Brännvin
In the Nordic countries, Danish: brændevin, Faroese and Icelandic: brennivín, Norwegian: brennevin, Swedish: brännvin (Finnish: Viina), is an old Nordic term for distilled liquor, generally from potatoes, grain, or (formerly) wood cellulose etc. Beverages labelled brännvin are usually plain and have an alcohol content between 30% and 38%.
It can be plain and colourless, or flavoured with herbs and spices, such as Akvavit. The common style of brännvin in Iceland, spiced with caraway – Brennivín, although, not unique to the country, is considered to be Iceland's signature distilled beverage.
Etymology
[edit]The word means "burn[t] (distilled) wine", stemming from Middle Low German: bernewin (Old Swedish: brænnevin). It also exists in Dutch: brandewijn and German: Branntwein, gebrannter Wein, ultimately cognate to brandy(wine), also French: brandevin.[1]
In Scandinavian culture
[edit]
A small glass of brännvin is traditionally called a snaps (Finnish: snapsi; compare German schnapps), although not on Iceland. In Sweden, and among Swedish-speaking Finns, such is commonly accompanied by a drinking song, called snapsvisa.[2][3][4]
Brännvin was central to the semi-mythical world in the songs of swedish composer Carl Michael Bellman. For example, in Fredman's Epistle no. 1, the first verse begins:[5]
| Swedish[5] | Translation |
|---|---|
| Gutår, båd’ natt och dag! Ny vällust, nytt behag! Fukta din aska! Fram, brännvinsflaska! Lydom Bacchi lag! |
Cheers, both night and day! New pleasure, new delight! Moisten your ash(-dry throat)! Forth, brännvin-bottle! Let us obey Bacchus's law! |
Outside Scandinavia
[edit]In the US, a Chicago producer makes a bitter brännvin (beskbrännvin), called Jeppson's Malört.[6] "Malört" (pronounced [ˈmɑ̂ːlœʈ]) is the Swedish word for the plant Artemisia absinthium, wormwood, often used as an ingredient in absinthe.[citation needed]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "brännvin sbst". saob.se. Swedish Academy (SAOB). Retrieved 2025-02-17.
- ^ "Light Swedish vodka Brännvin". Swedish Food.com. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
- ^ Carlsson, Hugo (1957). Svensk brännvinstillverkning genom tiderna: minnesskrift till Sveriges bränneriidkareförenings 50-årsjubileum [Swedish Brännvin Distilling Through the Ages] (in Swedish). Kristianstad: Trade Association.
- ^ Ekstrand, A. G. (1893). "Den svenska branvinsindustrien" [The Swedish Brandy Industry]. Svensk Kemisk Tidskrift (in Swedish). 5: 108–.
- ^ a b "Fredmans Epistel nr 1". Archived from the original on 7 January 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
- ^ "JEPPSON'S MALÖRT". Jeppsonsmalort.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
External links
[edit]- "High spirits". Vin & sprithistoriska museet. Archived from the original on 2009-06-28. Retrieved 2022-03-04. - Short introduction to 'brännvin'. The Historical Museum of Wines and Spirits (English).