Lars Olsson Smith (12 October 1836 in Kiaby – 9 December 1913 in Karlskrona), also L.O. Smith, was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

spirits Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

manufacturer and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. He was called "The King of Spirits" (''Brännvinskungen'') because of his domination of spirits production in Stockholm during the end of the 19th century. He started the production of ''Absolut Rent Brännvin'' which was later renamed

Absolut Vodka Absolut Vodka is a brand of vodka, produced near Åhus, in southern Sweden. Absolut is a part of the French group Pernod Ricard. Pernod Ricard bought Absolut for €5.63 billion in 2008 from the Swedish state. Absolut is one of the largest brands ...

Biography

At the age of 8, Lars Olsson Smith got a position in a general store in

Karlshamn Karlshamn () is a locality and the seat of Karlshamn Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden. It had 13,576 inhabitants in 2015, out of 31,846 in the municipality. Karlshamn received a Royal Charter and city privileges in 1664, when King Charles ...

after his father's bankruptcy and was so well treated by his foster father consul Carl Smith that he took the name Smith. From 1850, he had employment in Stockholm first in the general store, then with a shipping agent. In 1858, he established an agency for a number of distilleries in

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne ...

and

Blekinge Blekinge (, old da, Bleking) is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's secon ...

as well as a modern facility on

Reimersholme Reimersholme is a small island in central Stockholm, lying to the west of Södermalm and to the south of the neighbouring island Långholmen. Reimersholme is inhabited by 2,324 people, living in 1,527 dwellings, and with an average annual income ...

. The distilleries Smith installed there made him rich by producing spirits with an unusually low

fusel alcohol Fusel alcohols or fuselol, also sometimes called fusel oils in Europe, are mixtures of several higher alcohols (those with more than two carbons, chiefly amyl alcohol) produced as a by-product of alcoholic fermentation. The word ''Fusel'' is Ge ...

value. The most well known was the ''tiodubblat renat'' ('ten times purified') which ran the communal distilleries out of business. As a result, the city of Stockholm tried to hamper his success. Smith however was a shrewd and resourceful businessman, placing the distillery on Reimersholme outside the city limits. He sold his products from the Fjäderholmarna islands where he had boats commuting to serve purified spirits to the people of Stockholm. In 2011, a memorial stone was erected in Kiaby, the village where Smith was born.

External links

Lo Smit
website

References

* Nordisk familjebok, Uggleupplagan (1917), Smith, Lars Olsso

1836 births 1913 deaths Swedish businesspeople Members of the Första kammaren {{Sweden-business-bio-stub