How Scandinavian drinking differs
I have experienced Scandinavia with work, but Christmas 2009 was a family holiday, and as a consumer I realised how much the Swedish off-trade differs to home.
My visit to the ICA supermarket in Åre, a one-hour flight north of Stockholm, reminded me beer and cider (Carlsberg, Pilsner Urquell, Heineken, and premium ales, such as Hobgoblin and Spitfire) has to be 3.5% ABV or less.
For purchases of wines, spirits and beers over 3.5% ABV, it is a trip to Systembolaget, the state-run off-licence. There is no hiding why you are entering the store as it only sells booze.
Everyone looking under 30 (so myself, sadly excluded) is asked to produce ID and this store was closed on Sunday.
So why am I telling you about ICA and Systembolaget? Well, on arrival from the slopes in the north at a friend's Stockholm pub on Boxing Day (incidentally, an on-trade environment the equal of any in the UK) we were soon discussing our very enjoyable experiences in Åre.
Eventually, we covered off-sales in Sweden. For several years, the supermarkets/EU have been pushing for the state monopoly to be abolished.
How that might affect Sweden? "Disaster" was the general response! It was felt the availability of cheap vodka at the casual supermarket shop would have dire consequences.
The discussion moved on to wide availability of spirits in UK off-premises and the apparently growing affection teenagers have for consuming, often neat, a half bottle between four.
I reminisced about my teenage years (fortunately, I was also not asked for an identity card) when we sneaked the odd couple of cans of beer or large PET bottle of cider or scrounged a sly drink from adults in the sports club after a cricket or rugby match.
We never even contemplated drinking spirits. Today the peer pressure seems to be to drink them neat, because to do so seems cool. I seem to recall the taste of the long-life beer was bad enough!
So, as the UK and Sweden potentially converge on the journey of spirits availability, let's hope the on-trade can get its message across and it is once again, pubs/restaurants/sports clubs, where young adults are introduced to alcohol in a controlled environment and the off-trade is equally more controlled and more like it was for me in Christmas 2009!
A belated happy new year!
Stephen Crawley is managing director of Caledonian Brewery
