Skál Í Botn!
2005.11.12
Brennivín (pronounce bretnaveen /bren:ivIn/, thanks Ljóni). When I tried this for the first time, some years ago, I found it quite pleasant (I was also in an advanced state of drunkness). I scared my friends that was expecting me to rather puke and they made me stop drinking that. Indeed, according to some of them, this is more a poison that tastes like shit than a kind of liquor… Some facts: its nickname is Black Death, I read somewhere “Give it to an alcoholic: it may help them quit”, and anyway, Brennivín is better with roten shark.
Just like Andrew over Slashfood, I really thought that every Scandinavian countries had their vodka. Including Iceland with its Brennivín. How wrong was I: this liquor is anything but vodka and Iceland never produced any vodka. Well, until now:
Reyka Vodka is Iceland’s first ever vodka. The word derives form the Icelandic word for steam; it is geothermal steam that powers the distillery. They also use perhaps the purest water yet used in the production of vodka, drawn from a 4,000 year old lava field it is so pure that it requires no treatment or demineralization, which most other distillers have to do. Apparently the water used for Reyka is so pure that Volvic has a content of dissolved solids that’s five times higher than Reyka’s, Evian’s level is nearly 15 times higher.
Sounds good. More about it: Reyka Vodka website.
November 12th, 2005 - 21:43
brennivín is pronounced /bren:ivIn/.