Meadfestival in Odinsborg

Mjödhamnen occupies Odinsborg is a festival in Gamla Uppsala arranged by Mjödhamnen, Sweden's largest mead manufacturer. It is a festival primarily in the character of the mead, but also by other local drinks, honey, history and crafts.

And it´s the first festival in Sweden to focus primarily on mead.

Old Uppsala is the place in Sweden that was considered a political and religious center in the early iron age ("Vendel age"), and was regarded as such during the entire Viking Age. This is the location of the impressive and mysterious King's heights. It´s believed that these are graves for prehistoric kings, but according to the legend, the gods Thor, Oden and Freya rest in them.

Odinsborg is an Inn built in the middle of the 19th century. At that time, the Viking Age was extremely romanticized, and drinking mead at Odinsborg or on top of the King's heights became a fashion. Odinsborg has been open to the public ever since and have continued to serve mead. The quality of the mead, however, has been very inconsistent during the 20th century, so the reputation and prestige of mead has in many ways been destroyed and unfortunately the same applies to Odinsborg. But now that Mjödhamnen takes control of the mead service at Odinsborg, the quality of the mead will be something completely different.

We hope to once again bring back mead as a beloved drink, enjoyed and regarded as a delicacy without equal, just as it was done in ancient Scandinavia.

The festival's main purpose is to show the visitors the fantastic world of the mead. Mjödhamnen will of course have its brewery bus with the mobile fermentation facility in place and have prospective local mead in the yeast tanks. Mjödhamnen will serve a selection of 20 to 30 different meads. Most of them will be self-produced, but there will also be Polish, Danish, American and English meads. We will also invite other mead producers, so that it becomes a real mead festival for everyone. In addition to mead producers, we had intended to invite the most creative beer-breweries in the Uppsala area and perhaps some spirit makers, so that there really should be something for everyone. It will be possible to buy drinks tickets for tastings and for full-size serving which can then be used to redeem drinks in the various bars outside Odinsborg. Next to the brewers there will be a small market where there will be different kinds of honey from all over Europe. We also hope to be able to fill the market with a variety of craftsmen selling historical merchandise, food and other items. It will also be a grill feast outside Odinsborg and of course plenty of places to sit to sit and eat both outdoors and indoors. The exact menu will be announced after it is fully determined. The market will mainly be open daytime, while the beverage market will mainly be open in the evenings.

On Friday and Saturday, we are going te be blessed with entertainment in the form of music and performances on a stage located next to the drink square. During weekdays, the stage can be used for other purposes such as mead tastings for everyone present, lectures on mead and other drinks, honey, beekeeping and history.

Closer to the festival, a more detailed schedule will be launched for what will happen on the stage.

Hope too see you there!