History
The only invention Sweden has within the area of alcohol is punch. Every Swedish classic like; the horse of Dahlarna, Pippi Longstocking, "smörgåsbord", dynamite... each one of them should be behind the punch. From the middle of the 1700 to the beginning of the 1900, huge amount of punch were consumed in Sweden. The reason for its development and popularity were party because of the forbidden act in making own alcohol in the household. Although, during the two world wars made it almost impossible to come over the most important content to produce punch; the arrack from the east. This situation led to the shift towards eau-de-vie drinks in the 1920s, to gin and tonic during the -30s and after that lead to foremost whisky.
Punch is always fighting to uphold its image and is divided in the peoples mind. On one side there are the military and the students drinking events that "fires" the events and activities with a little bit more "spices". The other factor is the connoisseur that only enjoys punch to ice cream, Swedish pea soup, coffee or cigars. However back in the days people used to drink it warm. It was only in the mid 1800 it became cooled.
It used to be much more labels than there is today. Like Telephone Punch and Railway Punch for the technical interested, Calvary Punch for the uniformed, Publicist Punch for journalists, Exclusive Punch (with the Swedish castle on the label), and Household Punch for the ordinary people.
Once during the chaotic and hectic market on "Kornhamstorg" a mistake was made and some accidentally took salt instead of sugar to serve with the punch. Were the situation became that many people drank punch with salt instead of sugar. The old genius man Cederlund came up with the idea to use an advantage of the situation and produced a punch that had taste of salt and was called Selterspunsch. And of course the military fell for it and loved the new taste.
Also another story is the famous actor Gustav Bergström who sat one evening in a restaurant and ordered all labels of punch, mixed them and shouted out: THIS IS MY FAVOURITE PUNCH!!! Someone herd this and put Bergströms face on the label and called it Favorit Punsch (means favourite punch).
In Sweden you connect punch foremost with Karlshamn. It was the punch that made the city possible. The manufacturer and producers were the town’s politicians and aristocrats. L.O. Smith bought the brewery in 1876 and was a master of marketing registered the product "Carlshamns Flaggpunsch" in 1885. This old brand still lives today with a new elegant package and with another variant which is not as sweet as the original.
The Cederlunds started manufacturing punch in 1845. The family had been wine dealers for generations. The first punch was produced in two variations: Pounsch n:o 1 and Pounsch n:o 2. And where did the manufacturing take place? - In the cellar of the House of Nobels. Furthermore the company rented the cellar of the Royal Palace as a bottling and warehouse space. For the sake of convenience, a little railway was built under the palace for transportation.
Later on when King Oskar II and his wife Sofia moved into the palace, Sofia had her doubts about living on a "punsch mountain". She complained about the smell. A commission was set up to look into the complaints and found that they were not justified. The fact of the matter is that it wasn't until 1967 that the cellar of the palace ceased to be used as a warehouse for punch.
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