Poppel’s brewery was founded in 2012 and currently has around 20 employees. Now they risk a fine of as much as SEK 500,000.
News24 has previously reported on Nyckelbryggerier which, since its start in 1896, has produced what has been called “Sweden’s best Christmas must”. Among other things, Nyhetsmorgonprofilen has Steffo Törnquist had previously been a partner in the brewery that was started in Luleå.
But in February 2024, the Norrland brewery went bankrupt. It was about cost increases.
– There are large kites that can keep lower prices. You can say that the pandemic did not favor the small breweries and inflation has caused that, said Per Lindquist Ombergchairman of the board of Nyckelbryggerier, to Norrbottenskuriren then.
Key breweries are not the only breweries in bad shape.
The classic brewery goes bankrupt after 138 years
The price of beer is reduced here – valid from 1 March
The brewery risks a fine of SEK 500,000
As for Poppel’s brewery, the dispute is more complicated.
It was in 2022 that the Swedish Consumer Agency established a fine of one million kroner against the brewery. The reason was that it was considered that advertising from the brewery’s Instagram violated the image rules of the Alcohol Act. The beer appeared together with food in several pictures.
In the protocol that Nyheter24 has seen, the Swedish Consumer Agency writes the following:
“Although the consumption of food together with alcohol has a limiting effect on the degree of intoxication, it does not automatically mean that a picture of a dish contributes to public health by reducing alcohol consumption or the risk of abuse.”
One of the Instagram posts from Poppel’s brewery that was reported. Photo: Swedish Consumer Agency.
The priest: Open a pub in the church – to get more members
Steffo Törnquist disses the colleague in Nyhetsmorgon
Poppel’s brewery: “Unacceptable restriction”
Since then, Poppel’s brewery has appealed to the patent and market court and succeeded in getting the fine reduced to SEK 500,000. But the dispute is far from over.
“The Swedish Consumer Agency’s interpretation means a serious and unacceptable restriction on the right we have as a company to responsibly communicate about our products” writes Mats WahlströmCEO at Poppels Bryggeri, in one press release on the brewery’s website.
The brewery wants to reduce the fine to a maximum of SEK 100,000.