Brännvin
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Brännvin (Swedish spelling; see § Etymology) is an old Nordic term for distilled liquor, generally from potatoes, grain, or (formerly) wood cellulose etc, and is today primarily used as a name for "Nordic-style" spirits, and then mainly divided into unspiced and spiced brännvin. Beverages labelled brännvin are usually plain and have an alcohol content between 30% and 38%.
It can be plain and colourless, or flavoured with herbs and spices, such as Akvavit. The common style of brännvin in Iceland, spiced with caraway – brennivín, although, not unique to the country, is considered to be Iceland's signature distilled beverage.
Etymology
[edit]The term brännvin is analogous between the Nordic languages, only differing slightly from language to language: Danish: brændevin, Faroese: brennivín, Icelandic: brennivín, Norwegian: brennevin, Swedish: brännvin. In Finnish, the name was originally also analogous, as paloviini or paloviina, but has since been shortened to just viina.
The word means "burn[t] (distilled) wine", stemming from Middle Low German: bernewin (Old Swedish: brænnevin). It also exists in Dutch: brandewijn and German: Branntwein, gebrannter Wein, ultimately cognate to brandy(wine), also French: brandevin.[1]
In Scandinavian culture
[edit]
A small glass of brännvin is traditionally called a snaps (Finnish: snapsi; compare German: Schnaps), although not on Iceland. In Sweden, and among Swedish-speaking Finns, such is commonly accompanied by a drinking song, called snapsvisa.[2][3][4]
Brännvin was central to the semi-mythical world in the songs of Swedish composer Carl Michael Bellman. For example, in Fredman's Epistle no. 1, the first verse begins:[5]
| Swedish[5] | Translation |
|---|---|
| Gutår, båd’ natt och dag! Ny vällust, nytt behag! Fukta din aska! Fram, brännvinsflaska! Lydom Bacchi lag! |
Cheers, both night and day! New pleasure, new delight! Moisten your ash(-dry throat)! Forth, brännvin-bottle! Let us obey Bacchus's law! |
Swedish history
[edit]
Brännvin has been produced in Sweden since the late 15th century, although the total production was still small in the 17th century.[6] From the early 18th century, production expanded, although production was prohibited several times, during grain shortages. Although initially a grain product, potatoes started to be used in production in the late 18th century and became dominant from the early 19th century.[7] From the early 1870s, distillery equipment was improved.
Progressively from the 1960s, unflavoured Swedish brännvin also came to be called vodka. The first Swedish product to use this term was Explorer Vodka, which was created in 1958 and initially was intended for the American export market. Although it ultimately failed in that market, it remains one of the most popular vodka brands in Sweden today.[8][9] In 1979, Absolut Vodka was launched, reusing the name of the old Absolut Rent Brännvin ("absolutely pure brännvin") created in 1879.[10]
Outside Scandinavia
[edit]In the US, a Chicago producer makes a bitter brännvin (beskbrännvin), called Jeppson's Malört.[11] "Malört" (pronounced [ˈmɑ̂ːlœʈ]) is the Swedish word for the plant Artemisia absinthium, wormwood, often used as an ingredient in absinthe.[citation needed]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "brännvin sbst". saob.se. Swedish Academy (SAOB). Retrieved 2025-02-17.
- ^ "Light Swedish vodka Brännvin". Swedish Food.com. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
- ^ Carlsson, Hugo (1957). Svensk brännvinstillverkning genom tiderna: minnesskrift till Sveriges bränneriidkareförenings 50-årsjubileum [Swedish Brännvin Distilling Through the Ages] (in Swedish). Kristianstad: Trade Association.
- ^ Ekstrand, A. G. (1893). "Den svenska branvinsindustrien" [The Swedish Brandy Industry]. Svensk Kemisk Tidskrift (in Swedish). 5: 108–.
- ^ a b "Fredmans Epistel nr 1". Archived from the original on 7 January 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
- ^ Brännvinslagstiftning Archived 21 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine in Nordisk familjebok, volume 4 (1905)
- ^ Brännvinsbränning Archived 21 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine in Nordisk familjebok, volume 4 (1905)
- ^ "Conaxess Trade: Explorer Vodka". Conaxess Trade. Archived from the original on 5 December 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ^ "Sweden: sales volume of the leading spirits brands in Systembolaget stores 2018". Statista. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- ^ Wondrich, David; Rothbaum, Noah (21 October 2021). "vodka". The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-931113-2.
- ^ "JEPPSON'S MALÖRT". Jeppsonsmalort.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
External links
[edit]- "High spirits". Vin & sprithistoriska museet. Archived from the original on 2009-06-28. Retrieved 2022-03-04. - Short introduction to 'brännvin'. The Historical Museum of Wines and Spirits (English).