Lund & Öl
Oh my sweet little Lund. There is no way I could not include that small Swedish student town here. It has been a few years now that I have been up there the last time, but this city will always have a special place in my heart ever since I studied there in 2008 and 2009. Its narrow cobble stoned streets that made cycling always an adventure, the impressive cathedral, its cute little cafés where we would spend hours and hours of fika and all the friendly people are still vividly in my mind. My time in Lund definitely changed me in a purely positive way. Anyways, I do not want to get too carried away here. During the time I lived there, there was absolutely no craft beer around. The Swedish beer was abysmal and we thus relied on Czech lagers that we bought at the state owned liquor stores or we grabbed as many boxes of Tuborgs as we could carry in the nearby Copenhagen, whenever we went over there. However, we did not really care. We were students and alcohol was expensive enough anyways. In your early twenties it does not really matter where you get your booze from :). I have been back on several occasions and the last time was end of 2014, when the craft beer revolution was slowly making its way over to Europe. Still, there wasn’t much going on in Lund even then, but somehow by accident I came across one craft beer bar. I have no idea how the scene is up there right now (at least Malmö, which is a ten minutes train ride away is supposed to be boomin simultaneously to the Swedish craft beer scene in general), but I am pretty sure that back then this was the only craft beer pub in Lund and it was in this very special bar where I tried a Mikkeller beer (it was the Texas Ranger) for the first time. So, here is my list of craft beer bars to visit in Lund.
INFERNO
That’s it. This is my list. There was nothing more in Lund. Inferno is located very centrally at the intersection of Kyrkogatan and Paradisgatan just behind the main building of Lunds Universitet and some 300 meters away from the cathedral (kyrka means church in Swedish, thus the name of the street). Back in the days there used to be a really good kebab place at exact this location. It was my first night of my Lund revival and I was in the need for a bite. When approaching this place it certainly looked different. That old, half-timbered one-story corner house was still the same, but gone where the big billboard pictures advertising the kebab. Instead the name “Inferno” screamed in neon-red letters at me. I had no idea what that place was, but I wanted to see who kicked out my deliciously unhealthy kebabs. It looked very different when I stepped foot in. The entrance was still the same, but the interior had changed completely. The kebab place/now pub is L-shaped on the inside. The bar is now located in the front room and the rest is filled with tables and chairs. There was not going on much (it was a Wednesday night after all – and in Lund that means that students are celebrating at the Västgöta Nation), but the beer menu was really interesting. The tap list read beers that I have never heard of, the fridge was stocked up with all different kind of bottles and at the very right end, there were a couple of bottles of the Danish Mikkeller brewery presented. Those rang a bell. Back then I had heard only heard of Mikkeller, but I knew they had a bar in Copenhagen and since I was to spend a couple days there before flying back home, the bar was high up on my bucket list (more on that in the Copenhagen section). So, Inferno looked super promising and I decided to spend some time there. Food could wait. I really loved the coziness and the familiarity of Inferno, which is very typical for Sweden. The bartender was extremely friendly and very helpful and he definitely had a broad knowledge about beer and not only about the ones Inferno was offering. I do not remember exactly which beer I had there first, but he definitely recommended a domestic IPA that was on tap and it was absolutely fantastic. Another great beer he pulled out of the fridge for me was the fantastic Göteborg-based Mohawk Brewing Company’s India Pale Ale. I recall that I very much liked that one. It had a very golden color, was very crisp and bitter with hints of citrus. I mentioned before that Swedish öl did not use to be any good and yes, their commercial lagers are still shit. However, by now Sweden has developed a huge craft beer scene with loads of microbreweries and some of the best beers that I have had so far, came from Sweden. I think it is absolutely impressive how this has turned around. Breweries like Omnipollo, Beerbibliotek, Brewski, O/O, Stigberget, Stockholm Brewing Co. or Electric Nurse (just to name a few) have been bringing out high end quality beer. They might not be that well known in Austria, but I am sure it will not take long until the beer shops will have them available as well – some of them have them already. Especially Oppigårds can be frequenly found here and Craftmühle has slowly included Brewskis in their tap menu. Of course, I also needed to go through some of the Mikkellers. I started with the Texas Ranger (a chipotle porter), which completely blew my mind and I can feel this fiery chili taste on my tongue when I think back of Inferno. Chili and inferno goes very well together :).
So, should you ever be in Lund (or Malmö, or South Sweden in general, or even in Copenhagen), plan a visit to Inferno.
PS. I know, this text here got a little bit out of control. Sweden in general and Lund specifically just had such a huge impact on my life and is still so extremely present in my thoughts and memories, that I wanted to make this here a little bit more personal.
BEERS I RECOMMEND. I do not know what they have on tap or in stock at the moment. Ask the bartender for some domestic brews. He definitely knows what he is talking about.
FOOD. I mentioned that I was searching for food, when I stumbled upon Inferno. However, it did not cross my mind to eat there; I was too excited about the beer. They do serve proper food at inferno though, ranging from burgers to traditional Swedish cuisine.
OPENING HOURS. Mon – Tue: 2pm – midnight. Wed – Thu: 2pm – 1am. Fri – Sat: 2pm – 2am. Sun: 2pm – 11pm.
CLOSEST SUBWAY STOPS. You kidding me? Walk or cycle it yerself. Lund is not that big J. Nearest bus stops: Stadsbibilioteket, Lundagård, Domkyrkan
ADDRESS. Paradisgatan 1, 223 50 Lund, Sverige
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INFERNO
That’s it. This is my list. There was nothing more in Lund. Inferno is located very centrally at the intersection of Kyrkogatan and Paradisgatan just behind the main building of Lunds Universitet and some 300 meters away from the cathedral (kyrka means church in Swedish, thus the name of the street). Back in the days there used to be a really good kebab place at exact this location. It was my first night of my Lund revival and I was in the need for a bite. When approaching this place it certainly looked different. That old, half-timbered one-story corner house was still the same, but gone where the big billboard pictures advertising the kebab. Instead the name “Inferno” screamed in neon-red letters at me. I had no idea what that place was, but I wanted to see who kicked out my deliciously unhealthy kebabs. It looked very different when I stepped foot in. The entrance was still the same, but the interior had changed completely. The kebab place/now pub is L-shaped on the inside. The bar is now located in the front room and the rest is filled with tables and chairs. There was not going on much (it was a Wednesday night after all – and in Lund that means that students are celebrating at the Västgöta Nation), but the beer menu was really interesting. The tap list read beers that I have never heard of, the fridge was stocked up with all different kind of bottles and at the very right end, there were a couple of bottles of the Danish Mikkeller brewery presented. Those rang a bell. Back then I had heard only heard of Mikkeller, but I knew they had a bar in Copenhagen and since I was to spend a couple days there before flying back home, the bar was high up on my bucket list (more on that in the Copenhagen section). So, Inferno looked super promising and I decided to spend some time there. Food could wait. I really loved the coziness and the familiarity of Inferno, which is very typical for Sweden. The bartender was extremely friendly and very helpful and he definitely had a broad knowledge about beer and not only about the ones Inferno was offering. I do not remember exactly which beer I had there first, but he definitely recommended a domestic IPA that was on tap and it was absolutely fantastic. Another great beer he pulled out of the fridge for me was the fantastic Göteborg-based Mohawk Brewing Company’s India Pale Ale. I recall that I very much liked that one. It had a very golden color, was very crisp and bitter with hints of citrus. I mentioned before that Swedish öl did not use to be any good and yes, their commercial lagers are still shit. However, by now Sweden has developed a huge craft beer scene with loads of microbreweries and some of the best beers that I have had so far, came from Sweden. I think it is absolutely impressive how this has turned around. Breweries like Omnipollo, Beerbibliotek, Brewski, O/O, Stigberget, Stockholm Brewing Co. or Electric Nurse (just to name a few) have been bringing out high end quality beer. They might not be that well known in Austria, but I am sure it will not take long until the beer shops will have them available as well – some of them have them already. Especially Oppigårds can be frequenly found here and Craftmühle has slowly included Brewskis in their tap menu. Of course, I also needed to go through some of the Mikkellers. I started with the Texas Ranger (a chipotle porter), which completely blew my mind and I can feel this fiery chili taste on my tongue when I think back of Inferno. Chili and inferno goes very well together :).
So, should you ever be in Lund (or Malmö, or South Sweden in general, or even in Copenhagen), plan a visit to Inferno.
PS. I know, this text here got a little bit out of control. Sweden in general and Lund specifically just had such a huge impact on my life and is still so extremely present in my thoughts and memories, that I wanted to make this here a little bit more personal.
BEERS I RECOMMEND. I do not know what they have on tap or in stock at the moment. Ask the bartender for some domestic brews. He definitely knows what he is talking about.
FOOD. I mentioned that I was searching for food, when I stumbled upon Inferno. However, it did not cross my mind to eat there; I was too excited about the beer. They do serve proper food at inferno though, ranging from burgers to traditional Swedish cuisine.
OPENING HOURS. Mon – Tue: 2pm – midnight. Wed – Thu: 2pm – 1am. Fri – Sat: 2pm – 2am. Sun: 2pm – 11pm.
CLOSEST SUBWAY STOPS. You kidding me? Walk or cycle it yerself. Lund is not that big J. Nearest bus stops: Stadsbibilioteket, Lundagård, Domkyrkan
ADDRESS. Paradisgatan 1, 223 50 Lund, Sverige