With some of the finest potatoes in the world to work with, Ekelund set his sights on bringing authentic potato vodka production back to Sweden. Absolut had originally been produced from potatoes, but switched to winter wheat in the 1970s.

Making vodka from potatoes is extremely expensive; it takes ten times the potatoes to produce the equivalent yield of wheat, and the tiny virgin new potatoes of Cape Bjͤre are among the most expensive potatoes in the world. The end product justifies the effort, however, creating an exceptionally rich and complex vodka that could only be achieved with such a premium base ingredient. The skin-less potatoes are so pure that they require only one distillation. Any further distillations would strip the flavor and complexity out the vodka.

Ekelund teamed up with some of his former associates from Absolut, including legendary master blender Bjore Karlsson (after whom the vodka was ultimately named), as well as bottle designer Hans Brindfor and marketer Olof Tranvik, both of whom were instrumental in the success of Absolut.

Karlsson’s Gold Vodka was released to spectacular media acclaim in 2007, signaling the return of Swedish potato vodka.