With 2014 behind us, we decided to look back at our adventures. It has been an amazing year here at Beerbliotek. We started the year with our goal of making better beer and more of it.
2013 felt like it simply disappeared on us.
We produced 41000 litres of beer in our first year, we were voted best new Swedish brewery and we met and rubbed shoulders with some of our favourite brewers.
2014 we set ourselves a number of new goals.
We wanted to be better brewers. Increasing our distribution in Sweden was of utmost importance. We wanted to expand our little brewery at Sockerbruket and also start exporting to other countries. And, of course, make loads more awesome friends along the way.
One of our favourite parts of the craft beer scene is the opportunity to meet and work with awesome people.
Over the year we have had the pleasure of meeting some of the best brewers in Europe. We have been to some great festivals, from Linköpings Öl och Whisky Mässan in March, Göteborg Öl och Whisky Mässan in April, Copenhagen Beer Festival in May, to All In Beer Festival in November. We have talked beer with some pretty great brewers and some pretty awesome beer enthusiasts. The list of friends we have made is too long for this blog post but we are forever thankful for the influence these people have had on us and our brewery.
Events and milestones from the past year that made 2014 very special to us at Beerbliotek.
It all started at BrewDog Stockholm. In 2013 Adam, Richard and Darryl stood in front of a room of craft beer nerds at Brewdog Stockholm. It seemed a little surreal at the time, that so many people, many of whom we have a lot of respect for their contribution to the craft beer scene, would be interested in listening to us talk about our philosophy on brewing.
Gothenburg has a great beer and whiskey festival
Through the course of 2014, we have got a little more use to standing in front of a group of people at such events as Göteborg Öl och Whisky Mässan and talking about what beer means to us.
Tap takeovers is a great way for us to meet great people
Throughout the year we have enjoyed doing a number of Tap Takeovers and meet the brewer events around Sweden and in Denmark, including The Bishops Arms in Örebro, Fermentoren and Mikkeller and Friends in Copenhagen to name just a few and we look forward to doing many more in 2015.
Systembolaget’s new rules
In July we joined the debate surrounding the new rules on Lokalsortiment at Systembolaget. The craft beer world, brewers, bloggers and consumers came together to voice their dissatisfaction at rule changes that made it much more difficult for consumers to get local Swedish beer. The discussions forced Systembolaget to reconsider and engage with small producers to find a solution, and whilst all the issues facing Sweden’s small breweries have not been addressed, we, as a collective have managed to improve the opportunities within Systembolaget to create a more even playing field for big and small alike. We hope 2015 brings more change, addressing such issues as regional distribution depots around the country so as to create equal opportunity for all small breweries in Sweden.
Collaborations
During the year we have collaborated with a number of organisations that we think deserve support. In May we released, in collaboration with Haket Bar o Sånt Queerbliotek Pale Ale to support gay pride. This is a project that we fully support and hope to participate in again in 2015.
In November we brewed a collaboration with The Rover. Our Movamber Ale was on tap for the month of November in support of Movember prostate cancer awareness. Between us and the Rover we have contributed 3200:- from the sale of Movamber Ale to Prostate cancer research.
Exporting to five countries
One of our goals has been to increase exports over 2014 and reach a bigger audience. We believe that through striving for other markets we open up opportunities to work with more great breweries and become better brewers, which in turn will help us make the Swedish craft beer world stronger and stronger. Over the course of 2014 we have targeted Denmark as one of our key markets. We have been to beer festivals, tap takeovers, brewed collaborations and made some awesome friends in the process.
In the later part of the year, with our increased capacity, we have begun exporting to Italy, Spain and now Portugal. We hope that 2015 brings many more collaborations. We have a number of exciting trips booked in for early next year so keep a close eye out for what’s coming up.
Expanding in 2014 and into 2015
One of the most exciting developments of 2014 has been our expansion plans. We started in July with the addition of four new fermenters and a new cooling system to double our capacity of our current brewery.
In November we issued a press release welcoming Niklas Gustafsson and Gary McLachlan to the Beerbliotek team, and released our plans for a second brewery to open in 2015. All the plans are starting to come together now and in January we will be giving a little more information regarding our new project.
2015 promises to be an incredibly exciting and eventful year.
Thank you all for your support during 2014 and we look forward to bringing you more great beer in the new year.
Beerbliotek.