Alcohol was sinful, and one wasn’t allowed to forget it.

Things have changed since then, of course, but there are still areas of Sweden where the consumption of alcohol is not something undertaken by upright, clean-living and God-fearing citizens – which explains why, at the hilarious wedding feast in Mikael Niemi’s novel Populärmusik från Vittula, the hard stuff is purveyed by “the least Christian of the serving ladies”.

Like all countries in the far north of Europe (not to mention Asia and North America), Sweden has always had a problem with alcohol abuse, and more specifically an excessive consumption of schnapps, brännvin. The government started intervening as early as the seven-teenth century, although in those days there was no policy based on curbing excessive drinking. Methods of distilling alcohol from grain had recently been introduced into Sweden, and the authorities were concerned that grain intended for making flour and hence items of the staple diet were being diverted to the manufacture of brännvin.

At the end of the eighteenth century the art of distilling brännvin from potatoes reached Sweden: the amount produced increased spectacularly, as did consumption, which reached a peak by the middle of the nineteenth century.  By then the intake of brännvin was 22 litres per citizen per year: exclude children and those who were not partial to its charms, and the figure becomes closer to a litre per week. Take modest and moderate drinkers into account, and it becomes clear that a large percentage of adult Swedes were consuming two to three litres of strong spirits per week. It is not difficult to imagine the effect on working efficiency and family life.

Temperance organizations were founded in the 1830s, and in 1855 the Swedish government passed laws authorizing steep increases in taxation on alcohol: the policy that nowadays raises the eyebrows of many a foreign visitor to Sweden on discovering the price of alcoholic drinks, especially spirits, was launched. So-called system shops were established by local authorities all over Sweden, and were the only retail outlets for alcoholic beverages by the bottle – licensed restaurants were allowed to serve alcohol, but only together with a meal.

As the temperance organizations grew in size and influence in the second half of the nineteenth century, demands for total prohibition grew and by 1910,  56% of Swedish adults were in favour.  What actually happened was a rationing scheme devised by a medical practitioner, Dr Ivan Bratt, known as the Bratt system: adults over the age of 25 could apply for ration books that were stamped in the various system shops every time strong spirits were bought.  Individuals convicted of drunkenness were not issued with ration books (or had them confiscated), and there were further restrictions on the amounts that women could buy.  The ration allowed varied from time to time,  but it was three litres per person per month when the Bratt system was abolished in 1955. In the run-up to the end of rationing, the 41 regional system shops organizations were incorporated into the new state monopoly chain of retail stores, Systembolaget, the only ones allowed in Sweden to sell bottles, cans and similar containers of alcoholic beverages over the counter, set up in 1954.

Attitudes to the drinking of alcohol in Sweden are more relaxed now as we enter the twenty-first century. Most restaurants are licensed,  and the number of British-style “pubs” has mushroomed. But Systembolaget shops are still the only places allowed to sell wine, spirits  and beer with an alcohol content of more than about 3% on a retail basis (although in small communities without a system shop, a local store can be licensed to order items from the nearest Systembolaget outlet on behalf of their customers).

• One might be forgiven for believing that the national drink of Sweden is brännvin (schnapps), even though Swedes maintain it is in fact coffee.

• The word brännvin means literally “burnt (i.e. distilled) wine”.  When first introduced into Sweden, the drink was distilled from wine, but later the base became grain, and later still potatoes. Nowadays various agricultural products are used.

• Until the late 19th century, the quality of distilling was not always high, and there was often an unpleasant taste from some of the materials used. To mask this, it became common practice to add various herbs and spices.

• In the 1870s and 80s a “schnapps war” raged in Sweden, eventually won by the legendary L.O. Smith.  He became the main producer of brännvin and also introduced new, efficient methods of purifying the schnapps produced in his distillery on Reimersholm (an island in Stockholm).

• For much of the twentieth century the standard form of Swedish schnapps was known as renat,  i.e. “purified” brännvin.

• Spiced schnapps, especially if the main spice is cumin, is often called akvavit in Swedish. This word comes from the Latin aqua vitae (“water of life”).

• Akvavit is frequently named after the part of Sweden where it is – or was originally – made,  e.g. Skåne, Gammal Norrlands, Ödåkra; each brand has a characteristic blend of spices.