Day 1, Part 2 - Mmmmm.... Beeeer

So, what would a trip to Iceland be without a little drinking? Iceland is world renowned for their drinking culture. What do you do when the daylight doesn't end? You drink, of course. And those endless winter nights? How do they get through those?? More drinking! So, we decided that the first tour of our first day in Iceland should be to educate ourselves about, you know, beer.

The tour itself was at one of the larger (and oldest) breweries in Iceland. You gotta love a tour that begins with your tour guide welcoming you with, "How about a beer before we begin??" Well, twist my arm.

Beer...

Our guide, Husky (don't know if that's how you actually spell it, but he did say, "like the dog"), was fun and entertaining, taking us on a historical journey of Icelandic drinking culture... which is both long and storied, and quite odd actually. Like the US, Iceland went through a prohibition period in the 1920's. Unlike the US, when the ban was lifted, Iceland did NOT lift the ban on beer. Wine, sure. Hard liquor? Absolutely. Beer? No way. Beer was not legal for import, sale or purchase in Iceland until 1989. Seriously. '89. They could make and "export" (read: sell it to the foreign air base and embassies) beer, however.

The beer that was "exported"

What did Icelanders do to get alcoholic beer? They produced non-alcoholic beer and added spirits to it! Yeah... this did not taste very good.

The green can is the non-alcoholic beer... mixed with spirits? Well, not so tasty.

We took a short tour of the brewery, where we all donned some lovely hairnets...

Don't we look attractive?

Husky in a hairnet

And ended the tour with a shot of the traditional Icelandic Schnapps, Brennivin aka "The Black Death." Traditionally, this shot is drunk out of a horn. Not the tastiest shot in the world... hints of caraway or cumin. Certainly not like the schnapps that I'm used to, but it wasn't bad.

Ska'l!

Finally, we ended with something sweet and non-alcoholic. Apparently, Icelanders mixed a malt drink with an orange soda, and it's drunk on holidays (Christmas, Easter, etc.). I'm not a soda drinker, but I have to say, the combo was quite yummy.

Surprisingly yummy combination.

That was the end of the wonderful history of Iceland alcohol consumption. Is there any practical application for this knowledge? Not really. But, hey, it's alcohol, so who really cares.


We ended Day 1 with a really wonderful meal at Vox Restaurant in the Hotel Nordica. Local ingredients, a little molecular gastronomy (strawberry snow, anyone?), and an overall really delicious meal. I probably would have enjoyed it a whole lot more if I wasn't falling asleep (seriously, between the jetlag and the endless light, my body is confused - it's getting better though).

The next chapter in our Iceland adventures... City Tour and Whale Watching.