So the first time I tried svagdricka a few years ago, I was expecting a root beer like flavor and was shockingly disappointed. It tasted like total crap to me. Now, I went in prepared for something tasting more like beer and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it! Svagdricka is basically a primitive beer that is still enjoyed in Sweden. This particular recipe is from 1884, so the stuff has been around a while… It’s made basically the same way as beer, but with corn malt, hops and brewer’s yeast. However, the fermentation process doesn’t produce much alcohol as there isn’t as much sugar in the malted corn, apparently. Sugar is then added after brewing to create a beer/soft drink hybrid with anywhere between .5% and 1.5% alcohol by volume. To me, the beer it tastes closest to is a bock. There is an undertone of horehound root in there, however, and it took me a while to try to figure out what that taste was. Anyway, if you’re in Sweden, ask a local to help you find some, you can get it in any grocery store. This particular recipe is from 1884, so the stuff has been around a while…
www.kopparbergs.se
Monthly Root Beer Rating: 7
This’ll be a pretty simple review. This tastes just like a very dry champagne with no alcohol in it. This is another Swedish specialty, and as I am currently in the frozen north for the holidays, you’ll be seeing several more Swedish specific beverages. There seems to be a good story behind this, but I’ll let you read it on Wikipedia.
Image by Jon Åslund via Flickr
www.pommac.se
Monthly Root Beer Rating: 6
Not sure where they got this name from. Probably from the super carbonation this not so creamy root beer has. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer a crisp carbonation to more traditional, less carbonated draft styles. But, I sort of feel that if you call your root beer “creamy” and “draft style” on the bottle, it should probably be a little more like that, right? Anyway, I ramble. The flavor on this root beer wasn’t bad, and it was nicely sweetened with cane sugar. The whole thing just was kind of average, you know? It tasted a bit uninspired; not bad, but not great. Definitely would have again, but probably wouldn’t seek it out. I bought a sample pack with three of their other flavored beverages, so we’ll see if any of those are better.
Durango Soda Company
www.zuberfizz.com
Monthly Root Beer Rating: 6
Where should I start with this? Julmust is a pretty unique beverage to Sweden. Swedes go absolutely apeshit for this stuff and it’s only available at Christmas, when it outsells Coke by a wide margin. The name comes from a combination of Swedish words; Jul=Christmas, must=juice. Julmust=Christmas Juice, remember that one, dear readers. Strangely, it is available at Easter too, but it’s called Påskmust. Some people say that påskmust is a bit lighter in flavor, but frankly, the only difference I can tell is that it has yellow chickies on the label instead of the fat man with the beard.
My wife, who happens to be Swedish, loves this drink and gets excited like a little kid every year when it’s available (Swedes also like Glögg and surströmming, but that’s a whole other article). We did come to an understanding that she probably enjoys Julmust in the way that I enjoy root beer and that we would probably never understand that about each other, and that it was OK that way. Every year I try it again to see if my impression changes and every year I have the same reaction:
Who opened a bottle of Dr. Pepper, left it on the counter for three days opened and then gave it to me?
I can see some theoretical parallels to root beer in that Julmust is made with hops and barley malt extracts as well as a pretty secret blend of spices, but despite all claims, there is no comparison. If you want to try it, you can find Nygårda at your closest IKEA. There are several other varieties in Sweden, but this one is pretty much the standard.
Monthly Root Beer Rating: 3 (sorry, honey)
Oh boy, Cheerwine! It occurred to me as I saw a bottle of “retro” Cheerwine in the grocery store (12 oz glass bottle, cane sugar) that most of you probably don’t know this soft drink. It’s a native of North Carolina and produced not far from where I live. The Carolina Beverage Company that produces it doesn’t seem to care much about spreading the good word too far outside the Carolinas, and that’s fine by us, it just means more at home.
This soft drink is a highly carbonated wild cherry flavored beverage that has a bracing taste and is a bit bitter. Many people say that it’s overly sweet, but I find that to be specific to the high fructose corn syrup variety. I will concede that it does taste a bit artificial. I can’t really compare Cheerwine to anything else, I’ve never tasted anything like it, yet it’s always been around me and never seemed odd. If you can get your hands on it, it makes a fantastic homemade ice cream! Last year, Cheerwine partnered up with Krispy Kreme to make Cheerwine filled Krispy Kreme doughnuts that almost sent us North Carolinians over the edge with salivation.
Monthly Root Beer Rating: 8.5
So the first time I tried svagdricka a few years ago, I was expecting a root beer like flavor and was shockingly disappointed. It tasted like total crap to me. Now, I went in prepared for something tasting more like beer and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it! Svagdricka is basically a primitive beer that is still enjoyed in Sweden. This particular recipe is from 1884, so the stuff has been around a while… It’s made basically the same way as beer, but with corn malt, hops and brewer’s yeast. However, the fermentation process doesn’t produce much alcohol as there isn’t as much sugar in the malted corn, apparently. Sugar is then added after brewing to create a beer/soft drink hybrid with anywhere between .5% and 1.5% alcohol by volume. To me, the beer it tastes closest to is a bock. There is an undertone of horehound root in there, however, and it took me a while to try to figure out what that taste was. Anyway, if you’re in Sweden, ask a local to help you find some, you can get it in any grocery store. This particular recipe is from 1884, so the stuff has been around a while…
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