this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
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It's actually quite hard to buy alcohol in Sweden. You can't buy it in a regular supermarket you have to go to a special shop, that is open at different times, etc. And it's expensive.
Expensive is relative. Systembolaget is so huge that they have incredible deals with certain vendors and makers. I know fo a fact that most single malt whisky from scotland are cheaper to buy from systembolaget as compared to a Tax Free shop abroad. Beer and (usually)cheap wine however is pretty expensive due to the added alcohol tax.
You can buy alcohol at regular store but it's capped at 3,5% iirc
From what I remember it was even 2,5%. Really bad surprise when you take your first sip in the camping and you just wanted to enjoy a beer after 2 weeks in the wilderness.
I checked, it's "II beer", 3,5%. I've had one for a serious hangover but it was shit even for that
The result of this is that all drinking Swedes just have a huge storage of alcohol at home though.
They also frequently drive all the way to Germany (through Denmark) to shop duty-free drinks in bulk.
Scandinavian countries have "pant" on bottles and cans, meaning you pay extra for the container, but get the money back when you return it empty.
Same in Iceland. Was wandering around the supermarket looking for some, and the wife eventually said "no, it's from a special shop". Which was closed. Because why would anybody want to buy alcohol after 5pm?
Went there the next day, the four-pack seemed about the right price so went to buy that, and the wife again went, "no, that's per can". The special shop just splits multipacks.
I can only assume all the alcoholics get their booze via dodgy sources, because there's no way they'd be able to afford to be perma-twatted at those prices.
When I was in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland, the liquor store was open for 2 hours a day and closed weekends.
I was in Ísafjörður and theirs was open most days for a normal working day.
Either Ísafjörður has more drunks than most towns, or Seyðisfjörður is like the Icelandic equivalent of the village in The Wicker Man.