Small-scale distilleries, where ethyl alcohol is distilled from fermented grain and/or potatoes has a long tradition in Sweden and grew extensively when private distilling was prohibited by law in 1855. At this time, some 650 distilleries were in operation.

But like all process oriented industries, massive rationalizations in several waves have led to a massive onslaught of smaller units. Distilleries were not long ago a periodic business, typically linked to the time of harvest of grain or potatoes and the sites were idling for long periods. Distillation was typically performed batch-wise and was fairly labor intensive.

Located not far from today’s giant Absolut Vodka distillery in the south of Sweden, this unit produced some 500,000 litres of crude alcohol per year. It closed in 1971 and has since then been left as is.
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