Style: German style lager / snaps
Brewery: Oppigårds
Origin: Sweden
Size: 33cl / 50cl
Alcohol: 4.7% / 38%
Price: 18kr / 299kr
Systembolaget: 1136 / 30484
The Oppigårds farm has been in the families’ possession since the 1700s, but it was only in 1997 that the breweries founder, Björn Falkström, began dreaming of building a brewery on the grounds. That dream finally came to fruition in 2003, with Oppigårds Bryggeri growing in the subsequent years to become the biggest craft brewery in terms of sales in Sweden in 2017. This is hopped with Saaz, Saphir and Tettnanger hops. The first thing I knew when I was planning this Midsummers tasting was that I needed to have a lager and snaps combo for the sill. It’s such a classic pairing, that I couldn’t do a tasting like this without it! I was thankful when I found that Oppigårds did a range of snaps, as it was perfect to pair with their easy to find lager.
The lager was a crisp golden colour with light fluffy white head. It had low to medium carbonation with the expected body of a regular pale lager. Aromas of bread, flower, honey and malt all culminated in a lovely crisp note on the nose. The taste was rather more rounded than expected, with sweet white bread and honey at the forefront. The aftertaste was rather short and dare I say a tad boring. The snaps was noted by many guests as tasting quite Christmassy, which I presume is from the combination of spices used to flavour the spirit. The snaps was smooth and easy to drink, with the fennel coming through well in the aftertaste.
On their own, both the lager and snaps were a bit boring, however when they were combined in the right ratio it seemed to release unexpected by pleasant results. The herbal notes helped to accentuate the malt notes and gave the beer more character, which was completely unexpected. They did work well with the sill food pairing, though, so I was very happy with that. These were maybe not the most amazing products I’ve ever tried, but I didn’t notice any faults and I could easily try them both again.