Sitting outside and sipping on a delicious cocktail is one of Swedes' favorite pastimes this time of year. We've picked out some favorites at lovely summer bars.
THE FARMER & THE BEANS – WITH A TASTE OF GOTLAND
In a yellow brick building in the middle of Slite, an oasis with a focus on the local, seasonal and wild is hidden. In 2022, former elite athlete Stephanie Henning opened her dream place – Bonden & Bönorna – with a restaurant, café and bar. Here you can enjoy a bite to eat, coffee or a delicious cocktail. And everything has a Gotland flavor.
– Bella (Porcile) creates our drinks and includes the wild things that grow here on the island in them. And we work as much with local spirits producers as possible, such as Boge Bränneri, Gotlands Ginfabrik, Gotland Spirits, Bräntings Bränneri and Hellström, says Stephanie.
The signature drink Honey Bee Mine includes Wormwood brandy from Boge Bränneri, Elderberry from Gotland Spirits, local honey, lemon and is topped with elderberry liqueur. Only the lemon is not local. For Stephanie, it is important that it not only tastes good. She also wants it to be beautiful.
– It should look lovely, so we work a lot on the visuals. Honey Bee Mine is decorated with flowers from the garden, bee pollen and a bee stick with honey on it. It's very summery.
The signature drink, the violet and lavender margarita, which is also Bella Porcile's signature drink, is a beautiful lilac purple and garnished with violets from the garden. You can find the recipe here.
– We also do some collaborations with Boge Bränneri where we make our own products together from things that grow wild in nature. One year we went out and picked pine cones and wild chamomile together with Bella and made a liqueur that is only available at our place and that she uses to make drinks, among other things.
They make their own syrups from scratch, work with some shrubs and try to alternate the acid. Sometimes it's a little malic acid instead of lemon juice and so on.
– We also have a solid wine list and mocktails for those who want to drink alcohol-free, adds Stephanie.
From the front, the place looks like a fairly ordinary brick building, but when you step over the threshold, you are greeted by a nature-friendly restaurant in lovely green colors and lots of flowers – both those hanging to dry and cut flowers from the garden.
If you walk through the premises and out the other side, you are suddenly in the countryside. There is a large, lush garden with a view of the sea. Lots of herbs and edible flowers grow in the flower boxes. You can either sit down at one of the cozy café tables, choose a more relaxed hanging chair or hammock – or sit under the apple tree and just enjoy the tranquility.
– It's a big green patch of grass and then we have the sea right next to it. This summer we're going to focus even more on after beach and great hanging out in the afternoons and evenings. Stephanie would also like to take a chance on the opportunity to spend the night in a glamping tent just a few meters away.
“That way you don't have to drive from here,” she says, laughing.
VIOLET & LAVENDER MARGARITA
Recipe: Bella Porcile 2 drinks
You need
6 cl infused tequila 1800 silver 4 cl violet liqueur
4 cl lavender syrup
6 cl lemon juice
Here's how to mix:
1. Measure everything into a glass jar.
2. Pour in 8 cl of milk and watch it curdle. Let stand for about an hour.
3. Place a coffee filter in another jar and then strain the liquid through. The first few drops may be a little cloudy, so catch them separately and then collect the rest of the liquid that is clear in the jar.
4. Serve 10 cl with a round ice ball in a cocktail glass and garnish with the candied dried lavender or fresh and a pansy or violet.
Lavender syrup 5 dl:
Lavender Infused 1800 Silver Tequila:
1. I take a whole bottle so I have enough for many people.
2. Pour the tequila into a bowl and add lavender flowers, about 1 dl if dried or 15–20 sprigs fresh.
3. About 10 dried butterfly pea flowers for color. These can be purchased in well-stocked Asian stores or as powder in health food stores.
4. Let it steep for a day and then strain the flowers.
Heat 50/50 water and sugar and add whole lavender flowers, about 20 pcs. Remove from the heat and let stand for a couple of hours. Then pick out the flowers and dry them in the oven at 50 degrees overnight. They will become like edible lavender sticks.
THE FARMER & THE BEANS Storgatan 80, Slite www.bankenochbonden.se @bondenochbonorna
BARE BROWN – CLIMATE FOOTPRINT IN FOCUS
Bar Bruno may not have Gothenburg's largest outdoor bar, but with its 100 seats it goes a long way and the atmosphere is among the city's most convivial. Earlier this year they took home first prize in the category
”"Best Atmosphere" in this year's Bartender Choice Awards, Swedish cocktail bars' equivalent of the Oscars.
The bar is located on Kyrkogatan, right in the heart of the west coast city. In the summer they set up chairs and tables in the courtyard, which they share with the Champagne Bar – it's the same owner as the Jazz Club opposite.
“I designed the bar myself, so that it would fit in with the rest of the farm,” says Richad Bhanji, bar manager.
The cocktail menu is based on classic drinks in innovative flavor combinations. In 2024, they have also developed a new concept that they call ”circular cocktails” in order to take a hit on the climate footprint. In addition to the regular menu, they serve a range of occasional cocktails.
– We work close to the kitchen and make use of leftovers, both from ourselves and from other bars and restaurants nearby. For example, when they use oranges, we get the peel and if they ferment beets, the peel goes to us.
With great creativity, different techniques and processes, they extract the best and most from leftover products with a distinct sense of taste. Richard explains that this is not only good for the environment. Using ”salvaged ingredients” also helps them lower the price of the drinks.
It was after the turn of the year that they started to reduce waste and since then they have had around sixty different drinks on the menu. But there are also some signatures.
– We have one we call The Groove, which changes flavor according to season but is always a carbonated and clarified milk punch with some form of ”float” (for example, flavored cream) and toppings, such as chocolate, cookie crumbs and so on.
– The Showstopper has been on the menu for a long time. With gin as a base and flavors like lemon, peach and Aperol topped with grapefruit foam, it is wonderfully tart and fruity – and suits most people, says Richard.
BAR BRUNO Church Street 13, www.barbruno.se @brunococktailbar
ASTER – HANG OUT BARELY UNTIL THE SUN GOES DOWN
In Kockums' charming 1917 factory building in Varvsstaden in Malmö, the couple Mimmi Montán Elveroth and Linus Aster have opened a hugely popular bar and restaurant. During the summer months, Aster's outdoor terrace not only offers food cooked over an open fire, it is also one of the city's lovely bar hangouts.
– Many people come here for an AW. And we are located along the path on the way down to the beach, so it is also a popular place for after beach, says Linus.
The westerly location means that people are happy to stay until the wee hours, on days when the sun appears.
– We like to work with flavors that are found here in Skåne, both when it comes to the food and our drinks, he explains.
They find a lot of their ingredients in nature and like to supplement them with plants that they grow themselves. For this reason, the menu is also very seasonal.
– In our cocktails, for example, we work with musk madre, bird's-eye and Japanese shiso (a variety of mint) that we grow ourselves. Right now, at the end of May, there are a lot of herbs and flowers, including lilacs that are blooming right now.
The signature drink has been around since the start three years ago and is based on Skåne vodka, seasonal Skåne apples, musk madder and Manzanilla sherry. And it's wonderfully, bubblingly carbonated.
ASTER Jagaregatan 6, Malmö, www.astermalmo.se @aster.malmo
STOCKHOLM STJÄRTILLERIET FULFILLS THE DREAM OF THE BEST CAKE OF SUMMER
– When people want to sit outside, they can sit outside. Since we are located in an inner courtyard, we can be open all year round and the furniture on the veranda is always outside. But the summer bar itself will be here sometime in April. It is a mobile container that is one hundred percent adapted to the weather, so it is only open when it is nice outside, says Hugo Örn, bar manager at Stjärtilleriet.
The bar belongs to the Artilleriet restaurant and the outdoor seating is located in the courtyard of the Army Museum in Östermalm in Stockholm. Here it is like a large, lovely oasis in the middle of the city, far from the traffic and noise of the big city. There is room for about 200 seated guests and several standing tables. The place is extremely popular and on a nice summer evening it quickly becomes full and more. People sit on the grass, on the stairs behind the bar or stand and hang out where there is a space above.
Their otherwise ambitious menu is smaller because the space in the outdoor bar is quite cramped – We have up to six really good house drinks that we deliver out here. They are refreshing, wonderfully summery and
"Good as hell. We also have a reduced wine list," explains Hugo. He points out that it's also fine to pop into the indoor bar and buy a cocktail from the regular year-round menu and take it out with you.
For four years now, the summer's signature drink has been inspired by a classic summer cake.
“But our drink is much better. We have created the dream of a summer cake,” says Hugo, adding that cakes are never quite as good as you want them to be.
– And every year they just get better. This year it's absolutely... phenomenal, he adds.
The ingredients are Absolut Vodka, strawberries – the kind that is best at that moment – topped with almond cream and basil oil drizzled over. A real highlight that meets all expectations, I can attest.
STAR LITTLERY Artillerigatan 13, stjartilleriet.se @stjartilleriet
