God is hitting the drinks aisle at Waitrose in the form of a new lager from Sweden. God Lager – whose names translates as ‘good’ in Swedish – is produced by the Nils Oscar micro-brewery. The dark lager is bottled at 5.3% abv in 33cl packs and will retail exclusively in Waitrose at £1.49. Nils Oscar, which owns its own plots of barley for malting, is renowned for its ‘grain to glass’ control of the production process. The four types of hops used in the beer are the only bought-in ingredient, because the brewery is situated too far north to grow them naturally.

“We were very impressed with the depth of flavour of God Lager, and it should appeal to our customers who know and love their beer,” said Neil Whelpton, Waitrose beer buyer. Nils Oscar was founded by Swedish entrepreneur Karl-David Sundberg in 1996 and produces a range of 10 beers as well as distilling vodka and akvavit.