So, beer was illegal in iceland from 1915 until 1933 — and it wasn’t until 1989 that beer with more than 2.25% alcohol  was allowed in the country.

Seriously? A country that was founded by Vikings banned beer? 

Well, other alcohol, wasn’t banned, and high-octane stuff like Brennevin (a sort of Icelandic Schnapps) was available easily enough. It’s not like they spent the long dark winters staring at each other drinking tea!

Well, they’ve caught up. Beer is popular and there are even a couple of craft breweries in Iceland. I’m not much of a beer drinker, but Mark wanted to try the local offerings. Most seem to be lighter lager-style beers. Microbreweries are on the rise, and you can find some interesting beers from small local places.

As for larger breweries, Einstök Beer Co produces a few interesting beers, including  White Ale that Mark declare quite tasty. Egil’s is also a common beer at most restaurants, as is Viking. Quite a lot of beer is in bottles/cans only, we didn’t find beers on tap very often. And often if a restaurant did have draft beer, it was one beer. Quite a change from some of the brewpubs around Boulder with 100-120 beers on tap!

As for Icelandic beer, though, RateBeer has as listing of the Best Beers of Iceland that might be a good list to start from.  And you can find The Beer Connoisseur’s Guide here, from the Reyjavik Grapevine.