Sweden: The Great Taste Adventure

Inspiration via exploration of all the senses

- Jim Dykstra

Sweden is exactly the kind of place where you could imagine fairies flitting flower to flower, or mountains and streams speaking to you in whispers and grumbles. It’s the kind of place of where you may trip over an obstruction in a forest pathway only to realize it’s actually a Viking longsword.

Whether in the bustling southern region where Stockholm, and more than seven million of the country’s ten million total inhabitants are located, or the old rustic North, it all feels like hallowed ground. And it is, in a way. Swedish common law of allemansrätten dictates that all men and women have the constitutional right to legally wander land, whether public or private. Of course this excludes criminal or otherwise destructive activity, but the result is a country that treasures all of its land, and the difference is noticeable.

What’s this have to do with beer? In a stroke of divine provenance, The Beer Connoisseur was contacted by Mariestads Brygerri, a prominent Swedish brewery, to take part in its Den Stora Smakresan, which translates to “The Great Taste Adventure.” Perhaps due to Swedish ancestry, I answered the call and was treated to an eyeopening, life-changing adventure.

The philosophy behind Den Stora Smakresan was that of inspiration, born of the land or sea. In true Swedish fashion, Mariestads brewmaster Richard Bengtsson would utilize knowledge and ingredients gathered on the trip to formulate a recipe for a special limited-edition series of beers. In the past, he brewed a channel-porter, inspired by what sailors navigating the country’s canals may have indulged in, resulting in a dry, savory and full-bodied porter with notes of coffee, chocolate and licorice, along with a Swedish oak-aged DIPA and a robust smoked beer.