Writer: Helena Bergström
Updated: October 2026 | Absolut Home in Åhus was for a few years a visitor center where you could learn more about Absolut Vodka, take a guided tour and try mixing cocktails. We got to experience both The Åhus Villa, parts of the factory and a lunch in the fine villa. Since 2024, the visitor center has been closed to the public, but here we tell you about our visit and show pictures from the time when the business was open.
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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, where the brand has its historical roots. Since 2008, Absolut has been part of the French spirits group Pernod Ricard, but production still takes place in Åhus. According to our guide, however, the French ownership has not meant any major differences, but the vodka is produced in the same place and in the same way as it ”always” has.
The man behind Absolut vodka
Lars Olsson Smith was known as LO Smith, and was also called the King of Brandy. LO Smith, who was born in 1836 in a village near Kristianstad, was a driven entrepreneur and businessman, who did not shy away from challenging the establishment.
He developed a method for producing purer spirits, which he launched under the name ”Absolut rent brännvin.” The modern brand Absolut Vodka was launched much later, in 1979, inspired by his work.
The Åhus Villa
When we were in Åhus, you could visit ”The Åhus Villa” and take part in the ”Absolut Home Experience”, which is exactly what we did. The villa also had a restaurant, where we had lunch after the guided tour.
Absolute Home Experience
”Absolut Home Experience” var en guidad tur, som avslutades med en workshop där man fick göra en egen cocktail eller mocktail. Turen var väldigt välregisserad, med snygga animeringar på väggarna, och de 90 minuterna gick försvinnande fort. Vår guide, Filip, var dessutom fantastiskt entusiastisk och medryckande.
The factory and the church of spirits
When we were done at The Åhus Villa, we got to put on vests and go to the factory. Here, we got to look inside the ”Spritkyrkan” and hear about the exclusive premium brand Absolut Elyx. However, inside the holiest of holies, photography was prohibited, so you’ll have to settle for a photo at the gate and a few 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 was actually listed in the White Guide! The sun was shining and even though 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.
READ MORE: Things to do in Åhus – 10 tips for attractions and experiences
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English (UK) 
Svenska
Eva/ Leva som Eva says:
Interesting, and instructive for me who wanted to place Åhus in Denmark 🙂 .
The bottle, which is an important part of the Absolute brand, is made in my neighbourhood: in Limmared. Inspired by old-fashioned pharmacy bottles.
A few years ago, art from the Absolut Art Collection was shown at Glasets Hus in Limmared, the crazy cheeky art collection where the world's top artists made art with the Absolut bottle as a motif. That collection was excluded from the sale to Pernod Richard!
13 May 2019 - 8:49
Helena says:
It is probably not uncommon to mix up Åhus and Århus 😉 Nice that the bottle is made in your home region, I did not know that. We recently saw Absolutkonst at the Spritmuseum in Stockholm ?
13 May 2019 - 17:36
Ditte says:
What a nice, tasty and rewarding visit here at "Absolut Home".
Thanks for the fun and rewarding info!
13 May 2019 - 8:51
Helena says:
This was an interesting visit! ??
13 May 2019 - 17:36
Emma, Sol som sol? says:
Haha, I was also going to place Åhus in Denmark! Ahhh Århus, it's called in Denmark. 😀 Geography is not my strongest branch, so to speak.
Interesting for you to see more about Absolut. Their bottles are so beautiful. The content is not really my weakness but drinks are fun and delicious.
(Giggled a bit at the blur in the last photo, looks like they have two big grey hats hanging over their heads!)
13 May 2019 - 9:35
Helena says:
The thing with Åhus and Århus is not quite easy ? And fun with the synvilla, I had not thought about it! ?
13 May 2019 - 17:37
Ama de casa says:
What an interesting and well-directed tour! Great that you both got approved as well 😀.
Have a great start to the week!
13 May 2019 - 10:46
Helena says:
Yes, diplomas are jewellery! ? Thank you very much!
13 May 2019 - 17:38
Britt-Marie Lundgren says:
What a fun "study visit"! First the exhibition at the Spritmuseet and now Absolut Home!
13 May 2019 - 14:13
Helena says:
It was a good combo! Completely unplanned though ?
13 May 2019 - 17:38
Steve says:
Nice visit. Another place I had no idea about. But now I do.
13 May 2019 - 15:07
Helena says:
Neither did we, before ?
13 May 2019 - 17:39
Ann-Louise Paulsson says:
So interesting about Absolut Home, which I had not heard of before. However, I have walked past the factory in Åhus, when I was there with American friends a few years ago. Åhus is so cosy, became incredibly eager to go there now. 🙂
13 May 2019 - 17:18
Anna says:
How nice that you have been to Åhus where I grew up and to Kristianstad where I live?
It will probably be a holiday in Sweden this summer for us and then it was extra fun to get tips on things to do near where you live. Have never heard of Pia's kitchen but it looked super cosy.
Åhus absolute I must book in this summer. The house was almost dilapidated before Absolut bought it and now it is so nice. When I was little, I was in the house a few times when my mother worked at Annamodeller for a while and the owner lived in the house then. But that was in the 70s so it's a while ago?
Super fun to read about your visits and get tips on what we can do on our home holiday?
13 May 2019 - 17:37
Nils-Åke Hansson says:
Here in Ödåkra we have Spritan, which has been given new life not as a liquor factory but with many different activities. A boost for the village
http://helsingborg.lokaltidningen.se/nyheter/2018-09-28/-Nytt-liv-i-Spritfabriken-%E2%80%93-stj%C3%A4rnkock-och-skjutbana-flyttar-in-3197096.html
What a great weekend you have had. And we were also in the neighbourhood
13 May 2019 - 19:33
Janne says:
Too bad you fall for Absolute's lies. L O Smith did not create vodka. He made an "absolutely pure spirit" in the 19th century, which meant he used column distillation, just like on the continent.
In the late 1970s, Sweden's Vin & Sprit wanted to sell spirits in the US, and developed a brand new vodka. Absolut. The only similarity? Both are made in column distillation. They took the name from L O Smith, nothing else, and he has as much to do with Absolut Vodka as Superman does with Donald Duck.
13 May 2019 - 22:18
Lovisa Kragerud, arkivarie The Absolut Company says:
Hi Janne,
There are several links between LO Smith, his Absolut Rent Brännvin and Absolut Vodka. It is true that LO Smith used column distillation, which he pioneered in Sweden in the 19th century. The factories set up by LO also continued to produce Absolut Rent Brännvin even after the state monopoly was introduced in 1917, when Vin & Sprit took over LO's company. Sixty years later - in 1979 - Vin & Sprit started producing Absolut Vodka.
Absolut Vodka is a product that is strongly inspired by Absolut Rent Brännvin, although the distillation process has evolved over the years (which is natural when over 100 years have passed). It's based on the same principles (including column distillation) that LO used to revolutionise spirit production in the latter half of the 19th century, which is why the name Absolut Vodka was chosen - to honour LO Smith's legacy.
20 May 2019 - 8:59
Lena - gott för själen says:
What a fun place! I've been to Åhus, but didn't know it existed. Or it did not exist when I was there. Mocktail was a new word for me 🙂.
Hug Lena
18 May 2019 - 7:00