Blossa 23 travels to Old Town!
This year, Blossa's annual glögg celebrates 20 years by travelling back home to seek inspiration from the vibrant squares, bustling breweries and narrow alleys of Stockholm Old Town.
Love for the craftmanship
Amongst the oldest streets and squares of Sweden, where pubs crowd together with colorful houses in winding alleys, we find the place where the first Blossa glögg was tapped back in 1895. Even to this day, all of Blossa's glögg are made from the same secret recipe - a unique mix of glögg spices that are being aged for months and blended with wine from carefully selected vineyards.
It's the love for the craftmanship that turned Blossa into a beloved tradition, and this history - Blossa's own history, is the foundation and source of inspiration to this year's annual glögg.
Alcohol free annual glögg
A unique and long-awaited happening for this year's annual glögg is the launch of an alcohol-free version. This year's annual glögg is therefore available to more people, and the options for the glögg buffet are even greater.
With flavours of raspberries and hops
Raspberry adds a playful buoyancy to the glögg, where the sweetness is balanced by hops, which become particularly pronounced in the aftertaste. The hop notes are particularly well captured by the clove from the glögg spices, which together offer an exciting flavour combination. This year's annual glögg brings us back to when the first Blossa bottle was tapped, and the Old Town was a gathering place for markets and breweries.
– I have curated all of Blossas annual glögg since the beginning, and it feels wonderful to travel back to where it all startaded during this years 20th anniversary. The Old Town has a rich brewery culture where hops have played an important role, from the popular weak drinks of the past to today's microbreweries. During late summers, the people around Mälaren travelled to the Old Town to sell freshly picked raspberries, a berry we have been cultivating in Sweden since the Middle Ages, says Åsa Orsvärn, Blossas Chief Blender since 1998.
A luminous bottle with a history
The design of the bottle provides an insight into Blossa's history which began in a wine boutique on Stora Nygatan in the Old Town of Stockholm, back in 1895, where the glögg was aged and tapped. We are then brought forward to the Christmas market at Stortorget, over 100 years later, where the same glögg is served under a starry winter's eve. The design also offers an extra surprise this year, as the bottle glows in the dark - just like the street lanterns in the Old Town - when you turn the lights out.
Serving tips for Blossa 23
Blossa 23 can be served both hot and cold.
Blossa's own Chief Blender, Åsa prefers to drink the glögg cold as the flavors come through in a more nuanced and powerful way. She takes a stemmed glass and fills it with frozen raspberries instead of ice cubes.
If you want to try something different, serve the glögg with crackers, raspberry or blackberry jam, and a delicious piece of goat cheese.