Swedish Drinking Culture: Snaps, Toasts and Songs

Swedes can seem teetotal on a Tuesday and in full song on a Saturday. Here’s how a Swedish table toasts, why snaps comes with songs, what an “AW” is, and why nobody minds if you skip the alcohol.

When you need this

You’ve been invited to a Swedish dinner and don’t know when you may start drinking. There’s a Midsummer lunch, a crayfish party or a julbord (Christmas buffet) coming up, with small glasses on the table. Your colleagues have asked you to an “AW”. Or you don’t drink and wonder whether that will be awkward. (It won’t.)

This page is about customs. The rules — where alcohol is sold, ages, bar hours, prices — are in our guide to drinking in Sweden.

Skål: how Swedes toast

A Swedish drink starts with skål (“cheers”). Systembolaget, the state alcohol retailer, publishes its own guide to toasting, and the core of it is eye contact: you look the person you are toasting in the eye.

At a dinner there is an order to it:

1. Wait. Once every guest has a drink, the host gives a welcome toast (välkomstskål). Don’t sip before it.
2. Raise your glass and say skål.
3. Meet the eyes of the people around you — not your glass.
4. Drink, and many Swedes meet the eyes again before putting the glass down.

Clinking is optional. Systembolaget calls it perfectly fine at New Year and birthdays, but at a formal dinner many skip it. Traditional formal dinners even prescribe that a gentleman toasts the lady on his right first, then the one on his left — something few private dinners bother with.

Snaps and the songs

On the big food holidays, small glasses of snaps (also called nubbe, a small glass of spirits) are drunk in rounds, and every round is preceded by a short drinking song, a snapsvisa. The whole table sings, then drinks together when the song ends. Helan går (“The whole goes down”) is the best known; families and regions have their own favorites.

Nobody expects a visitor to know the words. Songs are printed in songbooks or on sheets on the table; humming along counts. What catches visitors out is the arithmetic: every song ends in a glass of spirits, and a long crayfish evening can have many songs. Sip instead of emptying the glass — nobody checks. Not every holiday table sings, either; plenty of families skip the snaps altogether.

The drink itself and the song repertoire are covered in snaps and aquavit.

Weekdays, weekends and the numbers

The quiet weekday and the loud Saturday are both real. CAN, the national center that monitors Swedish drinking, asked people in 2018 whether they had drunk alcohol the day before:

Every age group was more restrained on weekdays. The year has a rhythm too: 29% of all the alcohol drunk in 2022 was drunk in June to August.

And the total is falling. CAN’s preliminary figures put 2025 consumption at about 8.2 liters of pure alcohol per person aged 15 or over, 2.6% lower than 2024 and 8.9% lower than 2019, with the fall mainly in Systembolaget sales. Most drinking happens at home: bars and restaurants accounted for about 1 liter of those 8.2. Folkhälsomyndigheten, the Public Health Agency, estimates that about 82% of 16–84-year-olds drank at all in the past year and about 16% drink at a risky level.

For a visitor, that means weekday evenings are calm and Friday and Saturday are when bars fill up.

Afterwork: the AW

Afterwork, shortened to AW, is colleagues going straight from work to a bar or restaurant for a drink or a bite. It looks English but isn’t: the Institute for Language and Folklore classifies it as a pseudo-anglicism, a Swedish coinage with English parts. An AW is optional and flexible — order food or an alcohol-free drink and nobody will comment.

One rule to know: you may not carry a served drink out of a bar, so the evening ends at the venue’s barrier or door.

Not drinking is normal

Saying no is unremarkable in Sweden, and increasingly common. Systembolaget reported in February 2026 that more and more customers choose beer and drinks with lower alcohol content. Every licensed bar and restaurant must by law offer non-alcoholic drinks.

At a dinner you can raise any glass — water, soft drink, alcohol-free beer — for the skål and the songs. “I’m driving” or simply “no thanks” ends the question. Driving is a real reason: Sweden’s limit is 0.2 per mille, so a party usually settles on a sober driver.

Fika or drinks?

Much Swedish socializing involves no alcohol at all. Fika — coffee with something sweet — is the everyday meeting: many workplaces take a shared fika in the morning and again in the afternoon, and friends often meet for fika rather than a drink. Drinks belong to evenings, weekends, holidays and the AW. A fika invitation is never a lesser offer. More in our fika guide.

Where customs meet the rules

A few laws shape the customs above. Each has its own guide:

Practical information

FAQ

How do you toast in Sweden?

Raise your glass, say skål and look the people you are toasting in the eye; Systembolaget’s own etiquette guide describes exactly that. At a dinner the host gives a welcome toast once everyone has a drink, so wait for it before sipping. Clinking glasses is fine at New Year and birthdays but is often skipped at formal dinners.

What is a snapsvisa?

A short drinking song sung before a small glass of snaps at Midsummer, crayfish parties and the Christmas julbord. Helan går is the best known. Songbooks or printed sheets are usually on the table, the whole table sings, and the glass is drunk when the song ends. Visitors are not expected to know the words.

Do Swedes drink a lot?

Less than the reputation suggests, and less every year. CAN, which monitors Swedish drinking, estimates total consumption at about 8.2 liters of pure alcohol per person aged 15 or over in 2025, down 2.6% on 2024 and 8.9% on 2019. The pattern is uneven: drinking is concentrated on Fridays, Saturdays and holidays, with quiet weekdays.

Is it rude not to drink alcohol in Sweden?

No. Drinking less is a clear trend: Systembolaget reports more customers choosing lower-alcohol drinks, and every licensed venue must by law offer non-alcoholic ones. At a dinner you can toast and join the songs with water, a soft drink or alcohol-free beer. Saying you are driving, or simply “no thanks”, ends the question.

What is an AW in Sweden?

AW is short for afterwork: colleagues going straight from work to a bar or restaurant for a drink or a bite. The word looks English but is a Swedish coinage; the Institute for Language and Folklore calls it a pseudo-anglicism. Joining is optional, and ordering food or an alcohol-free drink is completely normal.

Is fika or drinks the Swedish way to socialize?

Both, for different occasions. Fika, coffee with something sweet, is the everyday meeting: many workplaces take it together in the morning and afternoon, and friends often meet for fika rather than a drink. Drinks belong to evenings, weekends, holidays and the afterwork. A fika invitation involves no alcohol and is never a lesser offer.

Related guides

• Drinking in Sweden — the rules behind the customs: where to buy, ages, bar hours.
• Snaps and aquavit — the drink and the songs in depth.
• The crayfish party — the most song-heavy evening of the year.
• Swedish etiquette — the other unwritten rules for guests.
• Drinking in public — where an outdoor drink is and isn’t allowed.

Facts verified 2026-09-25. Sources: CAN, Folkhälsomyndigheten, Systembolaget, Institutet för språk och folkminnen, Sveriges Riksdag, Visit Sweden — full register in this topic’s source file. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.