Antique spirit bottles at Spritmuseum in Stockholm, Sweden.

© Mino Surkala/Shutterstock


The surprisingly entertaining Museum of Spirits is dedicated to Sweden's complicated relationship with alcohol, as mediated over the years by the state-run monopoly System Bolaget. The slick space, in two 18th-century naval buildings, covers the history, manufacture and consumption of all kinds of booze, plus holiday traditions, drinking songs, food pairings and so on. Best of all, you can combine your visit with a tasting kit (250kr), including various flavours of liquor to be sampled at specified points.

There's a 'hangover room' with a head-throbbing soundtrack and painful light, as well as a small theatre in which the seating angle and first-person-perspective film make you feel slightly drunk. Multimedia displays dispense titbits about the alcohol industry (the 'thundering fiasco' that was the first Swedish whiskey, for example). There are also well-staged temporary exhibits. Stop in at the attractive 'Beer Pier' out front for a vast selection of Swedish beers on tap (weather-depending).