From Iceland — Tourists Love Icelandic Beer

Tourists Love Icelandic Beer

Published December 28, 2012

Visitors to Iceland buy large quantities of Icelandic beer, and eight of the ten most sold brands in the country are brewed in Iceland.
RÚV reports that 3.75 million litres of beer were sold in Iceland this year. The market is largely dominated by two breweries – Ölgerðin and Vífilfell – who produce 93.1% of the Icelandic beer on the market. The remainder is comprised of beer produced by microbreweries.
Pub owner Kormákur Geirharðsson told reporters that tourists to Iceland almost always ask for Icelandic beer, requesting recommendations as to what Icelandic beer they should drink. The recommendation is likely easy for Kormákur to make – he owns the pub Ölstofan, which brews its own beer.
The top ten most sold beers in Iceland are dominated by those brewed domestically, only about 23 years after beer was legalised in the country. Those top beers are as follows (with their country of origin indicated if they are not Icelandic):
Víking Gylltur
Víking Lager
Víking Lite
Thule
Tuborg Gold (Danish)
Egils Gull
Tuborg Green (Danish)
Víking Gylltur
Egils Lite
Víking Sterkur

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