While many Swedes may have stayed home under the covers that day, the festival showed no signs of fatigue. As our train pulled into the Eskilstuna station, a light, chilly rain misting down across the glass dome of the passenger car, the entire station emptied out toward the festival as a single organism. Tucked between a few industrial buildings, Pelle and company had raised a number of tents, smartly placed throughout the drinking paths to keep people dry. We grabbed our glasses, beautiful, full-size Rastal ware, and started finding our way.

Having been in the country for a week by this time, I knew many of the participating breweries by their flagship recipes found in many bars, restaurants and the System Bologet. So when I sway Nils Oscar, I felt quite at home already. Known for their traditional styles, with small twists of smoke, hop and sweet malts, Nils Oscar is always at the top of my list. While many breweries across Europe have gotten carried away with the extreme beer craze coming out of the states, Nils Oscar always seems to strike for an artful balance of flavors, both sweet and bitter. On this still-sleepy Saturday morning, they were pouring Rökporter, a dark, reddish top-fermented beer with toffee and dried fruit characters. 80% percent of the malt is smoked over beechwood along with roasted caramel malt, hopped with Fuggles and Amarillo. It's a beautiful blend.