Cold beer

BBC News - Why Iceland banned beer

Here's quite a long article on Iceland's odd history of alcohol control, including full strength beer being banned for most of the 20th century.

For amusement, here are some more peculiar drinks from the island:

• Brennivin - a clear schnapps, made from fermented grain or potato mash and flavoured with caraway; also known as Black Death, which one Icelandic blogger
  says "explains a lot". She continues: "Many Icelanders never touch it,
  and a majority of the ones who drink it only do so when feeling
  patriotic, such as... when trying to impress foreign visitors."
• Whale beer - the Icelandic micro-brewery
  Stedji has produced a number of ales flavoured with different parts of
  whale, including Hvalur 2, a brew infused with dried whale testicles; Stedji's beer has proved popular in Iceland, although the company has been criticised by conservationists