Einstok - Icelandic Pale Ale

What if Woodstock happened in Iceland? What if Woodstock was actually not a festival and actually a brewery? What then, huh? What then? Nothing... Because that doesn't make any sense. Iceland seem to make their beer the way they make their pop icons. Fluffy. The pour on this IPA (ICELANDIC! NOT INDIAN!) is deeply satisfying with a good 2 fingers of head from even the most careful of pours. The body is a crystal clear dark amber that reminds me of all my favourite marbles from my precarious youth. The aroma is lightly hoppy, edging on the citrus side but it's not massively loud or overtly impressive in the nasal department, which is fine, in fact I'm slightly more suspicious of it now. They say that "it's always the quiet ones," though I often tend to find that it's almost always the loud violent ones that do the loud and violent things that are loud and violent.

It feels smooth with a medium mouth feel that compliments the notes of raisin, toffee, malt and bread. There's a little sting of bitterness if you take a big gulp of the stuff and there's a warm sensation a couple of seconds after you drink it. There's heavy speckling that sticks to the side of the glass like a limpet and follows the the glass as you tip. You could sip at this like a refined gent/lady about town and have a truly pleasant experience or you could chuck this down you and feel the full force of this particularly well crafted Icelandic pale ale. Both choices are good choices because either way you get a lovely, warming, beer that would be perfect in those colder winter months.

Food suggestion: Pork products! All of the pork products! I'd be happy having this beer with a pork chop and apple sauce or with bacon pancakes... Yup, I'd totally drink this with breakfast.

Drink this if you like: Kill Your Darlings by Thornbridge is a close one though KYD is ever so slightly more extreme than Einstok IPA. You get all those toffee, raisin, malty, bready flavours but you just get a whole lot more of them. Which you prefer depends on whether you like to be offered flavour on a silver platter or whether you prefer to be pistol whipped with it.