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Svanen

Oslo

A vintage pharmacy transformed into a forward-thinking cocktail bar

Historians argue that the first cocktails weren't sold in bars but by apothecaries; their bitter curatives blended to remedy all manner of olde-worlde ailments. And so, the stunning scene at Oslo's Svanen – a repurposing of a mint-condition 19th-century Oslo pharmacy – speaks directly to mixology's origin story.

When Yunus Yildiz first laid eyes on the not-long closed neo-classical site, the epiphany came quickly. The decorative antique mahogany, the vintage glass cabinets, marble columns, original tiled floors and Wilhelm Krogh-painted panelled ceilings... a film-maker's budget couldn't craft a more perfect pharmaceutically-themed cocktail bar.

Into the medicine dressers went spirits and tucked into drawers of the apothecary cabinets went botanicals: on the counters emerged some of the finest cocktails around. The transition was seamless – this cultural heritage site preserved, in a sense, in alcohol.

Yildiz and Karel Varga resisted the temptation to go too conceptual with the drinks – mercifully themeless, the cocktails stand on their own two feet. The standout is Stolen Apples, made with rum, gin, green apple juice, lapsang souchong tea, ginger and shiso.

And the name Svanen? It means 'swan' and there was little choice to adopt it. This was the Swan Pharmacy, the business of which dates to 1628, moving into the Karl Johans Gate in 1896. And besides, you can't miss the decorative swans throughout the building. There's an ugly duckling too (Den Grimme Ælling), though this is Yildiz's own addition. Juxtaposing the old with the new, the basement bar has one foot in the future. 

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