Yes, you should look through the history of drinking up north. The idea that everyone drank mead is a lie. Mead is made from honey, which was quite rare. Birch beer, and then later, beers made from grains such as barley and oats, was much more common, although still pretty rare. Food was hard to get up north, and making beer out of the surplus was a luxury.
I think that’s one of the reasons that Valhalla is supposed to be a big drinking hall.
Seriously speaking, Sweden recovered rather quickly from the wars haunting the European Continent last century. Today, Sweden probably has a higher standard of living in terms of car consumption, housing a well as habits of travel than any other nation. But beer is very costly.