Wikipedia
Julmust ( "Christmas" and "not yet fermented juice of fruit or berries", though there is no such juice in julmust) is a soft drink that is mainly consumed in Sweden around Christmas. During the rest of the year it is usually quite difficult to find in stores, but sometimes it is sold at other times of the year under the name must. At Easter the name is (from , "Easter" / "Paschal" [q.v.]). The content is the same regardless of the marketing name, although the length of time it is stored before bottling differs; however, the beverage is more closely associated with Christmas, somewhat less with Easter and traditionally not at all with the summer. 45 million litres of julmust are consumed during December, which is around 50% of the total soft drink volume in December and 75% of the total yearly must sales.
Must was created by Harry Roberts and his father Robert Roberts in 1910 as a non-alcoholic alternative to beer. The syrup is still made exclusively by Roberts AB in Örebro. The syrup is sold to different soft drink manufacturers that then make the final product in their own way. This means that the must from two different companies doesn't taste the same, even though they are made of the same syrup.
Must is made of carbonated water, sugar, hop extract, malt extract, spices, caramel colouring, citric acid, and preservatives. The hops and malt extracts give the must a somewhat root beer-like taste, but much sweeter. It can be aged provided it is stored in a glass bottle. Some people buy julmust in December only to store it a year before drinking it. The European Union may ban julmust since they banned the selling of malt beverages containing caramel colouring. But it may be saved as while it originally was made with malt and hops it nowadays is done with malt aroma.