Lava – Ölvisholt Brugghús

So, I know I have a tendency to bang on about stuff a lot, if I get stoked on something.  So forgive me if this sounds like old news, but man, how about that Ölvisholt Brugghús, pride of Iceland?  I covered this in my post on Skjálfti, but I’ll give you a little refresher, if you aren’t in the know.  Iceland had prohibition, just like us.  Their total prohibition of alcohol lasted a bit over ten years.  Not too bad, really.  PEI was dry for over forty.  Except, when they lifted prohibition on wine and spirits, they kept it on “Strong Beer”, or any beer over 2.25% abv.  This led to many solutions, including mixing spirits into “weak” beer.  While this sounds like fun, it doesn’t really lead to a culture of quality brewing.  So you can imagine, when in 1989 after 74 years of no beer, there was some pretty big celebrations when prohibition was fully lifted.  So much so,  that March 1st is now “Beer Day”, honouring the day that Icelanders were finally able to drink and brew beer.  Pubs are allowed to stay open until 4am to accommodate celebrants on their beer-soaked pub crawls.  This makes me think that perhaps it would be better if the holiday was March 2nd, but I’ll leave that.  All of this means that any brewer operating in Iceland is, at most, just over twenty years old.  In the case of Ölvisholt (the only Icelandic brewery we’ve seen sold in Ontario), they are only four.  So when a four year old brewery, operating in a country that only has a twenty year old brewing tradition is able to brew beers of such quality that geeks drool and the LCBO lists them in the seasonal releases, it’s a pretty big deal.  And a perfect brewery to honour on this Beer Day.

Lava - Ölvisholt Brugghús

Lava - Ölvisholt Brugghús

From a brown 500ml bottle with a best before sate on the back label, the beer pours a solid opaque black, with a low mocha head that dropped to a ring fairly quickly.  Aroma is smokey malts, hints of leather and something a little woody.  It is nearly whisky-like, though not really with any peat.  Still, the smoke and wood are as inviting as a warm hearth on a cold rainy day.  Taste is massive, much bigger than the aroma would betray.  Very sweet, with a heap of smoke.  Mid palate hits at alcohol, a little inky and astringent, but the finish is all malts and smoke.  Burnt sugar and leather and some earthiness combine with the sweetness, like a creme brulee made by a cowboy.  There are lovely ripe berries and fruit that come through as the beer warms a bit, hints of apples and strawberries and pears.  The burnt sugar starts to pop even more too.  Definitely let this one warm up a bit.  The light carbonation in the mouth gives it a nearly cask-like feel, though the 9.4% abv is evident, in both the nose and with some serious warmth at the back of the tongue, so you probably won’t be glugging this one.  Still, I won’t have a problem getting through the 500ml I have before me.  A really cool beer, from a very cool company.  Now if only I’d remembered to put some Bjork on the iTunes.

Skal, Ölvisholt Brugghús! Happy Beer Day!  Here’s to 74 years and more of excellent beer.

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