Vivungs Bryggeri
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To call Vivungs Bryggeri the most exciting brewery in the country is hardly
an opinion, but rather a fact. They are located in a rural part of the Baltic island Gotland,
where there still is a homebrewing tradition alive and kicking. The traditional style brewed
here is gotlandsdricke, a top fermented brew, where parts of the malt smoke dried in a
kölne,the water is boiled with juniper branches, and it is fermented in open vessels.
The result is a very smokey, brown-red coloured, resin-tasting uncarbonized beer in the same
tradition as the Finnish sahti.
The difference from the Finnish version is that, in sahti some part of the malt is rye, and
also nowadays the malt are no longer smoke dried in Finland. Someone estimated the total production
of gotlandsdricke to be around 300 000-500 000 liter.
Vivungs Bryggeri started as a smoke-house, where smoked malt was sold. From there they went on
to sell unfermented gotlandsdricke that people could ferment themselves. (I guess in order
to avoid the bureaucracy to sell alcoholic beverages.) In '94 they recieved a brewer license,
and in september the same year their Vivungs Gotlandsdricke was ready. Their version of
it is different from the traditional in mainly one way: It is slightly carbonated. Like all
of their products it is unpasteurized, and top fermented. Summertime there is a pub at the brewery where traditional homemade, smokey food is served along with Gotlandsdricke and Romakloster from tap. Lately Vivungs has been going through some severe financial problems, and the future seems uncertain. Due to this and some other problems the availability of their beer has been very varying. However, when existing Dragöl and Romakloster should be available all over the country, and Gotlandsdricke only on Gotland and around Stockholm. From time to time their beers have been seen on tap in Visby and Stockholm. Vivungs total production 1996 was 50 000 liter. During 1997 their beer have been very rarely seen, at least in the Stockholm area, which really is a pity. | |
Currently their beer are:
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Vivungs Bryggeri AB Vänge, S-620 23 ROMAKLOSTER Phone: +46 (0)498 51395 | |
Updated 97-12-18 - Per Samuelsson