10:15 AM ET

This week in poop-smoked beer

Ray Isle (@islewine on Twitter) is Food & Wine's executive wine editor. We trust his every cork pop and decant – and the man can sniff out a bargain to boot. Take it away, Ray.

In this week’s do-not-miss world of beer news, it appears the Icelandic brewery Borg Brugghús has created a beer that gets its unique taste characteristics from, yes indeed, sheep dung.

The malted barley that goes into their Fenrir Nr. 26 is smoked over burning Icelandic sheep excrement for several hours, resulting in a brew that is, according to brewmaster Sturlaugur Jon Björnsson, “Þetta er í raun léttur IPA bjór með sítruslegt og ferskt bragð og lykt frá humlunum. Síðan kemur svolítið þyngri, taðreyktur fílingur í þetta en þetta gengur allt saman upp.”

For the non-Icelandic among us, that more or less translates as “It’s a lightweight IPA with fresh citrus and hop notes, then comes a bit heavier taste from the...” Well. You get the idea.

This sort of madness isn’t exactly new—witness Beer Geek Brunch Weasel beer from Denmark craft beer superstar Mikeller, which derived some of its flavor from Vietnamese ca phe chon coffee (beans harvested from civet cat poop). But, you know, it’s still not exactly mainstream.

There are certainly plans import the Fenrir Nr. 26, as soon as the FDA approves it, but it isn’t here yet. To whet your thirst, though—and in honor of St. Arnold’s Day, July 18, since St. Arnold is the patron saint of brewers—it’s worth checking out the extremely amusing video the lively guys at Borg have produced. Because how often do you get to watch bearded brewers trying to light sheep dung on fire with Bic lighters in a windswept Icelandic pasture.

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2014/07/18/sheep-dung-beer/?hpt=hp_bn11

I do believe that various dungs are used as fuel for cooking, heat and no doubt adult beverages throughout the world. From my personal experience with Icelandic treatment of adult beverages, they are taxed to the moon. Therefore, home brews and various non-commercial distillation products seem fairly common on the island. I know the pilots that transited the area used to bring alcoholic gifts to those who helped us during our journey there.

The Icelandic government seems to think that the long winter nights are conducive to overindulgence of alcoholic beverages, hence the very high tax tariff on them. Personally, I never saw an employee on duty inebriated. I cannot make that same statement about employees I observed in Greenland.

Almost everything seems overtaxed today, doesn't it?

Best regards,

RA1

If I recall, Greenland and Iceland are reported to have some of the highest alcoholism rates in the world. Given the shortage of photons and thermal energy, perhaps understandable.

That is correct but I find the climates (other than short winter days) to be very different. Almost none of Iceland is north of the arctic circle where most of Greenland is. That probably adds a few minutes to the winter day. But, more importantly, the average temperatures and snowfall are very different. The Gulf Stream flows by Iceland which provides average temperatures above freezing in the southern part of Iceland (which includes the capital and largest city, Reykjavik and Keflavik). Greenland is cold, north to south, all winter long. My conclusion is that the long dark days of winter is the chief climate "problem" for Iceland. I know I was always glad to get there in the winter from cold places like northern Germany, Scotland, etc. for a brief respite from winter in a nice, volcanic heated water hotel with nice folks and good food. Going on to Greenland and Maritime Canada was a return to (usually) brutal winter time.

Where does such as Russia rank on the alcoholic scale?

Best regards,

RA1