This thesis deals with the goods classification of the Nordic alcoholmonopolies, viz. Alko in Finland, Rúsdrekkasøla Landsins in the FaroeIslands, Systembolaget in Sweden, Vínbúðin in Iceland, andVinmonopolet in Norway. The focus of the study is the web pages of thecompanies (as they appeared April 10th 2011) and the printed pricecatalogue of Alko, from which information on class division has beenexcerpted. The emphasis lies on the division into product groups and theinformation about origin. Within these facets, which partly overlap insome of the classification systems, the principles of division and thehierarchical relations between classes are studied. The systems havedifferent degrees of specificity and many external dissimilarities, but theyare all based on the same principles of division, which could be calledproduction method, raw material, origin, and alcohol content. In generalthe systems are hierarchically well constructed, but some deviations occur,which might affect the information retrieval negatively. The studyconcludes with suggestions on how the companies could improve theirclassification systems. These suggestions are summarised company bycompany at the end of the essay. / Program: Bibliotekarie