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HISTORY

A Brief History of Glögg, or Mulled Wine
 

Glögg, mulled wine, wassail and gluhwein are a few of the many names for warm spiced red wine, found in many cultures around the world and thought to have originated in 1st century Rome. The Romans travelled all over Europe, conquering much of it and trading with the rest. The legions brought wine culture with them, up the Rhine and Danube rivers and to the Scottish border, bringing their recipes as well. The drink could be served hot or cold and be alcoholic or non-alcoholic. Popular mainly in the northern parts of Europe, it was usually consumed during the darkest, coldest times of the year. Many different spices were used in different regions, as well as the addition of hard liquor to taste, for flavor and effect. It is worth noting that many glögg fiends found out the hard way that heating the glögg to more than 155' will burn off the alcohol and lessen the desired effect.

Don't lessen the desired effect. Don't heat it to more than 155' F, or 70' C.

How does it work? The warm liquid raises the temperature of the mouth and stomach slightly, and because alcohol is a vasodilator, it forces blood to the skin, making us feel warm and blushing on the outside.

A Brief History of Two Swedes
 
Brought together by an insatiable appetite for music, ice hockey and fine alcohol of all kinds, the two Swedes, Ulrik (Rik) and Per-Magnus (PM) met in Colorado in 1996. They were both born and raised in Sweden in the 1960s and emigrated separately to the US of A in the 1990s. Enjoying what the US had to offer, the two Swedes eventually felt that something was missing, something that couldn't be had at IKEA (or at least not of decent quality) : Glögg, the winter warmer, the reason for Christmas being so much fun growing up!
There were glögg parties, glögg evenings, glögg meetings, often with  raisins, almonds and  "lussekatter", "Lucia cats", a type of saffron rolls served around the time the Lucia appears, on the morning of December 13, blond and with live candles in a tiara on her head. How could you not miss all that? 
However, glögg was soon to had at any time during the winter and Ric and PM finally decided to bring the tradition stateside.Two Swedes and their families hope you will enjoy the tradition of glögg, and glögg related activities, as much as they do! Skål!
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