Grapevine’s Best Of 2017: Best Happy Hour

Once again we come to the time in the year where we do the hard task of assessing which bars and clubs are worthy of a place in the limelight. Reykjavík’s bar culture is quite vast and diverse, ranging from the smallest three-table hole that serves one beer and where regulars threaten you for taking an extra chair, to huge vast glittering bottle-service rooms lined with leather and mirrors. Unfortunately for our panel, selecting these bars doesn’t mean an actual field trip, but it does require a certain—how shall we put it politely—expertise. They range from former bar staff, to performers who find themselves in bars all the time, to writers who sometimes write, and sometimes just drink about it. So here are the results that our ragtag team of (ahem) experts came up with. Now get out there and have a few!

Winner

Bravó
Laugavegur 22
Oh, bravo, Bravó, for having the best happy hour in this fair city. In a town with so many happy hours that we had to go ahead and create an entire app for them, Bravó edged out the entire competition with their lengthy happy hours. Namely, from 11am until 8pm. Those are nine very happy hours. If you get lucky and grab a table, or even just a single seat in this small and often very packed place, then it’s the happiest place on earth.

Runners Up

Kaffibarinn
Bergstaðastræti 1
For a classy happy hour, Kaffibarinn has a great selection of Iceland’s finer beers on tap at little more than half their regular prices. “I especially like going there for their Wednesday cheese platter evenings,” admitted one panelist. It’s warm and welcoming, and a great place to go relax.

Stofan
Vesturgata 3
When the name of the place literally translates to “the living room,” it’s pretty much expected to be a very cosy place to kick back with some late-afternoon, early-evening drinks. With all their beers and wines on happy hour from 4pm until 8pm, plus their lovely central location and tasty menu, Stofan thoroughly deserves a nod.

Previous Winners

2016: Kaffibarinn
2015: Forréttabarinn

You can buy a copy of the full Best Of Reykjavík 2017 magazine, posted worldwide, at gpv.is/buybestof.