Indonesian Arrack and the Swedish connect

Seems like an nouvelle relation, but it exists and the Swedish have embraced it as a colonial gift. Let's decode this a little better. 
What is an Indonesian Arrack aka Batavia Arrack?
A spirit that predates rum, Arrack was a spirit made out of sugar cane molasses and red rice  in the 17th Century Dutch colonized island of Java, the capital of the Java was Batavia and hence the name. It was very popular in Punches in the 18th and 19th centuries  but emergence of other spirits including Rum and import taxes pushed  Batavia Arrack out of fashion. 

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What is the Swedish connection with Arrack?
The Swedish East India company formed in 1731 started to import Arrack from Java in 1733 and along with it came the Punch, the Swedish Punsch.   The Swedish punch was hot water, Arrack, lemon, sugar, spice The swedes raised a toast to it and it became a part of their culture. It was drunk hot and in small cups with an ear. It soar in popularity that people started offering premixed punches and it became more accessible when a wine merchant J. Cederlunds Sonner started to bottle it in 1845. He added a little sour wine to his recipe, may be to make it more affordable. With Ice, Punches also started to be drunk cold globally. The  Haryy Johnson's 1882 Bartender's Manual had a recipe of a Cold Ruby Punch which had Batavia Arrack, of course, Ruby Port and Green Tea.  In fact, the Arrack is  an ingredient in the Swedish chocolate Praline the Punschpraline and the Punschrulle and also the Finnish Runeberg torte called Runebergstårta in Sweden. Today multiple brands of Swedish Punsches are available in the market and they include rum too in the mix whilst in the west the Batavia Arrack is trying to make a comeback over the last decade. 

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