The procurement and consumption of alcohol

Line up, citizen.

The uniformed government official sneered at me, her face conveying a mixture of bewilderment and disgust:

-"What do you mean, 'special wines'?"

-Um, well, something not on the shelves right here. A Chablis, not a petit, but Chablis proper?
 I gestured down the shelf lined with bag-in-box products and sloppy Chardonnays.
(I had already abandoned asking for a Grand or even Premiere Cru. To think I had figured myself flexible not wanting a specific year or wineyard just a few seconds ago now seemed hubris bordering on insanity)

-We only have what's on the shelf.

Crowds were pushing past us on both sides, desperately filling their plastic shopping baskets with sub-par Merlot in cardboard containers equipped with plastic taps. Stench of Friday-afternoon sweat mingeled with the odd fuming alcoholic trying to minimize his cost-per-unit with superstrong canned lager.

-Oh... How can I obtain a more specific product?

-Order it in advance.

-Uh. I'm having friends over this evening. Is there another establishment that... never mind.

Her eyes were shooting deathrays saying "you should have thought of ordering your snobby swig well in advance, moron" but she said nothing and went back to re-stocking the emptying shelves with massive cardboard boxes labelled "Chill Out Wine".

I thanked her, turned around pushing through the ever-increasingly dense crowd - looking for a second at the crude Champagnes boiling on the shelf - wishfully imagining a frosty chilled Krug, somehow by accident a trapped treasure amidst endless filth - before fleeing the whole disgusting establishment empty-handed.

* * *

Had this been the end of my adventure this afternoon, it would have been an unfair reflection of the "Systembolag" (etymology for me unknown) - the Swedish state-run monopoly that controls all sales of alcoholic beverages since 1955.



Later the same afternoon I happened upon a second "Systembolaget" outlet, this time in the comparatively up-scale shopping-mall "Hansacompagniet" in central Malmö. The uniformed government officials were very knowledgeable and helpful at this time, and they also carried several of the Grand Cru's I had been looking for - and this at rather competitive prices, even considering the prohibitive tax on alcohol in Sweden. There certainly is a tangible economy of scale involved when the Swedish government procures wine, a saving that in some cases gets passed on to the consumer.

In the Western Harbour where our Swedish flat is located - an ambitious newly built seaside residential area - there is no Systembolaget. As none of the local shops are allowed to carry alcoholic beverages there is no option for us but to travel into town and visit one of the government approved venues if we wish to shop for wines in Sweden.
Attracting a relatively well-capitalized demography, the Western Harbour area would surely sustain several purveyors of fine wines, but the aim of Systembolaget is not to cater for accessibility, but rather the opposite: the official purpose of the Systembolag is to make people consume less alcohol - by making it difficult to obtain.

The Systembolag outlets all close promptly at 6pm, and have only recently taken to keeping open a few hours during the Saturdays. There is no option for picking up a bottle of bubbly on a whim a Saturday evening - it all needs to be planned in advance. This has produced an unbecoming culture of hoarding and keeping close tabs on who is drinking who's wine at parties - you will generally not find Swedes bringing a bottle of wine to a party and putting it out on a table for anyone to sample, but generally people keep track of their own drink and watch carefully that it does not run down somebody else's gullet.

This is not because Swedes are selfish (they aren't), but because if they run out of alcohol during the weekend, there is no way of restocking the supplies. This paired with the unsavoury binge-culture Sweden shares with the UK has created this peculiar behavioural pattern.

The aggressive infringement of personal freedom imposed by the Systembolag is officially justified if not by health-care costs associated with alcohol abuse, then by the poor battered wife's that would be the inevitable consequence of selfishly wanting to obtain a Laurent-Perrier on a whim a Saturday evening.

Rather than allocating resources to dealing with the causes of addiction and abuse, the Swedes voted themselves a system that will punish the whole population based on the situation of the destitute fringe.

Perhaps the most shocking aspect of this whole complex, is how many Swedes, clearly in some depraved form of Stockholm-syndrome, has come to defend the humiliating situation they have put themselves: Arguments on how "no private enterprise would be able to deliver the diversity of the Systembolag" are often bandied about - as if a multitude of local merchants would not best the selection of the single government entity.

"The Systembolag can push prices on quality brands!" - granted, a government carries more financial clout than the biggest of companies - but 1) Was not the object of this institution to limit accessibility? and 2) Is there not an alarming risk that the massive orders placed by the government slants the market in favour of certain brands? Indeed there was a very controversial corruption scandal exposed in 2003 in which various heads of departments had taken to accepting lavish gifts from various producers to win them lucrative purchase orders for massive quantities of their produce.

To the proponents of the Systembolag, I would like to suggest the idea of maintaining the beloved Systembolag, but getting rid of the unflattering monopoly inasmuch as letting qualified retailers apply for licence to sell wine and beer. With all the fine qualities constantly voiced on behalf of the Systembolag I am sure it would do just fine on the open market.

* * *

In the UK, as in most of the rest of the democratic world, picking up a bottle of wine is an entirely undramatic affair. Off-licenses are allowed to sell alcohol over the counter until 11pm every night and although increased taxes on alcohol is sometimes discussed as a tool for limiting over-consumption, the Brits are in general doing just fine.

As on any open market, you will be able to find retailers covering every brand and price-level, and there is none of the scarcity implied to be the result of an absence of a Systembolag. In fact, accessibility is much better - both in terms of selection and availability. Those then voicing concerns of over-consumption ought to look at care and educative solutions rather than arrogantly imposing restrictions on the population as a whole.

As for drink culture in Sweden and the UK - it is quite comparable. Among the undereducated over-consumption prevails, particularly among the young. Many a night have I passed Fulham Broadway listening to estate agents in their early twenties belt out insufferable interpretations of "Can't take My Eyes Off of You (I Love You baby)". Their Swedish counterparts generally sing less and do much less cocaine, but viewed as a sub-culture they are practically identical and drunk on very similar lager. Either way, the existence of the Systembolag has meant little in changing these drinking-patterns when restrictive Sweden is compared to the more liberal UK.

Sweden:
- It can be hard to locate a Systembolag with a decent selection in stock
- Monopolies breed corruption
- Extortionate price levels in bars, expect a basic Martini to run you £15
+ Economy of scale delivers a competitive Les Vaudesirs price point

UK:
+ Quality wine merchants abound
+ Easy access, a wide selection
+ Good value in cocktail lounges
- Slightly higher price-point for certain brands when compared to the Systembolag

Winner:
Who woulda thunk it? The UK wins this round fair and square.