Drinking and Not Driving in Sweden

I have mixed feelings about the attitude toward alcohol in Sweden. I find it a bit difficult to stomach, in some ways. I am the type of person who likes a glass of wine with dinner, maybe two on a Friday or Saturday night. But I really am not a fan of getting drunk, and avoid it unless it is either a crayfish party or midsummers. This drinking style, in my experience, is a bit in contrast to typical Swedish drinking.

That said, one of the things that I respect most about the Swedes I have had the pleasure of partying with, is their attitude towards drunk driving. You just don't do it. There is no 'It's OK to drive after a beer, or a glass of wine.' like we learned in Driver's Ed. There is no mathematically calculating your weight and the amount of alcohol in a beverage.

You just don't get behind the wheel if you've had a drink.

The Swedish legal limit is quite low, and this is probably a main motivator in this issue. It is .02, compared to .08 in the US.

But drunk driving has a strange amount of social acceptance in the US. Maybe it's because we are so dependent on our cars, but I know several people who have lost their liscences due to drunk driving, who continue to drive after a few cold ones. Driving under the influence in the US is something many people think you just have to do if you live in a suburb.

Driving under the influence in Sweden remains pretty taboo. In Sweden most people take the bus, or the train, or a cab. Sometimes a designated driver will step up. Sometimes, although I question the sanity of this at times, people bike home instead. Other times people sleep over.

Another thing I noticed, after a party this weekend, was that some of the big drinkers refused to drive the next day. This makes perfect sense. I get it. But I can tell you, as someone who strongly opposes drunk driving, I never even thought about not driving the next day, and it was never discussed in Driver's Ed.

I will admit, that I drove the next day, to pick up Diner Breakfast, when I probably should have been off the road. Thankfully no one was hurt. I would never do that today.

So even if I bitch and moan occasionally about Swedish alcohol culture, Systembolaget, stor stark and other related things, I do think Swedes get the important part of it right, the part that saves a lot of lives.

One 'Big Strong' Please

Beer. I like it. Dark beers, white beers, Christmas beers, ale and lager. I like beer.

Here in Sweden the tradition is to order beer by the size and strength. This pains me at times. You don't tend to ask what is on tap, or what type of beer it is, you only care that it is 'big and strong'

En Stor Stark, Tack!

And let me tell you, En Stor Stark ain't cheap either – even during the 'happy hour specials'- a big and strong will set you back at least 40-50 SEK (which at today's exchange rate is at least 6 dollars). That's kind of pricey for a glass of no-name beer.

Now you don't have to order the 'Big and strong,' if it is lunch time many Swedes opt for the 'small and light.' Don't be fooled. By light they don't mean low in calories, they mean low in alcohol. I think it's something like 2% alcohol.

Now, before I moved to Sweden, naïve me paid little to no attention to the percentage of alcohol in a beer. However, I have learned that the jump from 3.5% to 4.0% is highly significant to someone, somewhere. It is the deciding factor as to where I can buy my beer and why they want to charge me a 40% higher price.

And while I have never done it, this interesting way of ordering beer does mean that in theory you can order 'A small medium' or even 'a large medium' without illiciting any strange looks.

Rule #3: If you want real beer, skip the Stor Stark