Heading to Norway and Iceland last month, I knew beer would be expensive, but I’m not sure that I realised just how expensive.
My Scandinavian drinking, and the accompanying price shocks, started in Sweden in the 1980s. At that time pubs didn’t really exist and alcohol was only served in restaurants and hotel bars. There were however plenty of “restaurants” where the food was fairly nominal, but sufficient to meet the letter of the law, and the main business was liquid refreshment.
On more recent visits to Sweden, it’s evident that the licensing laws have been relaxed over the years, with no shortage of bars serving drinks without any compulsory food. Alcoholic drinks are not cheap, but prices are now much more in line with other parts of Europe, perhaps the equivalent of £7-£8 per pint.
Norway takes a step up the price ladder, with ordinary beer starting at the equivalent of £8-£9 per pint. Visit a craft beer bar or brewery tap in a tourist area and prepare yourself for a further hike.
This is what we found in the Molo Brew tap in Ålesund last month. It is definitely in a tourist area: located right on the cruise pier. It is a typical craft brewery tap: 25 keg lines, pizza, and plenty of uncomfortable seating. It would fit well in Brooklyn, California, or perhaps Bermondsey.
There were, inevitably, some “weird” beers among the 25 on offer. “Dairy Potter and the Philospher’s Cone”, described as a “Mexican fried ice cream” style beer, is probably the weirdest. Brewed with flaked corn, lactose, cinnamon and tequila-soaked vanilla beans, it does work somewhat better than might be expected. I’m not familiar with the taste of Mexican fried ice cream, so don’t have a direct reference point, but it is a smooth beer in an ale style, with a sweet finish.
More interesting perhaps was a test beer made in collaboration with the Kveik Yeastery, a local company in western Norway adapting the farmhouse kveik yeast strains for commercial use. The Molo beer is a light, fruity lager style (4%), but with an earthy taste which I have found in other beers using kveik yeast.
Another notable beer was “Everblack”, a 4.7% chocolate malt based beer which sits somewhere between a black IPA and a porter. Drinking this in a 20cl glass would cost the equivalent of £15.50 per pint, with other beers (such as a 9.3% grapefruit DIPA) breaking through the £20 mark.
Still, Iceland was yet to come. There was not a lot of time available for beer drinking here, but a visit was achieved to Skúli, a craft beer bar in Reykjavik. Just 14 lines here, mostly with local beers. Aðalstræti (named after the street where the bar was located) was a 5% hazy IPA in the New England style by Malbygg, who are based on the edge of the city. The “oddity” on the menu was from the same brewery: Bjössi Bolla was an 11% imperial stout brewed with the addition of kókosbolla, a coconut-covered chocolate which is common in Scandinavia. The result was a sweetness, which didn’t linger, and plenty of coconut. The alcohol balanced it out pretty well. And the price for a 20cl glass? Just a few pence short of £30 per pint. Around £10 for a 440ml can if you buy from the brewery shop.
After that price shock, a drink was needed, so back to the ship to help finish off the supply of “free” Sierra Nevada pale.
