieval Europe and colonial North America compared with more expensive beer containing higher levels of alcohol. Small beer was also produced in households for consumption by children and by servants.
Pale lager is a very pale-to-golden-colored lager beer with a well-attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness.
Bitter is an English style of pale ale that varies in colour from gold to dark amber, and in strength typically from 3% to 5.5% alcohol by volume.
St. James's Gate Brewery is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is Draught Guinness.
Beer in Belgium includes pale ales, lambics, Flemish red ales, sour brown ales, strong ales and stouts. In 2018, there were 304 active breweries in Belgium, including international companies, such as AB InBev, and traditional breweries including Trappist monasteries. On average, Belgians drink 68 litres of beer each year, down from around 200 each year in 1900. Most beers are bought or served in bottles, rather than cans, and almost every beer has its own branded, sometimes uniquely shaped, glass. In 2016, UNESCO inscribed Belgian beer culture on their list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Beer has been brewed in England for thousands of years. As a beer brewing country, it is known for top fermented cask beer which finishes maturing in the cellar of the pub rather than at the brewery and is served with only natural carbonation.
Beer in the United States is manufactured in breweries which range in size from industry giants to brew pubs and microbreweries. The United States produced 196 million barrels (23.0 GL) of beer in 2012, and consumes roughly 28 US gallons (110 L) of beer per capita annually. In 2011, the United States was ranked fifteenth in the world in per capita consumption, while total consumption was second only to China.
Beer in Norway has a long history, stretching back more than a millennium. Until some 200 years ago, most farms where it was possible to grow grain south of the Arctic Circle, brewed their own beer. From the early 20th century brewing was industrialized and home brewing was restricted. Significant consolidation in the brewing sector reduced the number of major breweries to just a handful. With the exception of the farmhouse ales, most beer styles brewed in Norway trace their ancestry to central Europe.
The beer market in Denmark is dominated by the brands Carlsberg and Tuborg. Since Tuborg was acquired by Carlsberg in 1970, Carlsberg has held a near-monopoly. A number of regional breweries, however, managed to survive, and most of them merged into Royal Unibrew in 2005. As of 2020, Ratebeer lists over 300 active breweries in Denmark, most of which are microbreweries.
Beer, called maekju in Korean, was first introduced to Korea in the early 20th century. Seoul's first brewery opened in 1908. Two current major breweries date back to the 1930s. The third brewery established in Korea, Jinro Coors Brewery, was founded in the 1990s. It was later acquired by Oriental Breweries (OB). Hite Breweries's former name was Chosun Breweries, which was established in 1933. The company changed its name to Hite Breweries in 1998. OB Breweries established as Showa Kirin Breweries in 1933. The company changed its name to OB Breweries in 1995.
Beer styles differentiate and categorise beers by colour, flavour, strength, ingredients, production method, recipe, history, or origin.
Oriental Brewery or OB is a South Korean brewery currently owned by AB InBev, and initially founded by Doosan Group.
McMullen's, known locally as Mac's, is a regional brewery founded in 1827 in Hertford, England, the United Kingdom. The brewery expanded during the second half of the 19th century by purchasing other breweries and their associated pubs. In 1902 it was the second largest brewery in Hertfordshire. The brewery has occupied several different sites in Hertford and moved to its current location in 1891. There have been several breweries on this site and the current one opened in 2006. As of 2021, members of the 6th generation of the McMullen family are still involved with the business.
George Killian's Irish Red is a red beer, produced and sold in France by Heineken France, and under license in the US by Molson Coors. Despite the differences in the brewing methods, the marketing of both beers claim legacy to an Irish "original recipe".
Alcoholic drinks in Sweden are as common as in most of the western world. Sweden is historically part of the vodka belt, with high consumption of distilled drinks and binge drinking, but during the later half of the 20th century, habits are more harmonized with western Europe, with increasing popularity of wine and weekday drinking. Wine is now also grown and produced in several parts of Sweden and the southernmost region of Skåne is turning into a hub experiencing a strong growth in number of active vineyards.
Heineken N.V. is a Dutch brewer which owns a worldwide portfolio of over 170 beer brands, mainly pale lager, though some other beer styles are produced. The two largest brands are Heineken and Tecate; though the portfolio includes Amstel, Fosters, Sagres, Cruzcampo, Skopsko, Affligem, Żywiec, Starobrno, Zagorka, Zlatý Bažant, Laško and Birra Moretti.
The beers of the Caribbean are unique to each island in the region, although many are variants of the same style. Each island generally brews its own unique pale lager, the occasional stout, and often a non-alcoholic malta beverage. Contract-brewing of international beers is also common, with Heineken Pilsener and Guinness Foreign Extra Stout being the most popular. The beers vary between the islands to suit the taste and the brewing method used.
Most beer sold in France is pilsner lager, mass-produced by major breweries which control over 90% of the market, although there are also traditional beer styles, such as top-fermented Bière de Garde, and a number of microbreweries.
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