February 22, 2004
Systembolaget
In Sweden, the state exercises a near-monopoly on the supply of alcohol. Besides bars and restaurants, the only retail outlet is ‘Systembolaget’, a government-licensed chain of stores which stock only officially-approved product lines. There is one of these stores in the centre of the town where I live, and a second in a shopping mall on its outskirts. Between them, these two stores must cater to the alcohol-based needs of a population of about sixty-thousand. In supermarkets and convenience stores one can just buy weak beer, cider or fake wine with an alcohol content no greater than 3.5% by volume.
Until a couple of years ago, Systembolaget stores never opened on weekends. Now one can buy booze between ten and two on a Saturday. This is no especial hardship, but obliges a certain amount of forward-planning from the alcohol-buyer, which can seem irksome if one prizes spontanaiety. We end up going less often, but buying in greater quantity than we would have when booze-shopping in the UK, say. I went to our local store on Monday, for instance, and picked up five bottles of red wine, and one apiece of rum, and good tequila. In the UK, the opinion prevails that buying alcohol in Scandinavia is prohibitively expensive: this is not always the case in Sweden, at least, where beer and wine can be cheaper in some cases than in Britain. Even bar prices are not much different than what one might pay in London.
I can be grateful, at least, that I live in these enlightened times: between 1919 and 1955, alcohol was rationed in Sweden; and in 1922, a prohibition on the sale of alcohol was only very narrowly defeated in a national referendum. One can only presume that bootlegging and moonshining thrived here in the not-too-distant past. One other oddity of Swedish alcohol culture are these:
They are miniature bottles conatining flavoured syrups, which, when combined with unflavoured brännvin (a neutral spirit), presumably transforms it into what I can only imagine would be travesties of the liquors in question…
Posted by misteraitch at February 22, 2004 01:26 PM | TrackBackHere in Ontario all sales of liquor and wine are through the government agency, Liquor Control Board of Ontario, or LCBO (They permit brewers to operate separate official Beer Stores that sell beer all brands of beer.)
The LCBO is the largest retailer of alcoholic beverages in the Western world, and last year returned $905 million to the provincial government.
Once upon a time -- when I was younger -- in order to buy a bottle of booze you had to fill out an order slip, sign it, and give it to a clerk who then disappeared into a back room to search for the product you wanted, because it was felt that the sight of liquor might inflame the susceptible among us, driving us to levels of degredation only the devil could imagine.
Now things in a liquor store look very modern, with attractive displays everywhere, cooking classes, wine tastings etc. And many of us are no longer sure that privitization would in fact be a good idea.
Posted by: Simon Fodden on February 22, 2004 03:02 PMThe 'order-slip' system you describe is still in use here in Sweden, but is gradually being phased out in favour of open-plan self-service stores. I can't really argue with the principles of this kind of monopoly: profiteering from alcoholism is lessened, quality standards are enforced, etc. and the range of products is usually satisfactory, good enough for my tastes, at least. It all seems to the good, and if ever other intoxicants were legalised, I would support their distribution by a similar means. It can be frustrating though, for example when my (Canadian) wife wanted to order a case of Labatt Blue or Molson Canadian, and the local Systembolaget didn't stock either brand, and at that time, the central distribution depot in Stockholm didn't have any either, having dropped them from their catalogue...
Posted by: misteraitch on February 22, 2004 03:44 PMRegarding the Swedish retail stores, who are not yet refurbished to self service stores, it is since a long time not necessary to sign an order slip. You just order to the clerk what you desire.
However, if you are intoxitated the clerk will refuse you any sale.
In old days before World war II, an order slip had to be approved, paid at the cash counter, wait in a new line in front of a wall hole to receive the ordered goods.
If you did not reach that hole before closing time 6 p.m., you had to make a new line to the cash counter to get refund without booze
So sorry for you all guys... It looks like a mixture of islam and communism!
Luckily, I am living in the mediterranean area, where dionysos is felt like a god of civilization and not an obscure force to be repressed...
Even our soldiers can drink wine at meals, and they don't get drunker than yours when they are on leave...
Anyway, we have other problems so, as we say, world is nice because it is various!
By the way, nice website, it's among my favourites, even if, as you can guess, the great pagan classical tradition is to much filtered by the post renaissance culture, but it's only my opinion. When I will manage some time for a site of my own we will be able to exchange material and CULTURE.
Go on like that.