Absolute Home - a visit to The Åhus villa

We visited Absolut Home and The Åhus Villa in Åhus, Skåne. This is the home and origin of Absolut Vodka, and the noble drink is still produced here. Relatively new to the town is that you can visit Absolut Home and take part in the Absolut Home Experience.

Visit to Åhus in Skåne

During our first two days in Kristianstad, we visited our blogger friends Daniela and Göran, and among other things we had time to visit the fantastic little restaurant Pia's Kitchen and the unlikely qingong Temple Yangtorp.

Then it was time for a press trip organised by Visit Kristianstad, which meant that another six Swedish travel bloggers showed up. Fun! We started with a visit to Åhus in Kristianstad municipality, where we visited The Absolut Home.

Absolute Home in Åhus

Absolut Vodka is produced in Åhus in Skåne, and it is also in this area that the brand has its history. The spirit is now produced by a subsidiary of Vin & Sprit AB, and the brand is owned by French Pernod Ricard. According to our guide, however, the French ownership has not meant any major differences, and the vodka is produced in the same place and in the same way as it "always" has been.

The man behind Absolut vodka

Lars Olsson Smith was known as L.O. Smith, also known as the Brännvin King. Born in 1936 in a village near Kristianstad, L.O. Smith was a driven entrepreneur and businessman who was not afraid to challenge the establishment.

He succeeded in developing spirits with an unusually low fines content, which he called 'Absolut pure spirits'. The spirit, later named Absolut Vodka, made L.O. Smith both rich and powerful.

The Åhus Villa

Today you can visit "The Åhus Villa" and take part in the "Absolut Home Experience", which is exactly what we did. In the villa there is also a restaurant, where we had lunch after the guided tour.

Absolute Home Experience

The "Absolut Home Experience" is a guided tour, ending with a workshop where you get to make your own cocktail or mocktail. The tour is very well directed, with nice animations on the walls, and the 90 minutes go by very quickly. Our guide, Filip, was also incredibly enthusiastic and engaging.

The factory and the church of spirits

When you have finished in The Åhus Villa, you can put on vests and go to the factory. Here we got to look into the "Liquor Church" and hear about the exclusive premium brand Absolut Elyx. Inside the holy of holies, however, there was a photo ban, so you'll have to make do with a photo of the gate and some pictures of the collection of vodka bottles.

More about Absolut vodka

The tour went on to learn more about production, ingredients and flavours. We got to taste autumn wheat and look for flavours (bread? liquorice? lemon?) in the vodka.

Cocktail workshop

The Absolut Home Experience ended with us making a cocktail or mocktail, a drink with or without alcohol. Peter chose to make a Cosmopolitan (with alcohol) and I, Helena, made a Cosnopolitan (without alcohol).

Vodka before lunch felt a little too cool for me, haha. There was full concentration in the room when we mixed our drinks, and only when we came to the "shake moment", which was accompanied by music, it became a little "wilder".

Lunch at Absolut Home

After the Absolut Home Experience, we finished with a lunch in the villa. The restaurant here is actually listed on the White Guide! The sun was shining and although it was little cool we could sit outside on the nice outdoor terrace - lovely!

We started with a herring buffet and then chose different main courses. For me it was a good fish burger with beetroot and for Peter it was a salad with roasted pork, which he was very pleased with.

See more in Åhus

We must conclude by saying that Åhus is a wonderfully charming little town by the sea. On a sunny spring day, like the one we were there, it's perfect to stroll around the cosy neighbourhoods, and maybe enjoy a locally produced ice cream.

Facts about Absolut Home

• Address: Vallgatan 5, Åhus
• Find here: Driving from Kristianstad takes about 20 minutes.
• Opening hours: See the booking calendar on the Absolut Homes website.
• Activities: Absolut Home Experience, Flavour Tasting and Cocktail Class (course for those who want to improve their cocktail mixing skills).
• Prices: The Absolut Home Experience costs 295 SEK for adults, including a cocktail with alcohol (2019). The same tour with a non-alcoholic mocktail costs SEK 245. Young people (12-17 years), students and seniors (over 65 years) have some discounts. Children up to 11 years old enter for free when accompanied by a guardian. Lunch at the restaurant costs 135 SEK, or 175 SEK if you combine the herring table, lunch dish and coffee with a small sweet (2019). Please note that prices may change. See the website for current prices.
• Service: Restaurant Villan serves lunch (Monday - Sunday) and dinner (Thursday - Friday). See the website for the menu and for any changes.
• Read more: You can find more information on Absolut Homes website.