Pommac, the Swedish soft drink brand, has been around for more than 80 years, but interest in the product shows no sign of flagging. In fact, this year the drink is likely to be top of many people's shopping list, according to the fashion magazine Wallpaper, which has included it in its annual list of favourite products.
Pommac dates back to 1919 and is manufactured to the original recipe and stored in oak barrels for three months before being bottled. Pommac is a truly Nordic brand, with the raw material for the drink manufactured and stored at the Swedish plant owned by Danish ingredients group Danisco, and the finished beverage produced at the Carlsberg brewery in Sweden and the Hartwall brewery in Finland.
It was the Swedish pharmacist Anders Lindahl who created the recipe for Pommac in 1919. The beverage was regarded as sophisticated because it contained more than 25 different flavours from fruits and berries. The name was inspired by the Champagne brand Pommery and by Cognac, which were accordingly combined to make Pommac.
Pommac differs from other carbonated drinks because of the fact that the raw material is stored in oak barrels for at least three months before the final beverage is made - another throwback to the fine wine and brandy which inspired the drink's name.
While widely known in the Nordic region, Pommac has a relatively small following outside the region, although joint venture with Dr Pepper in the 1960s means that there is still a large number of American consumers who remember the brand with fondness.
But with Wallpaper giving it the thumbs up, the increasing internationalisation of both Hartwall and Carlsberg, and the constant consumer demand for products other than the ubiquitous colas, maybe 2003 will the year when the world at large gets to know more about the apple and grape flavoured drink.