Despite Iceland being the villains in the classic movie, Mighty Ducks 2, I had my arm twisted into trying a bottle of Lava, a smoked imperial stout from Ölvisholt Brugghua brewery, brewed on a farm
within a stones throw from the active volcano Helka.
Iceland had a prohibition in place on all "Strong" beer (over 2.25%) from 1915 to March 1st 1989, only allowing spirits and wine to be consumed by its citizens, but the idea of craft beer has slowly been crawling into the minds of the Icelandic people. Repeal day, March 1st became a beacon though, known simply as "Beer Day,"and beer has quickly become the most consumed alcoholic beverage in Iceland. And in 2007 two neighboring farmers with a passion for beer decided that Iceland needed some serious beer in their country. It's actually quiet hard to find out information on Icelandic beer, other than opinions of the best they have to offer, so I can't say this is the best beer in Iceland, but as far as I can tell it's the best beer I've ever had from Iceland, so that's a start.
And Lava is a serious beer. Immediately is smells like a smokey chocolate bar, wafting right out of the glass and into my nose. The taste though isn't as smokey, with a nice light touch in the entire body of the beer, but not overpowering the nice chocolate and coffee tastes in the malts. It's not terribly bitter, but the smoke goes down the throat replacing any missing hops with a nice tobacco mustiness. This beer straddles the line between smokey and malty, and I think it hits it fairly perfectly. It's still pretty hot with some alcohol burn in the front, but I think a few months would edge that away and leave a beautiful bouquet of smoke, chocolate and coffee. I'll probably wait to open the 2nd bottle for a few months and let it mellow just a touch, but not too much, cause I don't want that smoke to vanish, just dissipate slowly.
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