Despite a haul of medals at recent Swedish beer festivals it can’t really be said that success came to Dalarna’s Oppigårds Bryggeri overnight. In fact it took a whole 8 years for the first proper batch of beer to be brewed!
But as the saying goes ‘good things come to those who wait’ and Oppigårds’ hand-crafted range of beers are now firmly established favourites in the Systembolaget and at pubs throughout the country.
Björn is delighted his beers are getting recognition.
BeerSweden has spoken to founder, brewer, Managing Director and ‘handyman’ Björn Falkeström about how he built a brewery practially from scratch and what he’s doing to try and keep up with demand for his award-winning beers.
BeerSweden: First of all congratulations on your success at the recent Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival where you took home six medals, including 3 golds. How did it feel to get such a positive reaction from the judges and what does it mean to you to win medals at the festival?
Björn:We´re always pleased when we get acceptance for our beers. The competition this year was harder than ever. We see more and more good beers from small Swedish brewers. This is good for the beer consumer and the beer culture in this country. However I doubt that the medals will make any big change in our sales figures but if you do not get any medals your beer is not good enough to compete in the market.
BeerSweden: Oppigårds has grown from a small operation making just 8,000 litres of beer in 2004 to an established name in Swedish brewing producing almost 250,000 litres last year. How have you managed to keep up with demand?
Björn: I started the brewery project on my own with the goal to be able to produce 400.000 per annum. The brewhouse has a capacity of 2.350 litres. The problem in the first year was when the demand was small but the batches were too large. Today it is the brewhouse that is the bottle neck, but you always have the possibility to work around the clock! It took 8 years from starting up the project until I brewed the first batch. During the construction phase I did most of the work myself and I also managed to finance the investment with my own money. So when we expand the business today we are not forced to pay old loans. Instead we can pay the new investments mostly with the cash-flow from the brewery business. There are never any quick fixes. You just have to work.
BeerSweden: Since you first experimented making your own beer in a saucepan you borrowed from your mother back in 1984 what are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the Swedish brewery scene?
Oppigårds' Winter Ale won gold for Best Christmas Beer at the Örebro Beer Festival last weekend.
Björn: Well, during that time in the 80′s I was not very aware of what was happening in the brewery scene. But in the last five years a lot of new small breweries have started up in Sweden. Some are in the bottling business but many are still only distributing their beers in kegs. You can also see more types of beer in the market, both domestic and imported beers. The competition with imported beers is good as it makes the Swedish beers better and the influences and ideas makes the beers available more diverse.
BeerSweden: What is your philosophy regarding the beers Oppigårds brews?
Björn: We have no hidden agenda. We make all our beers in Ingvallsbenning. We can never blame someone else for doing a bad job. I think it is important when producing food and beverages to be honest. Much of the supply in this market is something quite different. The problem is that the consumer is not aware and the big market players do not take the responsibility.
We believe the formula to great beer is that the recipe is about 25%, the soul is 75% and the water and brewing process goes on top of that!
BeerSweden: And finally what do you think the future holds for Swedish microbreweries in general and Oppigårds in particular?
Björn: The pub market is controlled by the big market players. I would like to see a law as England has with ”guest taps”. I think that is important for very small breweries and for the Swedish beer and pub culture. We are growing in the pub and restaurant markets due to the cooperation with TOMP Beer & Spirits. This is good for our volumes and for our brands. The retail market is not designed for very small-scale breweries yet but I think that we will see a development during the next few years that will be good for the Swedish small-scale breweries.
Oppigårds’ goal is to make our product portfolio more complete. We are finishing our largest investment ever this winter which will make it possible to grow in capacity and also make some stronger beers in smaller batches. Our new visitor centre will be able to hold up to 50 visitors. This is important for us when developing our brand and it is also fun to be able to develop the Swedish beer culture.
See all of Oppigårds’ beers available at the Systembolaget here.
The Swedish micros are particularly well represented this time round, with beers from Nynäshamn, Oppigårds. Sigtuna and Dugges hitting the shelves. Big brother brewery Spendrups is also there with it’s eye-catching and quirkily named Pistonhead Hot Roddin’ Lager.
