Midnight sunny

I'm sure they value their summers in Iceland at least as much as we do down here. Three season-appropriate beers from Einstök arrived recently, all new to Ireland.

Arctic Lager looks like a straightforward 4.7% ABV pale job but the can tells us it's dry-hopped with Citra, which should add something beyond the norm. The aroma certainly shows a pale-ale level of fruitiness, gentle rather than sharp though, with peach and lychee. A proper Citra bitterness punches through in the foretaste: lemon rind plus a certain tannic astringency. It doesn't let go of the stonefruit, however, and that lingers in the background. What's missing is the lager side. As often happens when new-world hops are involved, the crispness disappears and the drinker loses the benefit of it being a lager. Still, it's decent and flavourful, packing a lot into a modest package. I have little to complain about here.

That's an implied summer seasonal; the next one is explicit. The viking on the can is wearing sunglasses! Arctic Berry Ale is described as a "white ale brewed with bilberries", or "blueberry witbier" as one might call it more economically. I though the berries would give it a blue tint but it poured quite a plain deep yellow colour. Mind you, the aroma is packed with blueberries: sweet and tart, to the point of smelling concentrated and jammy. That sweet, slightly artificial, candy perfume effect forms the backbone of the flavour. I feel there ought to be some wheaty softness to base it on but it's surprisingly thin for 5% ABV. The underlying beer doesn't really feature as flavour or texture. It's fun and refreshingly summery, though at the same time it's a bit of a one-dimensional novelty. One could even validly level the accusation of tasting like an alcopop at it. Stolidly nordic it ain't.

Things get weirder with the final one: Lime & Juniper Pils. Our viking is wearing a bowler hat (as historically accurate as his horned helmet, in fairness) which suggests they're going for a gin-and-tonic vibe here. Instead it ends up closer to Desperados. The juniper doesn't get much of a look-in, maybe a faint perfume in the finish, and neither really does the pils: no crispness, no fresh grass. End-to-end it's sticky lime cordial. A thick biscuity base accentuates the sweetness and is what makes this a different proposition to the clean and dry Rascals lime lager from earlier this summer. While only 4.8% ABV it feels much heavier, a lot more like an ale than a lager. This doubles down on the problems found in the Arctic Lager above.

Given that Einstök's beers are produced in a big factory which mostly churns out lager, it's strange that they don't seem to have got it right. Their reliable and unfussy porter remains the best thing they make, and possibly also the cleanest and most lager-like. Go figure.