Get Your Plant-Infused Drink On at Spiritmuseum

With spring having officially arrived, the island of Djurgården tempts us with its budding trees, green lawns and water canals that have eventually shed the ice. Next time you’re heading over there, try to make it to the Spritmuseum and see the latest exhibition that will inspire you to turn the burgeoning spring produce into drinkable treasures.

Honestly? I didn’t expect much of the exhibition. I knew I would pick up a few tips for concocting my own drinks – be it alcoholic or soft – and I did expect to see plenty of jars filled with less common fruit floating in booze. But I did not expect to have SO. MUCH. FUN.

The exhibit room is all yours to explore – you are invited to see, touch, hear and smell everything around you. What looks like old-fashioned perfume atomizers actually allow you to inhale a number of scents from the most common raspberry or aniseed to the less easily attainable St. John’s wort or woodruff. The hanging rattan chair with loudspeakers emitting sounds of chirping birds and buzzing bees invites you to sit and relax. And what is the weird hissing and sputtering in the corner? Oh right, it’s only a projection of Kombucha effervescing in a glass jar.

You’ll be surprised how much of the spices, herbs and fruit on display you already have in your pantry. It has probably never crossed your mind you could use them to make infusions, syrups, even wine. Yes, some of the beverages take time, patience and a trained eye, but the exhibition is going to make you realise that a lot can be accomplished by the humblest of cooks.

Is your diet rich in pulses? Perhaps you sometimes need to, erhm, break wind (no judgements). Make your own Vesperto – the medicinal snaps! And how about impressing your guests with a homemade Romtopf this Christmas? Spring is just the time to start making this traditional rum-based berry dessert so that it has time to mature.

The exhibition also includes a short documentary and animated movies. Wanna watch rhubarb gets harvested by candlelight? How romantic! What does it take to join a guerrilla farmers’ gang? What is the difference between an extract and distilled essence? You’re about to find out.

Although the exhibition remains open until January 2017, it’s really worth exploring during the warm months when summer fruits ripen, herbs flourish and everything that nature offers is there for you to take and bottle.

Intoxicating Gardens: Cultivating Cocktails

Spritmuseum
Djurgårdsvägen 38
Djurgården
115 21 Stockholm

Opening Hours

1st June – 31st August: Every day 10:00 am – 6:00 pm, Tuesday 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
1st September – 31st May: Every day 10:00 am:5:00 pm, Tuesday 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
CLOSED: 24th, 25th & 31st December.