The Museum of Spirits’ collections include about 13 000 items, approximately half of which make up an extensive bottle collection. The other half is diverse, to say the very least. Here you will find antique wine urns and amphorae, a winepress from 16th century Italy, large industrial objects and machinery from the Vin & Sprit factories, as well as glasses and bottles from the 17th and 18th centuries. The collection also includes present-day home brewing systems seized by the police, the tower-clock from the Reimersholme liquor factory and an entire interior from the K.A. Nydahl wine shop which was located at Stureplan at the end of the 19th century.
The museum also owns twelve magnificent, historical oak barrels, which were once used for storing caloric punch or cognac. Among them is “Stora Stycket” – the large barrel which can hold 23,500 liters of caloric punch – standing 4.5 meters tall and once housed in the cellar underneath the Stockholm Royal Castle. These days, eleven of the barrels are located at the premises of Sweden’s only master cooper, Johan Thorslund, in Högsjön, Sörmland. The twelfth is used to produce caloric punch at Norrtelje Brenneri.
The collections were started by the state monopoly AB Vin & Spritcentralen in the 1950s. The aim was to document the Swedish history of wine and spirits, and to preserve a vanishing piece of cultural heritage.
In connection with the closing of the Historical Museum of Wines and Spirits, and the opening of the Museum of Spirits in 2011, the collections of alcoholic memorabilia were moved to a storage space deep within the Värmland mountains. The facility is owned and operated by Booforsen AB, providing ideal storage for the museum objects in a strictly controlled environment with approximately 50% relative air humidity and average temperatures of 16-18°C.
The Absolut Art Collection, with 850 works from international and Swedish artists, has also been placed into secure storage.
