Akureyri, the “Capital of the North” is the second largest city of Iceland, unless you count the two Reykjavik suburbs Kópavogur and Hafnarfjörður as individual cities, then Akureyri would be the fourth largest city in Iceland. Today’s beer is brewed in Akureyri, in the Einstök brewery. Einstök is a craft beer brand that has conquered a permanent place in many Icelandic pubs and is available in many establishments on the island.

In a country like Iceland, the breweries and distilleries boast regularly with the water used in their beers and spirits, because there is water of the purest quality in abundance. So Einstök says about the brewing water used in the brewing process that it is gained from the glacial waters of Hlíðarfjall mountain which is filtered through lava rocks of the surrounding area. In addition to this, the Einstök brewery emphasizes the Nordic flair of its beer by adding the silhouette of a Viking onto the labels of the bottles thereby showing unequivocally: Einstök is the Craft Beer of the Vikings!

Akureyri

But let’s come to the concrete beer I want to introduce today. It is the Einstök Pale Ale and certainly one of the driving forces in respect of sales figures in the Einstök range throughout pubs and the public alcohol shops. Einstök relies on a mixture of American and Bavarian influences as you can see in the usage of Northern Brewer hops Hallertau and the American cultivar Cascade. It comes with 5,6% alcohol.

Tasting notes:

On the nose the Einstök Pale Ale starts quite hoppy, but not too intense (for my taste) and continues with a tangy but light peach note. On the palate it turns out tangy and fresh with mild fruit, not too intense. Also spicy malt and fine bitterness. The Einstök Pale Ale impresses with a refreshing overall picture that perfectly fits into the Nordic flair and the region of origin.

Buying sources: via the internet or in Iceland.