Black Death, Icelandic Vodka, and Viking Beer

So, the fake-Frenchman had an opportunity to travel to Greenland for his master's thesis research (he flew in a helicopter through fjords. no big deal.), and whilst he was in the mid-atlantic region he sampled a couple brews every North American should know about.

First things first:



If you have ever found yourself up late at night, unable to fall asleep, because you were concerned that Iceland didn't have its own pilsen, insomnia no more! Viking beer is your answer to prayer. Our Norwegian friend who was our field guide in East Greenland brought enough beer for each of us to have a 1/2 liter can with every dinner.

He also brought cognac and single malt scotch for after dinner. Uh, I guess everything you've heard about geologists being alcoholics is true. ANYHOW, we cooled our Viking beer in a glacial runoff stream and they were a pilsen-y edition to any freeze dried or canned meal.





Next, during my 36 hour layover in Iceland, I was fortunate enough to stumble across Iceland's official drink, lovingly dubbed "Black Death." It's a real thing and apparently translates into english as "burning wine." I drank some on my flight back to the states, mixed with, of course, Icelandic vodka Reyka; a wheat and barley spirit filtered through porphyritic basaltic lava flows.



Finally, I'd like to officially apologize for our summer hiatus. In truth, it has been one full of brewing adventures, successes, and failures. Among posts you can expect this fall, stay tuned for:

-the Drinking Goat posse tries their hand at freshly picked and pressed hard cider (with the help of a certified MD). This project (10 whole gallons) is actually in its secondary fermentation.

-the Drinking Goat posse visits the Lexington Homebrewers Association

-the Drinking Goat posse brews up a REAL batch of beer (we're foraying into extract brewing, seeings as the fake-Frenchman lacks the capital for all grain brewing)

-the Drinking Goat posse documents its experiments and failures of the summer

-the Drinking Goat posse provides step by step instructions on the best way to skin a cat, alive, underwater, with only a pair of tweezers and a VHS copy of Lethal Weapon 3 (you DON'T want to miss this)

If you're reading this we love you more than Chimay (that's a lie, but we do love you).