A whirlwind tour of Reykjavík’s cocktail scene in four easy steps
Cocktails have never been as elite as they’re made out to be. Sure, you have F. Scott Fitzgerald mixing himself a gin rickey at Summit Terrace but then it’s also Hulk Hogan leg dropping a piña colada. Even the names of prohibition cocktails run the gamut from “The Last Word” to “Bosom Caresser” (the revival seems to have skipped the second one). The crest of the cocktail wave is behind us, but we are now looking at a far more democratic and accessible landscape, where fresh ingredients, proper technique and herbal tinctures have entrenched themselves in the culture.
Whether you’re just passing through or you’re a regular person about town, we’ve put together this blueprint for a four-stop cocktail crawl through downtown Reykjavík for your enjoyment.
Stage 1: Apótek Restaurant
Austurstræti 16
Look at you getting all fancy on a Saturday, lounging away in your good shirt, collar popped like you’re on a second date. Your drink is probably going to have a fig in it and your waiter will probably have a graduate degree and speak four languages, the bastard.
The lounge area in Apótek is as good a place as any to start, as the natural light and high ceilings really compliment your eyes. Your hair is still in place and you can still locate most of the clothes you left the house with. This is good, as the ultra-attentive staff at Apótek want to get the drink into your hand and the cash out of your pocket, and for that to happen you need to be wearing pants.
On the first stop of the night, I went for the Black Death Negroni. It arrives in a cute little old-timey medicine bottle, a reference to the pharmacy that stood at this location a century ago. The little brown bottle, the kind that would have held a shot of arsenic to treat your groin blisters back in the day, is now a dainty ready-made blend of Icelandic Brennivín (which used to be marketed under the name of Black Death) a few drops of absinth and the usual negroni business. Brennvín is a tricky ingredient to blend into a cocktail due to its intensive caraway flavour, but Apótek has figured out a way to prove all the nay-sayers wrong. It went down smooth and my groin has never been better.
Stage 2: Tipsý
Hafnarstræti 1-3
A very recent addition to the cocktail scene in Reykjavík is Apótek’s sister bar. Where our first stop was bright and airy, Tipsý boasts a more nocturnal lighting scheme (seriously, you may need to crack your phone out to read the menu). Tipsý will be familiar enough to any cocktail fiend, a corner bar playing up a kitschy, speak-easy vibe, with vested bartenders, pink curtains and pink-ish drinks. The bartenders flirt with adventurous ingredients, but their signature drinks still manage to be far more approachable than ingredients like eucalyptus or red cabbage would have you believe.
This time around I stuck to a classic gin martini to take advantage of the veteran bartenders. These folks know their way around the cocktail classics and it showed. Delightful.
Stage 3: Jungle
Austurstræti 9
This second floor walkup, just opposite the only damn liquor store in downtown Reykjavík, has recently zhuzhed up their seating and the place is looking as fresh as ever. This is the perfect spot for the third drink of the night, when you’re welcoming a comfy spot to really enjoy that mid-date lull in the conversation by sinking your butt into a leather sofa and doing a little people-watching (who are we kidding, we were swiping through videos of red pandas eating watermelons).
Jungle is constantly renewing their roster of innovative cocktails, giving regulars the sense that these folks are truly in it for the love of the game.
For the third outing, we went for the Bonita Applebaum, which despite the green apples and whisky, kind of tastes like a fresher rum in vanilla cola with a longer aftertaste. For something a little denser and sweeter, we recommend the Jungle Club, which was probably intended as a mashup between Pegu Club and Jungle Bird, but is all its own thing with a nostalgic, blood orange squash flavour.
Stage 4: Skreið
Laugavegur 4
After being privy to a string of positive recommendations, we decided to try out the new-ish pintxos restaurant on Laugavegur. Luckily, we were able to squeeze into one of the five or so seats in the upstairs bar — see kids, it pays to start your night earlier. The drinks don’t veer too far from the Spanish-speaking world, with Pedro Ximénez and Havana Club making more than one appearance each. We decided to stay in the safe confines of pre-prohibition American cocktails and ordered a Last Word. At Skreið, it’s called “Síðustu orð Espelette” and is served with a dash of espelette chilli liqueur. This is not a place to crowd, but perfect for a final dash of this fresh gin-based favourite.
What better way to conclude your cocktail hop than with a peppery last word. What you do now is up to you. You can move on to something sensible, like a glass of Côtes du Rhône at Apéro Vínbar, or trudge home to a warm glass of milk and whichever soul-crushing crime docuseries you have lined up on your streaming service of choice.
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