So we had prohibition, remember? No probably not. It was pretty awful, especially for all the hard working soldiers who actually lived through WWI and made it home. Watching most of your friends die in the European muck should, in theory, exempt you from such foolishness as income tax, work, social expectations, and prohibition. But our brave soldiers found themselves held to just such rules (okay, I don’t know about the other three, but if they wanted a beer, it was either home-made or illict). Thankfully, even ultra-dry PEI only had prohibition for about 40 years. Try Iceland. Prohibition was in effect for 74 years (1915-1989). Okay, I’ll slightly edit that, they actually binned prohibition in 1935, so only twenty years. Errrr, okay, sorry, one more edit, they binned prohibition on everything except “Strong Beer”. And just to clarify (because I’m sure you’ll apreciate knowing), the good folks in Icelandic Parliment (or whatever) felt that “Strong Beer” should be defined as any beer with an alcohol content of 2.25%. Look out. So that means that for 74 years you couldn’t get beer in Iceland. By proxy, that means that anybody currently brewing beer in Iceland:
a) moved there from somewhere else (or moved back from somewhere else)
b) learned in the last 20 years
c) is very old, and used to brew beer, 74 years ago
Suffice to say, their brewing tradion and history is pretty short. So how does this first offering in the LCBO from Iceland measure up?
Skjálfti - Ölvisholt Brugghús
From a 500ml bottle with a best before date on the label, the beer pours a nice clear amber with about 1′ of head, that settles nicely and leaves a bit of lace. Oh my! Not the pils-style lager I was expecting at all! (Okay, to be fair, I actually read Matt’s review over at onebeeratatime.wordpress.com, so I kinda knew what I was getting into, but still. When I bought it at the LCBO, I didn’t have high hopes). Clean astringent hops, hints of grapefruit and citrus. Some hints of malts. Taste is all hops, less citrusy now, a bit more floral and earthy. Malt is there, but you’ve got to look for it. It really more just fills in the bottom-end, like a talented bassist; nice thumping prescence that you don’t notice unless you know where to look. Mild sweetness hits your tongue just before the hop raises it’s head again, and leaves you with a nice dry hoppy finish, reminiscent of the inital floral hop blast. Wow wow wow, this beer is awesome. I’ve got to catch up with Bill George (patron saint of the LCBO) this week, and on the list of questions will be “Is this a permanent fixture, or just part of the summer release?” The beer is probably a bit big for the lager-head, but lovers of English bitters and ales will find this beer super-sessionable and tasty. Go buy this beer. Mmmmmm, as it’s warming a bit, it is both more floral hoppy, and more of the sweet grainy taste is popping. Next bottle (thank God I bought two) I’ll let warm up a bit. And I’ll take me own advice and buy more. Damn, this is good.
Skál, Ölvisholt Brugghús!
6 Comments