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here’s no doubt about it. If you love snowboarding, don’t move to Gambia. If you want a large family I’d also suggest giving China a miss.
And if you want a varied supply of world craft beers, one of the absolute last places on earth I’d recommend buying a house is in Sweden.
One of the ways the Sweden’s government controlled alcohol monopoly, the SystemBolaget, justifies its dictatorial existence in a free European market is that it provides Swedish customers with a huge choice of world drinks brands.
True, it’s selection of wines and spirits is impresssive - although by no means extensive - but a quick scan of the imported beer shelves shows that there is very little on offer for lovers of craft beers.
There are some highlights - some notable Belgians such as Rochefort 10 Chimay Blue and Orval, a smattering of decent ales from England, including Fullers and Shepherd Neame, and one or two decent hefes like Weinhenstephaner. But these are the diamonds amongst a lot of coal - and not all of these are readily available in all the Systembolaget shops.
If your penchant is US craft beers, the selection makes even more depressing reading:
Seven Samuel Adams brands (Systembolaget obviously has shares in this brewery)
Anchor Steam and Xmas beer
Brooklyn Lager
Dead Guy Ale (although I’ve just checked and there’s only 1 (one) bottle left in the whole country in ÖRNSKÖLDSVIK, so hurry while stocks last!)
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Hibernation Ale (seasonal listing)
Budweiser (of course)
Miller (of course)
Old Stock Ale
Red Seal Ale (thank the Lord)
And that’s it folks. The entire US brewing scene distilled into 19 brands.
And remember, other than leaving the country there’s NO other way of buying other beers above 3.5% ABV here in Sweden - no independently owned off-licences selling funky micros, no switched on supermarkets selling mixed six-packs for under $10. Nada, nix, diddlysquat.
Count your blessings those of you beerlovers living outside Sweden. Don’t get me wrong – this is a wonderful country to live in (especially if you’re fond of paying taxes), but I’d recommend having your beer taste buds removed before moving here.
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I can’t agree with you, sorry.
Perhaps it depends on where in Sweden you live as well?
Of course it depends on that.
If you live in Stockholm or Göteborg you may find huge selections at various bars that serve the most excelent beers.
A lot of people in USA can’t buy the beers from Sierra Nevada, but we have some at Systembolaget and the rest available through "privatimport" at Systembolaget since there’s a Swedish import business that have this brand.
As long as you are willing to purchase a whole box of your beer, there are quite a few American beers available for your personal pleasure.
Think about this though:
Systembolaget shuts down.
Speciality beer stores open which imports the beers they want and think they can sell with a profit.
Do you really think places like Örnsköldsvik will have any beers part from the crappy bulk beers as cheap as possible at their local ICA?
Places like Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö will probably get great beer stores, and more likely the price will be more than the double compared to what Systembolaget has at the moment.
Most other places in Sweden, at least I think that is what would happen, will not get any big beer stores.
And American beers will probably fall off the market due to the large cost of shipping.
Friends of mine all over Europe are amazed regarding the beers I can readily buy at Systembolaget from their countries, beers they themselves have real problems finding at home.
I’ve atually purchase beers in Sweden and brought them back to the country they originaty from, just to give them to an inhabitant that wants to smaple it...
All in all, I’d recommend you to look at the possibility to buy import beers via the Swedish companies, one box at the time. Becasue shutting down Systembolaget to get a bigger selection would probably just work the other way around.
Why not ask around the other guys on the forum, how many American beers are available at your closest beer store?
How many of these stores are there around your city and your country?
If you live in England in Leeds and you know there is a bottle of specific beer you want in a store in London, can you force your store to send it to you in less than one weeks time at no cost for you what so ever, part from the original cost of the bottle, e.g. the same as if you yourself purchased it in London?
That’s one of the things you can do with Systembolaget.
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Sorry to hear that. If you ever vacation to the Pac NW, look me up. I will hook you up, destroy your ’buds, and make sure you never want to leave this area...I just had my first Nils Oscar Imperial Stout tonight and it was very nice...so kudos to your craft beermakers in Sweden... and sorry the government there is so anal about allowing you to drink good beers from elsewhere....
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I would not go that far mate... I’ve tried some fantastic beers here, and I think the micro scene is quite decent and producing some very amazing beers. Also, there are always some good beers at the Systemet, Jamtlands, Nils Oscar, a few Trappist beers (as you mentioned), each month they bring in a few new ones too(3fs this month!!). There is also the option of going to a pub if you need something a little different, Bishops Arms is about as good as it gets here in Skåne, but around Gothenburg and Stockholm there are supposed to be loads of great places.
I guess there are two main problems I have with the system here though, the first and foremost (as you mentioned) is not being able to buy strong alcohol outside the opening hours of the Syetembolaget. The second (especially as a student) is the cost. But thats about it... the quality of the beers are great compared to a lot of countries.
There are much worse countries in the world for craft beer!
Off topic, does anybody know about the Schaerbeekse Kriek coming in this month at the systemet? I was at the brewery 3 weeks ago and the brewer told me only 3000 bottles were made due to the lack of cherries. It was 6 euro from there (and he said he was into the last few bottles) I cant see too many making it over here!
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Beat me to it Gnoff...
Back in Australia, until early this year, you could not get ANY craft American beer, and even now its restricted to SNPA.
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What Gnoff said.
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voota:
360 bottles of the Schaerbeekse Kriek will be released in December. I think in Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö.
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Well thats great news, I might have to try the bottle in my cellar to see if its worth stocking up.
Thanks for the info
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Mhm. Try not having access to any "belgians" except Stella, contract brewed at the local InBev owned brewery, until mid 2004. Try having a brewery scene that, while technically quality, doesn’t produce anything braver than a Dunkel, except for a few brewpub hefes (down to one) and a great Baltic Porter at said InBev owned brewery. And if that’s so important, try not having a single beer from USA available in your country, and not a single beer from the Americas except for Corona, and since recently Negra Modelo.
I’d move to Sweden. Heck, in some stage of my life, I probably will.
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Originally posted by gnoff
I can’t agree with you, sorry.
Perhaps it depends on where in Sweden you live as well?
Of course it depends on that.
If you live in Stockholm or Göteborg you may find huge selections at various bars that serve the most excelent beers.
Hi Gnoff - well then we’ll have to agree to disagree. Of course you’re right it depends largely on where you live in Sweden (I moved from the UK to Umeå, a city 700 km north of Stockholm that is difficult to find even with the latest GPS software).
Up here we have three SB stores and one Bishops Arms pub (albeit a great one!). That’s it. We don’t have the option of popping into OT for a US hopbomb, or to walk over to Akkurat or the Duvel Cafe for a Belgian fix.
Having lived in England I also disagree with the inference that beer is somehow harder to get there than here in Sweden. OK, so you can’t force a store in Leeds to send a beer from London. Big deal. Far easier to jump on the internet, visit a site like www.onlyfinebeer.co.uk and get a mixed box of world classics sent to your door for a fiver. With yesterday’s European ruling restricting the import of internet ordered beer into Sweden, that’s not something you can easily do here........
Of course you can also visit a speciality beer store or visit the supermarkets - and as a last resort (would be my first actually) pop into a pub (and we have those all over the country, not just in London, Manchester and Leeds) where you can enjoy a mind-boggling range of craft beers
No I’m sorry, but I don’t think you can compare the availability of craft beers in Sweden to England, and in my admittedly brief experience of the US (4 trips) I recall a fairly healthy selection of micros on sale there too (although I’d welcome some input from some US RBs here).
You’re right gnoff - the beer offering widens a little if you’re prepared to buy a case from the ’private import’ part of the Systembolaget - but honestly, I don’t want (and find it difficult to afford) to buy 24 bottles of St Bernardus ABT for 717 SEK ($103) when I really only want a bottle or two.
Oh, and you assume I want to abolish the Systembolaget. Well maybe I do, but I’ll put off taking to the street with my megaphone and placards if they’ll invest a little more effort in expanding their craft beer selection.
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Originally posted by voota
I would not go that far mate... I’ve tried some fantastic beers here, and I think the micro scene is quite decent and producing some very amazing beers.
Voota - couldn’t agree with you more. Good (some great) domestic micro beers. It’s the imported beers I’m ranting about (and making a few enemies at the same time  )
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