Melleruds
Melleruds Bryggeri
In 1904, the Melleruds Bryggeri in the small town of Mellerud in the historic Swedish province of Dalsland – picturesquely situated on the western shore of Lake Vänern, around 45 kilometres north of Vänersborg – opened its taps for the first time and supplied the region's inhabitants with classic Pilsner according to tried and tested brewing tradition for more than five decades. Brewmaster Algot Andersson shaped this era with his artisanal passion and a classic malt-based brewing process that gave the Pilsner from Mellerud its unmistakable character. In 1907 the brewery passed into the ownership of the large Mariestads Bryggeri and counted among Sweden's first strong beer breweries, before it finally closed in 1959 and left the town of Mellerud without its own beer.
For over sixty years the brewery was history – until brewmaster Richard Bengtsson of Spendrups Bryggeri found inspiration in this rich past and brought the Melleruds Utmärkta Pilsner back to life in 2012 as a tribute to the old brewhouse. Bengtsson consciously oriented himself to the recipes of the brewery's founding era and used exclusively Pilsner and Munich malt together with traditional German and Czech hops, while adapting these to modern brewing precision: «I used the same varieties, but adapted them to modern craft techniques. The result is a damn good Pilsner in a modern interpretation.» The beer was initially offered as a spring Pilsner at the Swedish Systembolaget and met with such enthusiastic reactions that it has been a permanent part of the Spendrups range ever since.
Today, Melleruds Utmärkta Pilsner is produced in Grängesberg in Dalarna, while tourists travelling to Mellerud in search of the brewery find the historic brick building of the former brewhouse now serving as a Christmas museum – a charming testament to the town's brewing past. With its slogan «Alla tiders pilsner» – Pilsner for all time – and its golden-yellow colour, balanced and soft flavour of fine herbal spice, citrus notes and a crisp hop bitterness, Melleruds Utmärkta Pilsner has grown into one of Sweden's most popular and best-selling Pilsners, breaking new sales records time and again and proving that a good beer idea can never truly die.