Until recently, there was very little clarity about the obscure Swedish style of beer known as gotlandsdricke. Various sources called it a “historical beer,” “pioneered by the Vikings,” “homebrew,” or an “indigenous beer.”
It’s only in the past half-decade or so that what should have been obvious all along became clear: It’s a type of farmhouse ale, native to the island of Gotland in the Baltic, about 56 miles (90 km) off the Swedish mainland.
Stretching back to prehistoric times, there were farmhouse ales brewed all across the lands we now call Sweden, and some of them were similar to gotlandsdricke. The only thing that’s special about Gotland is that the brewing survived there, while it otherwise died out on the mainland.