Pripps Blå
Pripps Blå
Pripps Blå is Sweden's best-known, most consumed and culturally deeply rooted lager – a brand whose history stretches back to 1828, when Johan Albrecht Pripp founded a brewery in Gothenburg and thereby laid the foundation for one of the most significant and influential beer brands in Swedish history. The beer known today as Pripps Blå was introduced in 1959 under the name Pripps Export – named after the Swedish alcohol legislation of the time, which until 1955 permitted strong beer with an alcohol content of over 3.5% only for export. The unmistakable popular name «Blå» – meaning «Blue» in English – was not given to the beer by a marketing department but by the Swedish public itself, inspired by the characteristic blue label with the iconic horizon line between sky and sea and the sailing ship that recalls the brand's origins in the port city of Gothenburg.
The corporate history of Pripps is a fascinating journey through Swedish economic history of the 20th century – from the merger with Bryggeri AB Falken to form Pripps Bryggerier through ownership by the Swedish state and later the automotive group Volvo to the merger with the Norwegian Orkla group in 2000 to form Carlsberg Breweries, which was fully taken over by the Danish Carlsberg Group in 2004. In 1990, Pripps Blå 3.5% was named the world's best lager in its strength category at the prestigious Brewing Industry International Awards – an international accolade that confirmed the exceptional quality of the beer on the world stage.
Pripps Blå Export presents itself in a clear, golden-yellow tone with a fine white head, where a pleasant, bread-like aroma with notes of straw and a hint of citrus gives way to a well-balanced, fresh and lightly malt-sweet palate with mild bitterness and a pleasantly fresh finish that in Sweden is inseparably linked with sunshine, archipelago coastlines and relaxed summer evenings. The range encompasses variants with various alcohol strengths from 2.2% to 7.2% – from the light Lättöl variant through the classic Export to the full-bodied Extra Stark – making Pripps Blå the most versatile and accessible Swedish beer brand, one that has been proving for over 195 years that an honest, uncomplicated and unmistakably Nordic lager needs no explanation to captivate an entire nation.