Spendrups Bryggeri AB is a Swedish brewery known as Grängesbergs Bryggeri AB until 1983. The company includes the subsidiaries Spring Wine & Spirits, Gotlands Bryggeri and Hellefors Bryggeri. Spendrups Group has approximately 900 employees and sales revenue of approximately 3 billion

Swedish kronor The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; currency sign, sign: kr; ISO 4217, code: SEK) is the currency of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use for the krona; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usual ...

. The head office is located in Stockholm, and the company runs four breweries, in

Grängesberg Grängesberg () is a locality situated in Ludvika Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden, with 3,481 inhabitants in 2010. The town was dominated by iron-ore extraction at Grängesberg ore field (Grängesbergs malmfält) from the 16th century to 19 ...

, Hällefors,

Visby Visby () is an urban areas in Sweden, urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic League, ...

(the micro brewery Gotlands Bryggeri AB), and Stockholm (the micro brewery OMAKA).

History

In 1923, the Danish brewer Louis Spendrup acquired Grängesbergs Bryggeri in

Dalecarlia Dalarna (; ), also referred to by the English exonyms Dalecarlia and the Dales, is a (historical province) in central Sweden. Dalarna adjoins Härjedalen, Hälsingland, Gästrikland, Västmanland and Värmland. It is also bordered by Norway ...

. His son Jens Fredrik Spendrup took over the company in 1950. In 1967, Mariestads Bryggeri, a large brewery in

Mariestad Mariestad () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Mariestad Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 16,611 inhabitants in 2019. Until 1997 it was the capital of the former Skaraborg County and an episcopal see in the ...

, was acquired. Jens and Ulf Spendrup, the sons of Jens Fredrik Spendrup, became chief executives of Grängesbergs Bryggeri in 1976. The brewery launched a beer called "Spendrups" at Operakällaren in Stockholm in 1979. In 1982, Grängesbergs Bryggeri AB changed its name to Spendrups Bryggeri AB, and the brewery was listed on the stock exchange in 1983. The company withdrew from the stock market in 2001. In 1989, Spendrups purchased

Kooperativa Förbundet KF (, "Co-operative Union") is a federation of consumer co-operatives in Sweden and a retail group, with groceries as its core business. History KF was founded in 1899 by 41 local consumer co-operatives in order to support them with informatio ...

s brewing operations consisting of Wårby Bryggerier located on the outskirts of Stockholm and Sollefteå Bryggeri (presently Zeunerts brewery). Among others, the brand Norrlands Guld was included in the purchase. The brewery in Sollefteå, where Norrlands Guld was originally brewed was shut down and sold, whereas Vårby brewery was retained. The abolishment of the state

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

and

liquor Liquor ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through ethanol fermentation, alcoholic ferm ...

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

occurred in 1995, as a result of Sweden's entry into the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(EU), thus allowing Spendrups to import and distribute wine. In 2001, the company started liquor distribution, as well as licensed production of

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer (), or simply Heineken (), is a Dutch pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 February 1864, ...

. In 2009, Spendrups included the brand

Schweppes Schweppes ( , ) is a soft drink brand founded in the Republic of Geneva in 1783 by the German watchmaker and amateur scientist Johann Jacob Schweppe; it is now made, bottled, and distributed worldwide by multiple international conglomerates, de ...

in its product portfolio. Henrik Åström has been CEO since September 2024. He succeeded Fredrik Spendrup.

Terror attack

In April 2017, an Uzbekistan terror supporter stole Spendrups truck and rammed some people with it. Later he crashed into a store. He was arrested and sentenced to life in jail. https://www.dn.se/sthlm/stockholm-terrorist-rakhmat-akilov-sentenced-to-life-in-prison/ Attentatet i Stockholm 2017-8

Sales

In 2015, Spendrups was

Systembolaget (, "the System Company"), colloquially known as ("the system") or ("the company"), is a government-owned chain of liquor stores in Sweden. It is the only retail store allowed to sell alcoholic beverages that contain more than 3.5% alcohol by ...

's second largest supplier of beer, with 21.6% of deliveries (50,612,575 liters). During the same year Spendrups delivered 859,488 liters of cider and RTD’s ('Ready to drink') and 410,598 liters of non-alcoholic beverages to Systembolaget, making the company's total market share 12,5%. With regards to the restaurant market, there are no official figures.

Brands

Spendrups' own brands include Spendrups,

Norrlands Guld Norrlands Guld (''Gold of Norrland'') is a lager beer introduced in 1965 by Sollefteå Bryggeri. It is now brewed by Spendrups as of 1989. It is known for its long-running ad campaign which features a stereotyped view of Norrland. The principal ...

, Mariestads, Loka and Nygårda. Brands manufactured under license include Heineken, Schweppes, El Coto and Cono Sur.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies based in Stockholm County Breweries in Sweden Purveyors to the Court of Sweden Swedish brands Articles containing video clips