On Friday the 13th of April 1962, during a live TV broadcast, Lund legend and General for the Criminal Carnival Eric Owers knocked the former General Jan Öjvind Swan’s glasses off in a boxing match. This was an historic moment as no moving images of boxing had ever been allowed on Swedish TV before, and just some weeks later the carnival would start.

Today he can be found in Stockholm close to his children and grandchildren, having recently moved from Gothenburg. “Well, it’s fun to do something new before one gets too old,” he says.

In June, he will be 90 (hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!). At the time, Owers was often seen shoulder-to-shoulder with Povel Ramel in the Society of Bear Hunters (Björnjägarne) and says that he probably ate over 100 salted beef briskets with sauerkraut (although in Danish) together with the friends pictured in the painting – Låppan Hagander, Sten Kärrby, Povel Ramel and Bengt-Olof Landin.

Between 1966 and 1971, Eric Owers worked as a programme manager and public relations officer at Liseberg, booking artists such as the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. And he also achieved success in his legal career. You’d be forgiven for assuming that he would be taking it easy in the autumn of his life, but no, the General of the Criminal Carnival still comes to the Generals’ Christmas lunch in Lund every year, he never misses a ‘spex’ (student cabaret), he exercises more than ever and is still active in the legal profession.

“Lund formed me in many ways. Among other things, the Lund Carnival taught me the art of delegation and that has been very useful in my career. It makes you more efficient if you can find people who do things better and as fast, or faster, than you, and then stick to the bigger picture. I also learned how to negotiate, how to treat people the right way and to listen. And it’s easiest to ask women for help because women are usually very helpful.”

Freja Davidsson Bremborg (born and raised in Lund) was no rookie when she stepped up as General for the 2018 Imaginal Carnival. By then, she had already been Vierichef (a kind of Director of Fun) for the circus team during the 2014 carnival and participated in no less than 23 ‘spex’ shows.

Today we find Freja set to become CEO of AF Borgen after recently leaving her position as Assistant CEO and Communication and Marketing Lead at GPX Medical, which develops medical devices for premature babies.

Freja enjoys reading books, spending time with beloved friends over a good dinner, and if anyone suggests a game of Monopoly, Scrabble or any other board game for that matter, she will of course gladly accept!

“Being a Carnival General taught me the importance of joy and commitment in leadership. And how important good communication is to such a large organisation. It must be substantial, concise and timely.”

What the carnivalists of 1994 probably didn’t know (unless they were psychic) was that their General would be named Skåne’s most inspiring leader 19 years later! Pontus Bodelsson ran the Rollercoaster Carnival (Berg och Dal Carnival) with thrilling bravado. He continued his career as board member and CEO of several large companies. Today he is CEO of the Karnov Group. He is married and has two children who have flown the nest (both of whom are carnivalists in this year’s Catastrophic Carnival).

When he’s not training for the Vasaloppet or playing and singing, he gives lectures and writes books with titles like Leadership for Change: My 79 Best Mistakes and Other Valuable Lessons, as well as Management by Joy.

“What I learned from being Carnival General is that joy is not a product of success. Success is a product of joy.”

Out of a smoky, green time machine stepped the Carnival Committee after travelling to May 2014 and retrieving their Lund Carnival General – Fanny Ramel. This is how it was described in an article in Lundagård from 9 October 2013. Fast forward to 2022 and we find Fanny Ramel in Uppsala (“forgive me,” she says)…

“If I hadn’t been General, I don’t think I would have even thought about switching careers from a physiotherapist to a performing arts producer. But above all, the carnival gave me experience of joyful collaboration at its best. It gives me the incentive to keep trying to create the best relationships in all collaborative teams, so that together we can create really good theatre or musicals.”

At the forefront of the Ritual Carnival, Christian Godden stood at a crossroads between the old and the new, between the analogue and the digital, between tradition and rebirth.

Today we find Godden (who still lives in Skåne, in Klagshamn to be precise) at the communications agency BBDO Nordics, where he is partner and Strategy Lead. When he’s not at work, he’s coaching his 12-year-old daughter’s football team or competing in singing competitions with his barbershop quartet.

“During my time as General, I learned that some issues need to be resolved right away while others need more time. And to identify when the time is right for what. All people have different motivations, and to have respect for what it is that drives you and your passions. And that nothing, precisely nothing, is made worse by having fun as you are doing it!”

Simon Frennberg always has the last word when the brewery, Brygghuset Finn, decides on a new beer recipe. This is because, once up on a time, Simon was the one who brewed the first Brygghuset Finn beer in his corridor room at the Helsingkrona student nation. But it was together with Joacim Larsen and Petter Lindholm that the corridor room brewery was transformed into a profitable business venture.

Brygghuset Finn works according to traditional craft methods in combination with innovative engineering knowledge, which is perhaps no great surprise as all three founders are Lund University alumni from the Faculty of Engineering (LTH), one from Industrial Economics and two from Engineering Physics.

Lundensaren visits the brewery early on a Thursday morning in April. The smell of hops is apparent as soon as you walk through the door. From the building’s ordinary exterior, it is difficult to imagine the giant machines concealed within. Joacim Larsen opens the door with one hand and balances his 15-month-old daughter Majken with the other.

“This isn’t really as we had planned with babysitting and everything, but sometimes you have to improvise,” he says and smiles.

He is in a busy period dealing with his roles as a new father and CEO of the company, and sometimes Majken comes to work with him.

Welcome to Landskrona

The name Finn was adopted during the university years and that’s why it has a strong association with Lund, even though we find the brewery a bit north of Lund in premises located at Landskrona’s harbour.

“We realised that it was better for us, purely in financial terms, to be based in Landskrona rather than Lund,” says Joacim. “The brewery already had a name at that point, as the company was started as a student project in Lund. And, of course, that’s where the three of us met.”

The corridor beer project

Simon Frennberg’s room was the headquarters of the brewery, something that was not always popular among the others living on the corridor. But then they increased the volume and improved the quality (i.e. flavour) of the beer. Then, suddenly, the corridor brewery gained in popularity!

Finn now brews approximately 400 000 litres of beer annually, has over 800 shareholders and is the winner of several prizes in the category of locally-produced craft beer.

“The recipe for our brewery is to brew based on curiosity and the love of craft beer and microbrewing. You won’t find any preservatives, chemicals or cheap substitutes in our beer,” says Petter Lindholm.

“The fact is that many of those who work here have an LTH background. And that has really made it possible for us to actually develop new methods and our equipment, as well as improve our quality management. For example, we have recently set up a large lab with PCR potential and advanced analysis methods and to a large extent it is based on our collective LTH backgrounds,” says Joacim.

“But at the start, it was by no means self-evident that we would be doing this in the future. At one time, I thought I would work as a consultant in the banking world. And Petter thought he would possibly work in academia. But when an opportunity calls, you can choose to take the chance or not. There was already a business plan thanks to the student project and there was a beer to produce – so we took the chance and went for it.”

The Karnevöl (Carnival beer) 1986-2022

Carnival beer (Karnevölen) was introduced for the first time in 1986. Initially, it was the major breweries that marketed their beer by putting a carnival label on the can. However, during the 2014 carnival, the trio realised that there was no true ale in the carnival beer selection and they got the chance (after a successful pitch) to produce beer for the 2014 carnival, Futuralkarnevalen.

“At that time, we were not in a position to produce on a large scale,” says Petter. “So, we renamed one of our American pale ales and put on the carnival logo. And, as sales were very good, we participated again in 2018 – but then, at last, we could produce more.”

And that brings us up to date! For 2022, the whole range of beers has been produced from scratch. All the recipes and ideas have been developed in a consultation process between Brygghuset Finn and carnival representatives. And it is historic. The result is first-class beer from Skåne.

Four kinds for different preferences

Karnevöl
The carnival beer for 2022 is a German-style classic pilsner with a rich flavour and full character – a classic pale lager, 4.3% abv.

Karnevale
This year’s carnival ale is a session IPA with a hoppy aroma, newly developed by Brygghuset Finn, 4.5% abv.

Karnesuris
This newcomer is a sour beer with hints of guava, orange and passion fruit, 4.2% abv.

Karnecider
The carnival cider is an apple cider with a fresh taste, 4.5 % abv.

Do you want to know more?

Brygghuset Finn also collaborates with LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies).
Read about the collaboration in the article “Collaboration with local brewery to improve the sustainability of the craft beer industry” or watch the film about the collaboration below.