Photo by Fredrik Skogkvist
Back in 2004, when the world was a bit different and Americans had to travel around the world apologizing profusely with our tail between our legs like a puppy that just made a poo-poo, it suddenly became cool to say, “If things don’t change I’m moving to Sweden.” And aside from no one actually following through with it, it made sense. Look at Swedes, for god's sake, they’re all gorgeous and work at creative ad agencies or design organic denim lines made from papier maché that make an 80% profit while proceeds clothe African malaria victims. They smoke cool cigarettes and drink constantly but don’t get too drunk and think casual sex should be government subsidized. It’s all enough to make us forget that the sun doesn’t exist there for half the year. Oh, or that Swedes used to be the biggest dicks on the planet.
Vikings were fucking brutal. They literally raped and pillaged and the British Isles were totally their bitch. But let us not judge too harshly, they explored and colonized and gave us modern day Icelandic chicks. After a couple hundred years or so of feeling superior over the forebears of polite Brits, King Karl XI of Sweden founded Akers Iron Foundry. And, being the genius that he was, he said, “Dude, let’s drink vodka and build giant cannons and shit!” Thus, the origins of what would become the Gripsholm Distillery.
A few centuries later and the Gripsholm Distillery sits on these same royal grounds, where mist blows through from Stockholm’s archipelago, majestic moose meander the deep forests, and a bunch of other shit that New Yorkers like me have no idea about and would likely die after 24 hours let alone there... But it goes back to why all those pseudo-hippies wanted to move to Sweden in the first place. Gripsholm uses the grain and potatoes that their neighbors grow organically and water from the natural springs that carve their way through the forest to produce local spirits in the tradition that’s about ten centuries older than America. What’s your vodka got? A fancy bottle? Well, good luck with all of that.
