Swedish beers

Jag fick nyss, på Beer Advocate, en fråga från en amerikanare... Svaret blev så långt att jag inte ville bara skriva det för honom, så jag klipper in det hit med:

> on Fri Oct 19, 2007 18:41 UTC, [xxx] wrote:
> Greetings from Virginia, USA.
> Tell me what brands of beer are common in Sweden and do
> you know if they are avaliable in the USA? I like trying
> different beers from all over the world, when I can find
> them here.

Hi, [xxx]!

The 5 largest Swedish breweries as of 2006 are:

1. Carlsberg Sverige. The whole range, from budget lagers to keg matured porter. Domestic brands like Pripps, Falcon, Eriksberg, Imports like Carlsberg, Tuborg, Tetleys and Staropramen. Owned by Carlsberg.

2. Spendrups. Also a large range of styles. Domestic brands like Spendrups, Mariestad, Wisby and Norrlands Guld. Import brands includes Starbrno, Heineken, Murphy's and Sol. Owned by the Spendrups family.

3. Åbro. Lagers, some of them premium, some of them budget. Their brands includes Åbro, Smålands, Kung and Bryggmästarens. Importers of brands like Lapin Kulta, Miller, Beamish, Foster and Duvel.

4. Kopparbergs. The low-budget lager brewery of Sweden. Own brands: Kopparbergs, Sofiero, Zeunerts, Elk Brew. Imports very few beers, among them Kaiserdom.

5. Krönleins. Lagers... The only Swedish brewery who brews adjunct lagers. Domestic brands: Stockholm Festival, Threee Hearts, Crocodile and Skåne. They import Kaltenberg. Tiger and Litovel.

All big domestic brands of those breweries are made in several strenghts ranging from 2.25% to 7.2% ABV due to tax and sales regulations.

As for finding Swedish beers in the US, I have very little knowledge of "our" exports. I think the easiest one is Carnegie Stark Porter, a Baltic Porter of Carlsberg Sverige. And I think that some of the Swedish micros are doing some export of their luxury beers like Nils Oscar Barley Wine, Slottskällans Imperial Stout and Nils Oscar Imperial Stout.

Good luck!