Steðji is one of the older micro-breweries in Iceland, based near Borgarfjörður in the South West and one of the places we had planned to visit several times during trips around Reykjavik, but never managed to. They featured on both the previous Christmas beer sagas on this blog, one time with a licorice beer I really liked and the other time one I really hated. This is an apt representation of the roller coaster of emotions that their beer can be, they make good beer with a lot of craft and natural spring water, but beware, sometimes they use milled whale bones or smoked sheep testicles as ingredients. Taking "made with Icelandic ingredients" to the extreme.



The Christmas beer I really liked is now part of their general line up (and called Northern Lights). The one I did not like, Almáttugur, a porter with licorice, is still one of their two Christmas beers and I decided I do not need to do that to myself again. The other Christmas beer is Halelúja a German Schwarzbier. It really shows their craft. Using only malted barley, hops and water (as it should be!) it has coffee and chocolate notes, while being light and perfectly balanced. One of my favourite of the ones I tried this year.