Four years went by in a flash – Weekly Brewery Update

Four years have gone by in a flash. So much has happened in that short period of time, that we’re looking forward to see how the next four years develop. As for the birthday date, it’s the 19th of February, That’s the date we brewed our first beer. And what a beer it turned out to be.

It all started with number one.

Black Ale Chilli has a bit of a kick. We add dried red chillies to the fermenter for a hint of fruit and to create a dry, spicy finish.

We’ve been asked a lot why we decided to launch our brewery with such a beer. Without beating around the bush, we wanted to announce our arrival with a bang. We didn’t think we could do that with another IPA or Pale Ale. We wanted something different.

Growing bigger while staying small.

If there is one word that could sum up the past four years, then it’ll have to be the word “Expansion”. That’s seems to be the one constant. We started with four fermentation tanks, and after seven months we had to buy four more. Clearly we did not produce enough beer. After another year and a bit, we were joined by two more owners, bought a bottling line, and moved into our second brewery at Kungssten. A short while later we added a canning line to our packaging options. So now we have 18 fermentation tanks and a brewery that can still cope with whatever expansion is lurking on the horizon. Exciting times indeed.

And in all of that expansion and growth, we’ve always tried to stay true to ourselves and not lose who we were, just because we’re growing.

Brewing at Sockerbruket.

Four years of home brewing does not really prepare you for brewing in a full scale brewery. The learning curves are steep. Both Adam & Richard (Our two head brewers), have always travelled around to other breweries to learn from first hand, before jumping into their own brewery. That’s probably why collaborations are an integral part of our brewing philosophy. Both breweries learn from each other, no matter where you brew.

A lot happened that first year.

Our brewing philosophy has always been to brew new and exciting beers. In year one we ended with 36 different styles. At the moment we have just brewed our 187th beer. Our beers have since been divided into four groups. Our Standard Assortment of ten beers, which we always have available, year round. Then we have our Low ABV beers (Folköl) which we sell directly from the brewery, as well as to supermarkets such as ICA and Hemköp in Sweden. Then there’s our One-off Batches, of new fresh beer, which we brew to complement our Standard Assortment. They’re usually in short supply, but every so often we brew them again, just to satisfy the demand. The last group is our Systembolaget beers, which go to the Swedish Monopoly, so that our Swedish customers can get hold of our beers all over the country.

Looking forward to the next four years.

One of the most exciting expansion we could have done was to move certain beers from bottles into cans. In the past week we have been canning some beers for exactly a year. The response has been fantastic, and we have so far done 25 different beers in cans, and we’re adding more continuously.

So the next four years should be very exciting indeed. We’re looking to expanding our beers at Systembolaget, adding more export countries to the existing fourteen and doing a lot more collaborations, not just with other breweries but also with people and brands that we admire.

We hope you’ll keep drinking our beer, and thanks for the support so far.

This is Sabotage.

It is available at Systembolaget in Sweden, so you can easily order it to your closest store.

And finally

If you haven’t already checked the schedule, then have a look at our events that we’ll be hosting during the GBG Beer Week 2017. Our Beermakers Dinner with Björns Bar is sold out, but if you’re interested in food and beer, then there’s still places left for the Beermakers Brunch at Tapasbaren and the Beermakers Lunch at Project.

But… one of the events were excited about is the Beers and Tattoos event with our friends at Ölstugan Tullen and the award winning tattoo artist Heidi Hay. We’ll be releasing our latest new beer “California Über Alles” at Ölstugan Tullen Majorna, where you will also have the chance to get your exclusive Heidi Hay tattoo. Don’t miss out.

That’s it from us for this birthday week.

Keep well.

🙂