Museum of Spirits — Attraction in Stockholm

We stopped by the Spritmuseum as it was on our GoCity Stockholm card. The museum entry usually costs 130 SEK, which on reflection, is good value for the time you spend in there and the quality of the experience.

We started on the ground floor and looked through the art exhibit ‘Troubled Waters’ by artists Pierre et Gilles. It was rather risqué, but very thought provoking and I really enjoyed it. We then started to make our way through the experience, which was a well thought out collection of exhibits based on a variety of alcohol trends. There were plenty of interactive elements to the experience, and I recommend getting involved with all the quizzes, they’re great fun.

At the time of visiting they were focusing on the Gin scene that has exploded in Sweden (very much like the UK) and it was interesting to see their take on it.

Another fascinating element to the experience was the Swedish relationship with alcohol. I’m from the UK, and it is both fairly cheap and easy to drink to excess pretty much anywhere. The Swedish stance on the matter seems to be a lot more discouraging than the UK. In the exhibits there were elements that focused on hangovers and drinking too much - showing the ugly truth to drinking. I especially enjoyed taking a few minutes out lying in darkened room watching what happens when you ‘go too far’ and what happens to you the more your blood alcohol levels increase.

All in all, I was l really surprised by the Spiritmuseum. It’s far more than just a ‘sniff this’ or how to make a cocktail, it’s art, culture, the Swedish relationship with alcohol and so much more. I would definitely recommend a visit if you’re looking for something a little different to do after the equally fascinating Vasa Museum.

On a side note, they do offer tasting boards and experiences alongside the tour, but these are an additional cost. It was approximately 175 SEK when we visited and this was for 4...

Simply a must visit. I've been there a couple of times, and I always leave astonished. They have an incredibly well curated exhibition about the history of alcohol in Sweden, super fun curiosities about how people would be creative to smuggle and sell alcohol in the times of stricter laws, due to the Prohibition period, and how everything was tackled.

As a Sommelier, I had a lot of curiosities I needed to satisfy and many questions about how the wine and spirits industry has been developing in the last decades, so they had no problem in calling immediately 2 of their specialists in the area of wine (Folke) and Spirits (Ludde), who gladly spent a good time with me chatting and sharing knowledge.

We ended up doing a small tasting at their bar, which was simply mind blowing: tasting a sparkling wine from the person who brought the first commercial vines to Sweden in '94 to an incredibly well made red wine from a grape called Pinot Madeleine, to an amazing still white wine produced from the Solaris grape... it made my head spin and imagine how bright the future looks for Sweden in this department.

And as all of this was not enough of a joy, you also have an excellent exhibition of Andy Warhol, which is the cherry on top of the cake, as he was the first artist that the Swedish brand Absolute Vodka hired to collaborate with.

This is a sure shot of a very well time spent.

Thank you to all at the Sprit Museum!...

You're better of simply spending you money on getting drunk then on visiting this museum.

The "absolut vodka exhibition" is a mix of advertising and some art that looks to be commissioned by absolut for absolut (or some seriously alcoholic artists).

After that you can visit the "hangover simulator" which is a small room with a loud buzz and some colored lights. Then there is the "I'm drunk simulator" which is some lounge chairs and a screens that show a movie accompanied by an incredibly loud soundtrack over some blow-out loudspeakers.

On the up side there was no queue to enter like all the other museums, so...