Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.03.2017, Page 50

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Hold My Beer
Brews, bros, beards and business
at the Icelandic Beer Festival

Words Mark Asch Photo Art Bicnick
Well… we’re not losing money by
coming here,” an ultra-friendly
Australian craft brewer tells me
above the din at the Icelandic Beer
Festival. He works for Pirate Life,
out of Adelaide, South Austra-
lia, and he’s just poured me their
IPA, so pleasantly front-loaded
with hoppy bitterness that I al-
most swear I feel cold aluminum
in my hands, slick with condensa-
tion. They’d loaded a few kegs onto
a plane, come to Iceland a few days
early to explore Mývatn, and here
they were, pouring for the assembled
beer geeks in the warehouse space
beneath Kex Hostel—formerly the
Living Art Museum—over the three-
day event. The Pirates have no grand
scheme for global distribution or
beer-world domination, but they
were invited, and they said yes, be-
cause, after all, what is beer even for?
The Icelandic Beer Festival
(“more like the Icelandic BEARD
Festival,” a friend joked, prior to
spotting silkscreened commemo-
rative “Icelandic Beer-d Festival”
t-shirts for sale at the merch table)
was spread out over three happy-
hour sessions, with live music
upstairs afterwards for anyone
still typing legibly into their Rate-
MyBeer app after three hours of
dogged connoisseurship. Steeped
in exposed-beam hipness, it’s an-
other spot-on curation of the Kex-
land hospitality empire, with the
room split equally between most
of Iceland’s growing craft beer
scene, and global drinking bud-
dies brought
to the party by
Kex’s frequent
col laborators
Mikkeller and
Friends.
M i k k e l l e r
were there, of
course, their
f a r - o u t f l a -
vours comple-
ment i ng t he
subtly citrus-y
pale ales and
highly concentrated double IPAs
brought over from American brew-
eries like Stone and Other Half.
Mikkeller’s vanilla stout was surely
sweeter than the beer ice cream be-
ing dispensed from slow-churning
7/11-style slushie machines, and
stood out even amongst the other
creamy stouts and porters pulled
out as calling cards (along with
puckery and fruity sours and lam-
bics capable of staining teeth like
bad red wine). Amidst raids on the
bowls of olives and almonds left out
to line stomachs, I recall with fond-
ness Kaldi’s black IPA, which had a
sophisticated, moody acridity, not
unpleasantly reminiscent of scald-
ed diner coffee; I also appreciated
the very subtle hints of kelp in the
mellow red ale from Iceland’s new-
to-me Brothers Brewery, normally
available only on tap in the West-
man Islands, where it’s brewed.
Behind the tables, brewmasters
and sales reps sampled each other’s
wares. One of them told me that
they all know each other from the
beer-fest circuit: an endless sum-
mer of tasting, swapping recipes
and networking that works better
than in any other
industry because,
well, you know. Not
that there aren’t
drawbacks, but, as
she explained, no-
body really judges
you if you beg out
from a group out-
ing like Saturday
m o r n i n g ’s t r i p
to the Secret La-
goon—the occa-
sional raging hang-
over is just an occupational hazard.
Between the tables, Icelanders in
blazers and capes and tourists in
flannel and fleeces gathered in
semicircles of conversation, dis-
banding to refill their glasses at
opposite ends of the room before
regrouping to sip, squint, and swal-
low; impressed by the artisanal
atmosphere, conversations begin
with earnest comparison of tasting
notes, but rarely stay there. Because
after all, what is beer even for?
SHARE: gpv.is/bru03
B E S T T H A I F O O D 2 0 1 6
also : 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
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FOOD IS MADE FRESH FROM SCRATCH,
PAN–FRIED FISH
FISH STEW
Onion, garlic, potatoes, celery, lime,
white wine, cream and butter
1.850 isk
PLAICE
Tomatoes, capers, parsley,
lemon and butter
2.100 isk
ARCTIC CHAR
Honey, almonds, cherry tomatoes,
lemon and butter
2.100 isk
salmon (lactose–free)
Parsley root, broccoli, cashew nuts,
coconut oil, chili and lemon
2.100 isk
Our pan–fried fish is always
served with butter–fried
Icelandic potatoes & fresh salad
desserts
DATE CAKE
Walnuts, coconut,
cream cheese coffee cream,
blueberries and whipped cream
1.400 isk
any
pans
for
lunch?
lækjargata 6b, 101 rvk · 546 0095 · messinn@messinn.com
Food
“more like the Ice-
landic BEARD Festi-
val,” a friend joked,
prior to spotting
silkscreened com-
memorative “Icelan-
dic Beer-d Festival”
t-shirts for sale
Afficionados of that lovely golden brew which quenches our thirst
and revitalizes the spirit that the locals like to call "bjúúúúúúr"