Visiting Sweden

[user 305778]

This is mainly for HenrikO as I don't know if anyone else is in Sweden. I'm going to be there with my family from June 29th - Jully 11th. We're staying in Malmo, Stockholm, and Helsingborg respectively for different periods of time. The useful period is Stockholm and we'll be there from Friday July 4th - Tuesday July 8th.

For Stockholm, we're about a 15 minute walk from Akkurat so that's pretty great. I'm not sure yet when I'm planning on going, but I think my wife won't mind if I go every night. The question really is what else should we check out? Keep in mind we'll have our son who will be about 1 and a quarter with us during the day. You around Henrik?

For the rest, is there beer I should seek out at the systemballogit? (Yes I butchered the spelling but I mean the state run liquor stores.) Does selection vary from place to place? We'll be staying in most nights so having some decent beer would be nice.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[HenrikO]

Quick reply:
No idea whether I'd be able to come up, will get back to you on that.

Systembolaget selection varies from store to store but the central Stockholm store on Regeringsgatan (inside the Passagen mall) is the best stocked in Sweden. Do take the opportunity to try some Swedish craft!

The Stockholm Transport Museum is great for kids, even little ones. Big play area and lots of trams/buses to climb around on.

The Stockholm City Museum also has a big play space but you'll have to park your stroller/pram outside the building. It's a further 10 min walk from Akkurat.

The best place for kids is probably Rum för Barn (space for children) on the 4th floor of Kulturhuset at Sergels Torg in Stockholm City.

Cheers,
Henrik

 

[user 305778]

Awesome thanks! No worries if you can't come down, I heard that was a big vacation weekend anyway. I'll let you know more specifically once the date gets closer. I'll definitely try some of the Swedish beer where I can find it.

 

[Phin1]

A few others bars that I would suggest :

The Bishops Arms in SoFo, or one of their other locations in Stockholm.
Monks Porter House in Gamla Stan & PressKlubben in Norrmalm.
And be sure to bring mycket pengar aka much money, $12-$17ish for a glass of craft beer.

A couple non-beer things to check out: Moderna Museet, Millesgarden. Have a great time !

 

[stupac2]

The ship museum is pretty ****ing sweet.

Also I could live at akkurat.

 

[user 305778]

Thanks everyone!

HenrikO Any swedish beer I should specifically look for? I don't know much about the scene there.

 

[miamichael21]

Went to Malmo a little over a month ago. Thought the Malmo Brygghus was super good, and Bishop Arms is a solid craft beer bar. Depending on your time allotment in Malmo, would highly suggest taking a 20-30 minute train ride into Copenhagen and go to the Mikkeller bars (amongst other venues).....very much worth it.

 

[user 305778]

Yeah I just looked up the Malmo Brygghus and it isn't too far from where we are staying. While we have some time, because of the two 1 year olds we aren't going to be doing too much traveling around each day so I doubt we'll head into Copenhagen. Good suggestion though!

 

[HenrikO]

Went to Malmo a little over a month ago. Thought the Malmo Brygghus was super good, and Bishop Arms is a solid craft beer bar. Depending on your time allotment in Malmo, would highly suggest taking a 20-30 minute train ride into Copenhagen and go to the Mikkeller bars (amongst other venues).....very much worth it.

Your experience of Bishop's Arms Malmö will vary significantly depending who's on staff that particular night. Just sayin'.

 

[miamichael21]

Your experience of Bishop's Arms Malmö will vary significantly depending who's on staff that particular night. Just sayin'.

It worked out well for us because the staff that night happened to be a friend we met a couple days prior at a tasting in Copenhagen. We were also with a local guy from Malmo that we met earlier, so thankfully they made it easy to have a great time.

 

[franch]

pressklubben

 

[drgarage1]

Get dinner at Pubologi -- great gastropub with an impressive tap list. Though they were charging the equivalent of $26 for a pint of Sierra Pale Ale when I was there, so order carefully.

http://www.pubologi.se/index.php?lang=eng#gastro pub, our way.

 

[user 305778]

Thanks for all the helpful advice. Really appreciate it.

One other question I have is what Swedish beer is worth picking up at the store? Will it be any cheaper?

 

[HenrikO]

It'll be cheaper at the store than at a bar for sure, but still expensive by US standards. There's also a government monopoly on retail sales of alcohol so if you want anything over 3.5 ABV you have to buy it in the state monopoly stores ("Systembolaget").

Good news is that the best-stocked Systembolaget store in Sweden is in central Stockholm, on Regeringsgatan in the Passagen mall. Look out for beers from Omnipollo and Brekeriet. Oppigårds, Slottskällan and Nynäshamn have some good stuff but their year-round offerings are not too exciting. Think of the latter three as the New Belgium or Sierra Nevada of Sweden; consistent, good quality control, but only the occasional diamond.

 

[user 305778]

Great, thanks for the response! It's basically what others have told me at this point. I did some research on the systembolaget site and as long as midsummer didn't clear it out, there's a bunch of stuff in Malmo I can pick up. I really wanted to order a case of 20 Andechser Doppelbock's (it was minimum 20 to order) but the stupid site wouldn't let me create an account since I'm a dirty American. Oh well.

 

[HenrikO]

Great, thanks for the response! It's basically what others have told me at this point. I did some research on the systembolaget site and as long as midsummer didn't clear it out, there's a bunch of stuff in Malmo I can pick up. I really wanted to order a case of 20 Andechser Doppelbock's (it was minimum 20 to order) but the stupid site wouldn't let me create an account since I'm a dirty American. Oh well.

Sorry, dirty American. I could have ordered for you but it's likely too late now. And I won't be able to meet up either as I'm all of a sudden stuck home alone with the kids next week. Enjoy Sweden, man!

 

[HenrikO]

Thanks everyone!

HenrikO Any swedish beer I should specifically look for? I don't know much about the scene there.

Sorry, missed this before. Brekeriet beers should be available locally in Malmö, they're a must if you see them. Omnipollo is another brewery du jour, well deserved IMHO. If you can get fresh Fata Morgana and/or Nebuchanezzar on tap anywhere, go for it. Nynäshamn brews a great summer beer for Akkurat, that should be on. And of course go to Malmö Brygghus, if Canned Wheat is on you can die a happy man. Also ask if they have any bottles of Brewer's Grand Cru left.

Avoid anything from CAP or PangPang, over-hyped breweries with quality control issues.

 

[user 305778]

Good to know, thanks! Those are exactly the beers I was going to try to buy so it's good to get another recommendation.

The funny thing about the systembolaget website is that I had a person identification code because my sister-in-law has a swedish passport, but the website didn't actually do anything when I clicked create an account. No idea why. But, whatever, I didn't really need 20 bottles of Andechser doppelbock.

 

[BigFrank]

Bump. Any new spots in Sweden to hit it beers to try?

 

[sneakychi]

Bump. Any new spots in Sweden to hit it beers to try?

Where in Sweden?

 

[BigFrank]

Where in Sweden?

A buddy is going to Stockholm for a week.

 

[sneakychi]

A buddy is going to Stockholm for a week.

Hmm, I hardly ever visit the bars but when I do it's usually Akkurat or Omnipollos Hatt. One of the owners of Akkurat left (sold) some weeks ago and is now running a more german/traditional lager and food joint called Zum Franziskaner. I haven't been though, but I've heard the food is decent but the beer selection isn't all that.
Mikkeller opened a new place earlier this year and with quite a few taps it's a decent spot in Östermalm. Also Ölbaren in the NK house can be a nice spot. And the next house over you have one of the biggest Systembolaget stores (PK-huset) if your friend want's to pick up a beer/wine/spirit.


I would however recommend a visit to Stockholm Brewing Co. when they have a Friday AW-brewpub. It's located in their brewery and you can sample a lot of their beers for cheap, a food truck or two outside for (often) great food and a genuine hipster feel to it (bearded men in tight pants, rubber boots and checkered shirt ).. no, well, uhh, yeah. They are located on the other side of Söder than Akkurat ( http://www.stockholmbrewing.com/ )

 

[sneakychi]

I would however recommend a visit to Stockholm Brewing Co. when they have a Friday AW-brewpub. It's located in their brewery and you can sample a lot of their beers for cheap, a food truck or two outside for (often) great food and a genuine hipster feel to it (bearded men in tight pants, rubber boots and checkered shirt ).. no, well, uhh, yeah. They are located on the other side of Söder than Akkurat ( http://www.stockholmbrewing.com/ )

Crap. Saw just now that the Brewpub AW is on-hold due to some dispute with their landlord. =/

 

[BigFrank]

Thanks!

 

[user 304985]

Will be in Sweden for about a week at the end of the month. 2 days in Kiruna, 3 in Stockholm. Any suggestions on winter things we should see? Vasa is at the top of the list thanks to this thread. The lady friend doesn't beer, but she'll consume a similar amount of wine to my beer intake.

 

[322]

Will be in Sweden for about a week at the end of the month. 2 days in Kiruna, 3 in Stockholm. Any suggestions on winter things we should see? Vasa is at the top of the list thanks to this thread. The lady friend doesn't beer, but she'll consume a similar amount of wine to my beer intake.

In Kiruna, I'd suggest you rent a car and drive along the E10-road towards Norway. Absolutely beautiful views if the weather allows it. You could eat in Abisko, which is about an hour away.

Also I assume you've heard about the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi? Not far from Kiruna. Pretty touristy but worth a visit.

https://www.visitabisko.com
https://www.icehotel.com

Beer-wise, I think the only place to go is Bishop's Arms.

 

[HenrikO]

Will be in Sweden for about a week at the end of the month. 2 days in Kiruna, 3 in Stockholm. Any suggestions on winter things we should see? Vasa is at the top of the list thanks to this thread. The lady friend doesn't beer, but she'll consume a similar amount of wine to my beer intake.

Akkurat has decent wine options.
Royal Armory (http://livrustkammaren.se/) and Old Town (Gamla Stan) if you only have three days.
Are you a coffee geek? Lots of great coffee options in Stockholm. PM me for deets.

 

[Ednolb]

Me and my family will be in Sweden from July 10th to July 23rd. We will stay in the following places. Anyone has some good recommendations for interesting breweries and bars in the vicinity of these areas: Stockholm, Bjursas, Lofsdalen, Jössefors.
As a fan of the band Ghost, I will be looking for the Ghost beers they released some time ago (Ghost Grale and Ghost Grale Lincopia). Do you think I would able to find these in the Systembolaget stores?

 

[Nische]

Me and my family will be in Sweden from July 10th to July 23rd. We will stay in the following places. Anyone has some good recommendations for interesting breweries and bars in the vicinity of these areas: Stockholm, Bjursas, Lofsdalen, Jössefors.
As a fan of the band Ghost, I will be looking for the Ghost beers they released some time ago (Ghost Grale and Ghost Grale Lincopia). Do you think I would able to find these in the Systembolaget stores?

Stockholm has loads of bars all over town. Of course the well known Akkurat but witihin 15 minute radius you also have Omnipollos Hatt, Oliver Twist, Katatina Ölkafe, Babajan, Livs, Brewdog, Zum Franziskaner, Ölbistron 50 and a whole bunch of others. In other parts of the city Man In The Moon, Mikkeller, Lådan, Ölstugan Tullen and others are worth visiting.

There are a few breweries to visit. Most interesting one probably being Fjäderholmarna, located on an island ~30 minutes from central Stockholm. Also there's Nya Carnegiebryggeriet in Hammarby Sjöstad and Stockholm Brewing in Frihamnen. Generally breweries don't have taprooms on premise but use partly owned bars as an outlet.

Don't know about places in the other towns, but as they are ski resorts in the winter there should be some places offering somewhat interesting beers.

Ghost Grale is available but you need to pre order a full case of 20. Grale Lincopia not available at this point but I might have some really old bottles that are probably not drinkable anymore. Then new thing seems to be the Ghost Gin.

 

[Ednolb]

Then new thing seems to be the Ghost Gin.