It is a mere 10-minute drive from Reykjavik city centre to the small, sleepy district of Hraunsholt. Hidden unassumingly behind the local fishing equipment provider lies one of the world’s most avant-garde whisky projects – and currently the only Icelandic one. Eimverk Distillery’s venture began in the early 2010s with the release of its Vor gin. Fast forward a decade, and the distillery boasts a solid portfolio of whiskies consisting of young and single malts, complemented by an intriguing range of variations on the theme, each bottle capturing a noticeable Icelandic element.
Still a relatively uncommon practice elsewhere, Eimverk employs local barley, particularly the Kria variety, across its entire range. It’s an extraordinary choice, considering Iceland’s average summer temperatures of just 12°C, as well as higher rainfall and significantly fewer hours of sunshine than Scotland or England.
“As temperatures rise, we have been able to grow barley varieties from Northern Finland and Northern Sweden,” says Eimverk’s distillery manager Eva María Sigurbjörnsdóttir. “The first attempts to grow barely here were made in the 1850s but that didn’t go so well. It wasn’t until the 1980s that we experienced new attempts. Scientists developed
