At about £7.00 for half a pint you really start to appreciate the beer in Stockholm. This is not stuff for chugging. It needs to drunk slowly and swirled round the mouth so as to put off the moment I have to dig out my wallet and go through the somewhat painful experience of forking out another barrowload of cash for another half glass.

Fortunately the beers so far haven’t been too bad. Last night (Thursday) we sat outside a restaurant/bar and I asked for a glass of cold white dry wine and a beer. The wine was from Austria and did all that was asked of it. The beer was pale, blonde and sweet tasting and came in a slightly bigger glass and was what was needed after a days travel. We loosened our belts and went for a second round. This time the beer was dark and apparently flavoured with pine kernals. The man behind the beer had a grey forked beard and enthusiastic grin and I think he was trying to tell me it was one of the best beers in Sweden if not the world. It was very good. Deep and bitter. I drank it slowly.

As I paid the man said he’d hope to see us again. Nice thought but I may need to remortgage.

I was by myself (Friday) today and must have walked about eight miles. I was vaguely aiming for a bar that got a good write up in one of the travel guides.  Akkurat is on Sodermalm and is written up as being a place for beer lovers ‘frustrated with Stockholm’s lack of good ale.’ I was not one of the frustrated but it sounded like a good bet anyway.

It took some finding but I suddenly realised I was stood in front. I went for one of the beers the had on tap. The woman behind the bar described it as dry and hoppy. Sounded just right. I had two of them and half way through the second realised that I was just going to have to come to terms with the price of it. I had lunch there as well. As I was drinking the beer I decided to go for the dish of the day despite the good looking burger & chips that arrived at the table opposite. I ended up with what appeared to be baby food with loganberries. It was apparently a sort of veal burger – I should have made a note of the Swedish name. It was soft and mashy and came with mashed potatoes and peas and was smothered in melted clarified butter. I might go for the burger & chips next time.