Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.06.2013, Síða 20

Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.06.2013, Síða 20
1919 (Radisson) Pósthússtræti 2 This elegant hotel bar boasts classic black Chesterfield armchairs and a scattering of chic cowhide footstools, but the best reason to visit is the fact that they serve Stella Artois on tap. The staff are warm and welcoming and bring your drinks on a tray. For the first time in an Icelandic bar, I felt special. 1000 1200 1150 Oh-so-cool and aloof Bossa nova. Older (40+). Older tourists with money, men in their late 20s and 30s who buy their clothes at (new Icelandic designer label) JÖR. Free peanuts and waiters who actually seem happy to have you. Come here if you want to be treated like you're rich and famous. – PÞ Austur Austurstræti 7 Austur is the jock mecca of Reykjavík. You will find more sweaty muscles there than at the gym after Christmas. That said the place doesn't really try to be anything else and what it does it does fairly well. The atmosphere is trashy and slick like something you would find in a high production porno. The drink selection is great and for the right amount of money you can treat yourself to a private lounge filled with your heart’s desires. 1000 1500 1250 Euro Trash. Young (20-30s). Buffed up dudes, women with lots of makeup. One of the few bars that will provide you with a VIP lounge. It's sterile and shiny like a LA porn set. – RJH B5 Bankastræti 5 B5 is a modern/minimalistic lounge bar in a hall-like space lined with comfortable high benches and lit by two epic lampshades. It's quiet by day, but packed out the door by night with the dress code (smart- casual) creating a see-and-be-seen vibe. Add pumping pop music and a "magic carpet ride" energy-drink cocktail for 1000 ISK, and you’ve got yourself a haven for Reykjavík's yuppies and those who want to hang out with Reykjavík’s yuppies. 900 800 900 Commercial pop, R&B, house, chart music, disco. Young (20s-30s). Suits, body builders, dancing queens, orange girls, older business types, townies, startup guys. B5 is a hangout for a species closely resembling regular Icelanders. The younger males often exhibit broader shoulders and thicker limbs than their human counterparts, almost bursting out of their shirts due to their swollen size. The older males are perhaps their overlords: finely dressed, and showing particular interest in the young females of the species, who must spend extended periods on sunbeds in order to survive, rendering them bright orange in colour. This also appears to make them invulnerable to the Northern climes, and they cavort freely in the arctic wind. This is a popular hangout for the city's young professionals. – JR Bar 7 Frakkastígur 7 Over the last year, Bar 7 has become a pretty solid place for people who just want to sit in a hole and drink. This is a dive, and that's not faux-dive for people who think it's charming. But it actually is charming too, and remarkably clean. Don't bother getting mixers or wine here though; you're safer sticking to basics (beer). 550 1000 1000 Usually the bartender's iPod playlist, which is often really great indie rock oriented music (Band of Horses, Interpol, The Antlers). Music is never too loud to hold a conversation and if asked nicely, they'll usually change it if you hate the song, or crank it up. Older (50+) The tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to drink for (almost) free—every age group is found here, ranging from 18 to 80. A gigantic collection of matchbooks from various bars, hotels, clubs, sports arenas and other places, all framed, covering every wall. It's actually kind of amazing, and it's really fun to look until you find one from some random place you've been to in another country. Come happy, leave depressed; come depressed, leave comforted. – RL Bar 11 Hverfisgata 18 Bar 11 is one of the few places in Reykjavík where a rockabilly hipster can truly feel at home. It caters to the small percentage of people who do not like the standard club theme of electro and house and prefer a more rocked out haze fuelled by shots and beers. At the time of visit, the place was like a zoo filled with various young animals shaking their feathers at the watering hole to the beat of classic rock anthems. If you have at least one sailor tattoo, or just want an alternative to the more mainstream club music, this is the place for you. 800 1200 1150 Rockabilly and classic rock. Young (under 20). Tattooed rockers, young kids All their glasses are made of plastic. Booze and tattoos. – RJH Bjarni Fel Austurstræti 20 Named after one of Iceland's most famous sports commentators, Bjarni Fel is an adequately equipped sports bar conveniently located at the bottom of Austurstræti. The bar offers multiple strategically placed flat screen TVs that feature a wide variety of sports events daily. The bar itself though is lacking a bit in character and the selection of booze is mediocre. But if all other bars have filled up during important matches, Bjarni Fel is a sure bet for getting a nice seat with a good view. 890 1100 1090 Music is not a priority and during games and events you will hear live commentary. Young (20s-30s). Sports hungry Icelanders of all ages, the occasional lost tourist. They have an excellent covered patio that makes for one of the best semi-indoor smoking areas in the city when the weather gets bad. The ball hits the net on a television set. – RJH Boston Laugavegur 28b Boston is the heir to many of the late Sirkus regulars (that bar closed in 2008). The décor is more grown- up—sort of dark, trashy, gothic chic—and the guests aren't exactly kittens anymore. At times, the atmosphere can feel a bit sketchy due to overwhelming drunkenness and other sorts of intoxication. 900 1300 900 The music depends on the DJ. Most of them are of the electronic/ house variety. They rock DJs like KGB and DJ Kári stops through every now and again on weekends. Young (20s-30s). Washed-up artists, friendly drug dealers, fashionistas, bohemians, writers, grungy rock types, party animals, aging party animals, people with drinking problems. Boston has a really nice backdoor patio and an expensive homoerotic photograph framed in bulletproof glass and is allegedly owned by Björk. The right kind of sketchy. – AB Bunk Bar Laugavegur 28 It’s like a cheap version of KEX with a more Patrick Bateman-y vibe. As it is attached to a hostel, the overtly patriotic touch is understandable. It’s a bit cramped and noisy and it’s hard to get to the bathrooms. The staff is nice though—friendly, efficient and courteous. 900 1000 900 Music is neither here nor there. There's nothing distinct and obtrusive about it. It's probably an iPod playlist with some mainstream '80s music and dickish saxophone music. Young (20s-30s). Yuppies with expensive beanie caps and fancy shirts, sporty looking tourists, general "cool" types. It has a nice selection of bottled After having loads of fun making a Bar Guide for the past two years (we really love drinking), we decided once again to review and rate every single bar in 101 Reykjavík (yes, we really love drinking). And our research reveals that there are around sixty bars in town this year. Perhaps you’re thinking that we could have simply updated last year’s guide. Well, first of all, that wouldn’t have been as much fun (less drinking), and a lot has changed in the last year. A bunch of bars have closed, and then opened under a new name, and then perhaps returned to their old name. A bar or two may even have opened or closed by the time this issue goes to print. That's the nature of the game. So we ganged together a bunch of fun-and-drink-loving writers, divided the bars between them, and sent them off to work. Of course you may not agree with everything we’ve writ- ten as our tastes may differ greatly from yours or we may just be wrong (you can write us an angry letter about that), but ultimately this guide is for entertainment and information- al purposes, and it is meant to incite discourse more than anything. And if it helps you find a new bar you love, then that’s all the better. There was at least some method to our madness, which you can read below. THE GRAPEVINE'S BIG-ASS BAR GUIDE 2013 REVIEWER INSTRUCTIONS: These are the instructions we gave to our reviewers before they embarked upon their mission. DEFINE: BAR A bar is an establishment that has ‘the sale and consumption of alco- hol’ as its main purpose and goal. It can sell food, but emphasis must be placed on, again, the sale and con- sumption of alcoholic beverages. METHOD Each reviewer was instructed to drink one beer at each bar reviewed. To ensure that all bars were reviewed under similar circumstances, they were asked to go there between the hours of 23:00 and 1:00 on a djamm (“party”) night. These are typically Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. At the bar, they were instructed to take notes in their fancy notebook, which they did not forget to bring (because forgetting that would be horrible). They noted the following: Prices The cheapest price of a beer, glass of wine, and 'single + mixer'. Music Type (DJ, playlist, live music) plus genre? Clientele Who hangs out there? BEER SINGLE + MIXER WINE Music / Genre Age Clientele Special feature Troubadour Alert Special features What does this bar have that sepa- rates it from the bunch, if anything? In a nutshell One brief sentence to sum up the bar. Rating On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the high- est. Our Review Team: Rebecca Louder, Parker Yama- saki, Ragnar Egilsson, Ragnar Jón Hrólfsson, Shea Sweeney, Alfrún Gísladóttir, Helgi Þór Harðarson, Patricia Þormar, John Rogers, Atli Bollason, Sigurður Kjartan Kristins- son, Óli Dóri, Tómas Gabríel Benja- min, Amy Silbergeld 20The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 7 — 2013

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