Julmust

The story

Julmust is a nonalcoholic drink resembling cola, with notes of root and malt, whose secret recipe has been owned by one family for more than a century: the chemist Harry Roberts developed it in the early 20th century as an alternative to the beer of the day, and the company he founded with his father in 1910 is to this day the sole producer of the base extract used by every julmust brand in the country. What makes the drink especially interesting is that during December it outsells Coca-Cola in Sweden — julmust then accounts for about half of all the soft drinks consumed, while Coca-Cola consumption drops by as much as 50% over the holidays — and in 2004 Coca-Cola launched a julmust of its own, which never gained a lasting foothold in the market. Outside the Christmas season, julmust is almost impossible to find on the shelves — the same drink returns only at Easter, under the name påskmust — which only heightens the sense that this is a drink bound to the holidays. For those in the diaspora who manage to track down an imported bottle, the first sip of julmust is often a surprisingly emotional taste of childhood that nothing ordinary can replace.