25 Jun Midsummer, dancing and sunshine – Weekly Update
This weekend is an important weekend in the Swedish calendar. It’s the period of time centred upon the summer solstice, and more specifically the Northern European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice or take place on a day between June 19 and June 25 and the preceding evening.
More importantly though it’s a time for everyone to just let go, enjoy the sunshine and get together with friends and family for the tradition lunch which consists of pickled herring, egg, meatballs, hard bread and lots of schnapps. In the end there’s always strawberries.
The other part of Midsummer consists of raising and dancing around a maypole. Greenery placed over houses and barns were supposed to bring good fortune and health to people and livestock. To decorate with greens, in Swedish was called “att maja” or “to may” in English and may be the origin of the word “majstång”, where maja originally comes from the month May, or vice versa. Today, however, it is most commonly called a “midsommarstång”, which literally translates to midsummer pole.
There’s also the pagan rites side to the Maypole and has a lot to do with Freyja and Freyr which has a phallic symbol. During the Viking age there were rituals centered around this, as a worshipping of fertility and a rich harvest.
So midsummer is a great time to visit Sweden. It’s when we’re at our happiest.
During this last week, Henrik and I went to Stockholm, to release five new beers at Bishop’s Arms in Södermalm. It was great to see so many familiar faces, and meet so many new faces. The beers we took with us was in Sally the Saler, Man goes crazy for peaches, Monkey Business, I (f*cking) made it and Beerbiblioteket, if that is your real name?
It was quite a variety, from Pilsner, to Berliner, to IPA and Pale Ale. Man goes crazy for peaches has also been packaged and has already been leaving the brewery in both bottles and kegs. So look out for it in a pub near you 🙂
In this last while we’ve been focussing a lot on our canning line, even though we still produce more beer in bottles and even more in kegs. One of the reasons for cans has been because of the environmental benefits if you compare cans to bottles. The same goes for kegs, when you compare metal kegs to the KeyKegs we use.
The KeyKeg company has a very big environmental focus. KeyKegs are lightweight and recyclable, because all the raw materials can be separated in just a few steps and used to make new KeyKegs. Probably the most important parts of KeyKegs are they they’re already made from 100% recycled plastic.
Fewer shipments are required, and empty kegs do not need to be returned, which is around a 65% saving on transport, which in the end affects the price of the beer.
From a design perspective they are very compact, which means that KeyKegs have a 25-30% higher loading capacity than steel kegs, which is great for the environment. Fewer shipments are required, and empty kegs do not need to be returned, which is around a 65% saving on transport, which in the end affects the price of the beer.
Using recyclable kegs also means we don’t need harsh chemicals for intensive cleaning, as you do with steel kegs.
So there’s a lot you can do if you’re an environmentally conscious beer drinker.
This last week we posted about our Berliner “A Passion for Gingers“, that we in error discontinued at the Swedish monopoly Systembolaget. We have rectified the error, and the beer will again be available from this coming Monday. Just in time to stock up for your summer vacation.
You can follow this link to order it to your closest store.
That is it from us for this week’s brewery update. We hope you’re enjoying the weekend, and stay safe if you’re on holiday or travelling.
Until next week. Cheers.
#FreshestCanInTheLand #Competition
Compete in our freshest can in the land competition and stand a chance to win tickets to the All in Beer Festival.
Festivals
All in Beer Festival 4-5 November 2016
One of our favourite festivals is the All In Beer Fest. The reason? It’s just about beer.
We’ll be attending again this year, but if you’d like to attend, then there’s two ways to go about it. Buy a ticket, or enter our #FreshestCanInTheLand competition, where you stand the chance to win two entrance tickets.
Finding our beers in Sweden
Systembolaget
Have a look at our Systembolaget page, where you’ll find a map that features the stores that have our beers on their shelves. If you live in other parts of Sweden, then you can follow this link to order the beers directly from Systembolaget.se to your closest store.
Folköl (Low ABV Beers)
Visit our Folköl page if you’d like to find out which Stores & Supermarkets, such as ICA & Hemköp stock our low ABV or “folköl” across Sweden.
You can also follow us on Instagram
🎱 Who do you think won? 🎱
You already know at our onsite Tap Room you can enjoy our beer at its very best, in the place it was created. And you know you can see right into our brewery and warehouse. You may even know that we’ve added tasty cheese melts 🥪 to our food menu...but did you know that we have a pool table too?!
Grab your friends and come on over! 🍻 🥪 🎱
Our brewers are busy brewing until late tonight, so you can even see the action up close.
Open Fridays & Saturdays 12-8PM.
📍Find us in Majorna, Gothenburg. Varholmsgatan 4, 414 74 Göteborg.
Have a great weekend everybody.
The first release from our sister company, @wetcityspirits, is a Gin. A Gin they have worked rigorously on for a long time. Striving to achieve the goal of making a Gin for all occasions. But the future is more than Gin. Their future is grain to glass. Their future is fermented fruits. Their future, after all, is Ombibulous.
This fresh, deep and complex Organic Gin has been sculpted with twelve botanicals to create a Gin for all occasions.
Available at @systembolaget on Aug 2, to any store in the country. Number 36296.
Follow them on @wetcityspirits
Thank you @whiteguidessverige for naming our Tap Room as 1 out of 39 Swedish Tap Rooms to visit this summer!
Nice to see that our good neighbours got a mention too. @majornasbryggeri @spikebrewery @vegabryggeri
Time to get planning your summer, Sweden! Now you know where to go. 🍻 🇸🇪
We’re open today & tomorrow (Friday 23 & Saturday 24 July) if you’re in #gothenburg.
BEERBLIOTEK TAP ROOM
👉 Craft Beer & Food
👉 Fridays & Saturdays 12-8PM.
👉 Varholmsgatan 4, 414 74 Göteborg
If you could be anywhere right now, drinking any beer you want, where would you be? And what beer would be in your hand?
Those who frequently visit our Tap Room will recognise this friendly face. Our superstar, Tora, has been a part of the beerbliotek family for the past 3 years doing some of the things she does best— working hard behind the bar, pouring your beers, making you laugh & most importantly, making sure you have the best time. Although she has been known to spill a beer or two every now and then.
Grab a beer from Tora at our Tap Room this weekend. If you want to make her day, bring your dog along too! 🐾 Or bring her a black coffee, that also helps.
Open Fridays & Saturdays 12-8PM for Craft Beer & Food.
See you at the weekend 👋
Tomorrow on Beer Day (Wednesday 21 July) we’ll be taking part in @oletsdag Digital Beer Tasting! 🍻🍻🍻
Our co-founder & designer, Darryl, will be joining over 25 awesome Swedish breweries to chat and celebrate all things good beer 🎉🍻
Good luck Darryl & all the breweries taking part🇸🇪
To all those joining in on the fun– take care, stay safe & have an amazing Beer Day.
As if this weekend couldn’t get any hotter, we’ve kicked it up a notch by unleashing two NEW beerbliotek glasses AND our first ever SODA!
Not only that, we’ve even tapped another new experimental brew for you to try.
Come on over to cool yourself down. We close at 8PM today (Friday 16th) and open tomorrow 12-8PM.
🔥 Red Berry Berliner Weisse – experimental brew – 4,5%
This Red Berry Berliner Weisse was designed to be a perfect low ABV summer drink. Using local lingonberries, strawberries and raspberries. The result is a tart beer, packed full of big fruity flavour.
🔥 Passion Fruit – experimental soda – Alc. Free
Full on Passion Fruit! It’s fresh, sweet, fruity and refreshing. Did we mention this is our first ever soda?
🔥 beerbliotek mug & glass pack of two - available at the Tap Room & Shop. Open Fridays & Saturdays 12-8PM.
Have a great weekend everyone 🌞 🍻
It’s good not to get stuck in the office, so we always try to get out, and when we do, we make sure to go and meet up with good friends. This time @sommerfors and @_madisonsimpson strolled down the street to catch up with the incredibly nice people behind everyone’s current favourite place to eat in Majorna – @hasselssons.
🐟🧀🍋
Hasselssons is a Pop-up Seafood restaurant famous for their fish and chips. They define their concept as “fast food from the ocean”. But it’s much more than their well-known fish and chips, you could say they have transformed into a lifestyle, and it is only just the beginning.
Like all good stories, Hasselssons began with three childhood friends, who were determined to make their dream of working together come true. Adam, Oliver and Ahmet share their story with us on Our Blog – going behind the scenes & into detail of what Hasselssons is all about, how it came to be and what the most important part of it all is to them.
Read their full story on Our Blog. Link in the bio!
🐟🧀🍋
@hasselssons
In case you missed it – we teamed up with the good people at @hasselssons to create their very own beer – Hasselssons Li’l Pils!
We both started our journeys over at Sockerbruket and today, we are still neighbours in Majorna. As we share the same importance of supporting local, friendship and community, we're super glad to have the chance to work together.
This Unfiltered Pilsner is only 3,5%. It’s not only a great Table Beer, but with its chewy mouthfeel and Czech and Slovenian hops, this beer pairs perfectly with all of their delicious seafood dishes.
🍻 🐟
If you haven’t already visited their Pop-up restaurants in Majorna, Skärhamn and Storan, we HIGHLY recommend you go check them out.
And if you’re eager to get to know the 3 guys behind the latest local favourite spot – keep your eyes peeled this week 👀 when we’ll be sharing everything you need to know.
We had so much fun spending time with our good friends at @mikkellerstockholm on Saturday. We loved having the chance to meet a bunch of new faces, catch up with old friends, share our beers and hear your stories.
Thanks to Daniel & the Mikkeller STHLM team for hosting & giving us the opportunity to introduce Beerbliotek to new people—we will be back soon! 🍻
