Icelandic Summer beers

With an evoking presentation, using the arctic tern as a motif for the Icelandic summer, this beer with citrusy and fresh aroma, might be the ideal option for summer loving while avoiding the lovely little birds flying over one's head who swoop in so close, that you find yourself ducking for cover. The flavour is very IPA-like but not as strong as your everyday IPA. It brings just the right levels of refreshing fruit flavour profile to the hoppy taste, the right amount for a beer, where lightness of summer should prevail over other predominantly strong flavours. RVK, who is responsible for this one, seems to be winning our hearts and money, at a reasonable price!

Víking is a widely known brand here in Iceland, so it is very likely to be the general population’s choice as a ready-to-drink beer. However, this summer we have to admit that, sometimes Big Beer has more to offer. Their packaging is really nice, having one of the few beers of our selection with the design printed directly onto the can. The aroma of this one is strong and full, being very fruity and nice overall. While both finding the aroma being mostly fruity and refreshing, A. did get some hints of caramel from this one, even though the description of the beer itself does not state any caramel, as they say, no two noses are the same. The flavour is sweet and unexpected, which could be a downside for people that are looking for a regular beer, this might be because of the beer type, since the brew is a mix of carbonated drink with beer as a base .

If life gives you oranges… put it in your beer. Or that seems to be what Gull Lite Sumar is trying to convey. Orange is in their lovely presentation on the can, with some other motifs of summer (or the ingredients of the beer?). From opening the can, you can smell all the orangery , and after a sip or two you will notice that we have a 404, beer not found. It is lower than normal beers in alcohol levels, but don’t be fooled! as it is easily drinkable and you will by far get through more, and faster than you thought you would. Having said that, it is a nice overall experience and, for the health conscious people out there, this one is both gluten free and low in carbs. If orange is not your color, then this one is a pass for you.

The brewery Segull 67 had become known in this household after last Christmas, so this time, they served a very simple but elegant summer beach vibe can with a nice detailed red at the opening of the can (whatever the name of that is?, tab? opener?) Quite mild beer, very watery and soft. Although that could be a low note for some, we considered that sometimes what you are looking for in summer is to have something rather fresh, light, and drinkable, especially if what you crave is sun (and believe me you, that we do want the sun in this side of the hemisphere). A beer that could be on the taste for everyone is a beer that deserves to be recognized right there at the top.

Have you ever smelled a beer and said “Oh, Hi! Nice to meet you!”? Well that’s exactly what this one does to you. The entire concept of this beer is to drink the beer in a camper. The idea is everywhere. In its name, on the can, even on a tiny note that dictates you to do so. Which is not only a summer concept in Iceland, it is the retired dreamland. It is fortunate that this beer tastes like a camper trip, hoppy-ing over the landscape in your campervan while giving you that fresh nature smell (of citrus in this case), good thing that the forecast for this camping trip was dry, just as the final notes of this fun drink, which is the full circle for a summer beer.

There are few things in this country that are as warm as the sun, the lopapeysa is among those things. Sumarbóndi is very aware of it, proudly flaunting a pattern of a yellow Icelandic wool sweater all around the can. Is that summer? We conclude that we don’t know for sure, what we do know is that this is heavily inspired by rural farm life in Iceland, and that it is a new take on summer. Farmers, as we all know, are very summer dependent, specially for harvesting certain crops. Maybe that is the reason, which is very fitting. If not, then really we cannot explain the summer aspect of this beer marketing. So if you are ready for the summer gardening and harvest season this year, grab this beer and A. guarantees you that your lettuce will yield you good results after a few of these. The beer has a fruity and hoppy taste, with a bit of dryness, like our sense of humor.

The only one of our picks that presents itself in a glass bottle format. A very simplistic design, which has some hints of summer, but not the most expressive. Which is fine. This minimalism is quite a statement through and through, if for example you envision a simple IPA. Good for a chilling time under the sun with a beer in hand. You won't go wrong with this one!

Another beer from the big brand Víking, Systir has a nice illustration which doesn’t really correspond to this season, still it is a fun thing to look at. It smells very citrusy, like the lime based fragrances used for lavatory endeavours. The taste is rather weird and light. Not very impressive, but not awfully disappointing. It is a midnight sun that just bothers you, but it doesn’t really keep you warm.

If we we know anything from this experience is that if you promise an ingredient, YOU DELIVER IT! The design of this beer is very funny, it has an elf on the front with a hop beard. This elf has connections in the south of Iceland to a well known potato farmland, and being that the beer has potatoes, it's really fitting! And it promises mango, which is already a huge statement. The smell is very sweet, HOWEVER, the taste is nothing like we were imagining. It is rather light with very bitter notes at the end. And the mango is imperceptible. There is a big rain on our parade!

A very intriguing concept, and the beer that started all of this post, to be truthful. Cuexcomate is a beer inspired by Mexico and a geyser, as it's something that these two countries share. On top of that it’s marketed as well to contain cactus(nopal) flavour. This beer was a big surprise: as a finding, exemplifying the growing interest of Icelanders for Mexican products; as an idea, using two geographic coincidences in both of the countries, as well as using the cactus. But the biggest surprise is that, it delivered everything on the idea of it… but not so much in the execution. We are not cactus connoisseurs, but certainly the flavour was either absent or faded, so we could not be leaving that behind, even when the idea of the name is very attractive. This was not speaking of summer, rather just a vision of the summer that we could have had.

A great looking can, fun simple, but eye catching. It doesn’t scream summer, but it really hits it here and there. At a distance and with abstract thinking, you can envision the can as a pineapple, the main ingredient of this fun looking beer. But don’t get fooled! This one is not what you will expect. Sólstingur is bitter, dry and has a rather weird aftertaste, and you get sorely disappointed when your flavour buds don't get to bask in the glory of a refreshing pineapple, rather a vague pineapple tasting artificial addition. Seagull 67, which has a beer in the Eternal Sunshine category above, missed the mark here. The sun doesn’t shine on this one, but it still burns.

This one had an editing issue on their package, too much going on, and therefore the illustration was too tiny in comparison to the plethora of text and barcodes on the can. Editing, you need it in videos, you need it in text, and you need it when it comes into the packaging of your beer, you have many ideas and limited space for putting them all at once. And similar to our previous one, this one is marketed with an ingredient as their main attraction: Watermelon. Although watermelon is typically associated with summer power and all of that jazz, perhaps beer is not it’s best pair (according to Tik Tok, source of all enlightenment, it seems that mustard is a better choice). The taste of Gæðingur is really rather sour, and quite fruity. The aroma and the taste do not really match, at least not at first. But taking the first sip you will feel the sourness hit your face hard. While not particularly strong in flavour, the beer itself is 7% alcohol level, thus having one or two of these on a nice summer evening is a good option, but only if you are into beers with a great level of sourness. So don’t be bitter if this one is not for you!