Scan Magazine | Special Theme | A Taste of Sweden
Is this the apple of my eye? Brännland Cider combines the refreshing flavours of Swedish garden apples with the subarctic temperatures during the Scandinavian winter to create ice cider. The refreshing dessert wine goes well with cheeses such as comté and on its own as an aperitif. By Ellinor Thunberg | Photos: Johan Gunséus
The ‘ice’ in ice cider comes from the fact that the pressed juice is concentrated with natural cold, something there is no lack of in north Sweden, where Brännland Cider has its base. The idea originates from Canada, where the product has been around since the ‘90s.
Not always bubbly While many of us might think of cider as something sparkly, the beverage actually has as many varieties as wine and can 52 | Issue 97 | February 2017
be either sparkling, still, sweet or dry. “The word cider just means that apple is the primary ingredient,” says Andreas Sundgren, founder and CEO of Brännland Cider. Production of ice cider is seasonal as apples are picked in early autumn and stored until temperatures drop to freezing so they can be pressed to juice and cooled outside. The story of Brännland Cider started when Andreas Sundgren
decided to leave his job as CEO of a software company to pursue his dream of working with food and drink. His passion started at an early age, and he trained to become a chef before switching paths to music and later software. “As you know, all white middle-aged men set up breweries, but a lot of people were doing that already and I am not an expert in the field,” he jokes. “Then I thought of perhaps buying a farm and starting to make goat’s cheese, but could not quite imagine getting up at four every morning.” Instead, his passion for wine led him to think of a beverage that could be made in Sweden – from Swedish ingredients.