Djurgarden - Museum of Spirits

After leaving Skansen, we made the short trip back to the Museum of Spirits, first to have lunch at their restaurant, and then to take the tour and see the special exhibits on Champagne and the Absolute Art Collection.

Ian is sticking to sampling Swedish beer, and I decided to try a gin from a local Stockholm distillery. The gin went well with my pâté and shrimp. Angus had the pork belly and Ian went for the sausage with mustard and potatoes. After a leisurely lunch, we headed into the Museum to learn some of the finer points of distilling. We did a quiz on alcohol and scored higher than 50% of those who had taken it before us, we got to smell a number of the botanicals added to give specific spirits their taste and aroma, we got to listen to traditional Swedish drinking songs (they have so many), and got to lie down on a couch and study the intoxication cycle - from stone old sober to under the table - very weird. (Not that we have experienced this ourselves, of course ... that many times.)

Then we went to the Champagne exhibit, where we learnt about soil types, fermentation, bubbles and much more on the production of Champagne. Interesting fact, Sweden is the 10th highest consumer of Champagne in the world - not bad for a country with a population of only 9 million. Australia ranks 7th, and we just beat the Swedes on consumption per capita.Read more