Icelanders make beer from peas and red cabbage

Just hours after its launch, beer brewed from canned peas and pickled red cabbage sold out in Iceland, perfect for the Christmas holidays and New Year's Eve celebrations on the Atlantic island. A recipe for a frothy drink called Ora jólabjór from a small brewery in Reykjavík, it is based on two basic Icelandic ingredients, which are traditionally served for the main course on Christmas Eve in the form of a smoked leg of lamb with potatoes. The AFP agency wrote about it. 5.2 degree pea and cabbage beer is the latest fruit of Valgeir Valgeirsson's rich imagination, the company's main brewer RVK Brewing. He has already distinguished himself with beers brewed from algae, the base of a Christmas tree or even dried fish. "That was weird," admits the 41-year-old Icelander with a salt-and-pepper beard. During the various stages of preparation of the new beer, cabbage and peas were mixed with, among other things, barley malt, hops and cloves. The small brewery brews a maximum of 50,000 liters of beer a year, which is a modest dose compared to the oceans of beer from the breweries of the world's giants. The Christmas special has sold almost six thousand liters in a few hours. The first batch, which was only available on the Internet, of course through a state-owned company that has a monopoly on alcohol on the island, sold out in six hours, followed by another batch of 18,000 cans. Which, in total, already represents more than a tenth of the brewery's year-round sales. It was all born from an improvised idea half a year ago. "The challenge was what I was looking for then," says Valgeirsson. He has teamed up with the country's leading food producer, Ora, which sells canned Christmas vegetables. The connection may not be very tempting, but for Icelanders it is part of the Christmas symbolism, which dates back to a time when it was difficult to find fresh products, especially in winter.