Sweden · Skane

Skånska Spritfabriken

A farm-based Skåne distillery whose apple spirits lead into London Dry Gin and seasonal glögg.

The producer

In Södra Sandby outside Lund, Kim Paulin and Jan Rothman built Skånska Spritfabriken from a 2006 apple-distillation experiment matured on the farm. Apples, malting barley and sugar beets are grown there, while other ingredients are purchased locally; the first officially launched bottle was an apple brandy made from Swedish ingredients and distilled in France.

Apple-based spirits remain the clearest thread in the range. Äppelglöd spends more than five years maturing, bringing ripe apple and vanilla into a rounded, lingering finish; Äppelbox offers four 100 ml apple spirits for comparison. London Dry Gin, made through single distillation, and seasonal glögg take the distillery in drier botanical and winter-spiced directions.

Known for

Farm-rooted apple spirits, alongside London Dry Gin and seasonal glögg.

Notable facts

The story

The First Apple Experiment

In 2006, Kim Paulin and Jan Rothman began with apples rather than a finished distillery range. They distilled the fruit and matured the spirit on the farm in Södra Sandby, outside Lund. The experiment came before Skånska Spritfabriken was formally established in 2011, but it set the apple-led course for the bottles that followed. The first officially launched product was an apple brandy made from Swedish ingredients and distilled in France. Apples still run through the range today: Äppelglöd is matured for more than five years, while Äppelbox brings together four different apple-based spirits in 100 ml bottles.

From the atlas

Skånska Spritfabriken

At A Glance

Skånska Spritfabriken is a farm-based drinks producer in Södra Sandby, outside Lund in Skåne. Kim Paulin and Jan Rothman built the project around apples, sugar beets and malting barley grown on the farm, then widened the work into apple spirits, London Dry Gin and glögg. The result is a range led by raw materials and distillation rather than grape varieties or vineyard appellations.

The Producer

The farm supplies apples, sugar beets and malting barley, while ingredients it cannot provide are bought locally. That division matters in the bottles: apples lead the house’s apple spirits, while grain and locally sourced components support a broader distillery range. Its first commercially launched product was apple brandy, distilled in France from Swedish ingredients, placing fruit at the centre from the beginning.

Place

Södra Sandby is the producer’s documented home in Skåne, outside Lund. There is no supported vineyard, grape or appellation story here; the useful connection between place and bottle is the farm itself, where crops are grown before distillation and maturation turn them into spirits. Skåne appears through apples, barley and sugar beets rather than through a named wine district.

Soil And Site

No soil profile, slope or parcel details are documented, so this is not a site story in the usual vineyard sense. The physical site is a working farm with apple trees, malting barley and sugar beets. Those crops make the farm a source of raw material for the distillery, while the absence of documented vineyard data keeps the focus on fruit, grain and production rather than invented terroir claims.

Story

The project began experimentally in 2006, when Kim Paulin and Jan Rothman distilled apples and matured the spirit on the farm. The company was formally established in 2011, after that first trial had set an apple-led direction. Its first officially launched product then carried the same fruit into a wider production chain: Swedish ingredients were distilled in France for an apple brandy. In 2024, the producer announced that it had been named Beverage Producer of the Year.

Vineyards And Cellar

There are no documented vineyards or cellar parcels, but the distillery has a clear material flow. Farm-grown apples, sugar beets and malting barley enter production; ingredients unavailable from the farm are purchased locally. Spent mash and cooling water are reused in full, so production byproducts return to the farm system rather than ending at the still. For the London Dry Gin, the stated method is single distillation, a direct process that keeps the gin’s production distinct from the long-matured apple spirits.

Wines

Despite the name of the category, this is a spirits-and-glögg range rather than a wine portfolio. Apple-based spirits form its core, and Äppelglöd is the mature expression: it spends more than five years ageing and is described with ripe-apple and vanilla notes. Äppelbox takes the apple range in another direction, gathering four different 100 ml apple-based spirits in a wooden presentation box for side-by-side comparison.

London Dry Gin provides the dry botanical branch of the range and is made through a single distillation. The seasonal glögg bottles add a different register: Skånsk vinterskog and Irish Coffee glögg are both listed through Systembolaget, while the latter also has an ingredient declaration supplied by XO Sweden Wines & Spirits AB. The range therefore moves from apple fruit and ageing to gin distillation and winter spicing, rather than presenting variations on one base spirit.

In The Glass

Äppelglöd offers the clearest supported taste sequence. More than five years of maturation carries the apple from fresh fruit into ripe-apple notes, while vanilla adds a rounded, barrel-aged impression through the finish. It is the bottle to approach slowly, because its documented character is built around mature fruit rather than the immediate botanical lift expected from London Dry Gin.

The glögg bottles sit elsewhere in the range. Skånsk vinterskog and Irish Coffee glögg have retailer-listed colour, aroma, flavour and serving information, but their supplied details do not establish a common house flavour. Treat them as seasonal bottles with their own serving roles, not as substitutes for the apple spirits.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Äppelglöd. It is an apple-based spirit matured for more than five years, and its ripe-apple and vanilla notes join the producer’s farm-grown fruit to its longer ageing work. The bottle is more focused than the four-spirit Äppelbox and less botanical than the London Dry Gin, so it puts the original apple thread in the glass with the fewest distractions.

Anecdote

In 2006, Kim Paulin and Jan Rothman began with an experiment rather than a finished drinks company. They distilled apples and matured the spirit on the farm in Södra Sandby. Five years later, Skånska Spritfabriken was formally established. Its first officially launched product was apple brandy, made from Swedish ingredients but distilled in France. The early sequence runs from apples on a farm, to an experimental distillation and farm maturation, to a company and its first released bottle. Apples remained in the range long enough to become Äppelglöd, an apple-based spirit matured for more than five years.

Final Word

Skånska Spritfabriken makes most sense through its apples: an experimental farm distillation in 2006, a first apple brandy, and Äppelglöd’s ripe fruit and vanilla after extended maturation. The gin and glögg widen the shelf, but the apple bottles hold the clearest line back to the farm.

Sources

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