The Spirit World

Thanks to my friend, Henrik, I now have a whole bunch of liquid material that I’ll be covering over the next few weeks! During the holidays, I was at a party he was co-hosting with his fiancé, Denice, and at some point a set of Swedish snaps made their way into the center of the party. Now this is not surprising if you know that Henrik is a recent Swedish expat and many at the party were in the same situation. By that time I was well into the mulled wine so I didn’t sample at that time (and I’m not even sure they were tasting them anyway). But what I did notice was the insert that came with all of the spirit samples that gave a bit of information about each. Jackpot! You know I’m always looking for good information that I can pass on to you.

I asked Henrik if he’d mind it I took the insert - I figured it was just extra paper in his life! At first he agreed and then he declined. But only because he had something so much nicer in mind!

The following week Henrik and Denice attended a party at my place and guess what they brought for a hostess gift? No! Not the paper! The whole little set of snaps! Woo Hoo! Ten Swedish sips all of my own! They all are from the Swedish Distillery, Reimersholms, located on an island just across from Stockholm. The reason for the location is a whole story on it’s own - check the website to get the background!

Each of the ten bottles is a different spirit and they are flavored with an assortment of herbs, spices and other flavorings. Last night M and I sampled two of the ten. We were like kids in a candy shop as we read the information and tried to decide which two we would try. It was a tough decision!

We finally decided that our first sip would be Ösgöta Sädes Brännvin. Now, if you remember when I reported on Icelandic Brennivín I mentioned that is was sometimes called Black Death so I wondered what to expect from this Swedish version.

One of the reasons M picked this particular bottle was the flavorings it incorporated - honey and raisin - just sounded really good! We poured the chilled liquid into a couple of sipping glasses and carefully took a little taste. Black Death is NOT the right term for this stuff! First you get the taste of the honey - just a hint of sweet on the tongue, later the raisin makes an appearance sort of waving goodbye as it slips down your throat.

Since the brochure recommended sipping this with raw spiced salmon, strong cheese or sushi, and all we had that was close was cheese, we pulled together a little bit of cheese, raisins and hazelnuts to go along with it. It was great with all three items but I really liked it just on its own, too. At some point we decided that while sipping it you should really be surrounded by snow though. We thought about going outside where the last of the Seattle snow was finally starting to drip away but then decided that was way too much work!

Next up was Bäska Droppar. This spirit is flavored with wormwood (also found in Absinthe), cinnamon and Seville Bitter Orange. The brochure said it was often used as a digestif or served with game or strong cheese. We still had the cheese so that’s what we aligned it with.

First, the color is a much deeper golden than our first choice. The smell of this one is very medicinal. That wormwood has a very distinctive bitter taste and it seemed to dominate the spirit. I would have thought that the bitter orange might have balanced it a bit but I couldn’t really pick it out. It was especially austere after the honey-tinged Brännvin but as I continued to sip, it grew on me. And I could see why it was considered a digestif. It was so dry as to be rather astringent and it left you feeling as though your mouth was completely cleaned. For M, the taste brought back memories of an accidental Clorox drinking incident in her younger days! It seemed much stronger than the Brännvin, although they are both 40% alcohol.

I think this one would definitely be more of an acquired taste but I’d certainly be willing to sip it again!

Well after last night’s experience I am excited to try a few more of my special Swedish sips - more info in the weeks to come!