• tankplanker@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    My favorite fact about Iceland is that it was a dry country, with beer being banned until 1989. Home brew is limited to 2.5%.

    Strong alcohol is only really sold at state ran shops called Vinbudin hat often have weird opening hours.

    Its also very expensive, majority of the cost being tax.

    • Rob Bos@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Oh no I accidentally added too much sugar to my homebrew oh nooooo

      2.5% geez. I’m not sure my kombucha doesn’t have that much ABV.

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      Given the number of pissheads flailing about in the streets, I can only assume that the more enterprising fishermen are bringing in a fuckload of bootleg booze.

      They could be secret millionaires of course, but I doubt any of the people I saw were rich enough to be that fucked up. They don’t seem to have the local equivalent of three litres of Frosty Jacks for £4.

      • tankplanker@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Most buy their booze exactly that way or from abroad as they do in most of the Nordics.

        However the drink driving limit is very low, a quarter of the UK legal limit and they want to lower it further. Not worth the hefty fine for getting caught, I wouldn’t drink the night before driving personally.

    • Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 year ago

      Meanwhile in Germany, you were allowed to distill your own schnapps at home but only “in small amounts”. Small amounts meant less than 450 liters per year per person in the household, yes children counted.

      Since 2018, you are not allowed to do that anymore tho, but there are distilleries that accept your home-grown fruit and distill schnapps for you.

    • Bob@feddit.nl
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      1 year ago

      I have to say though, having visited Reykjavík, the beer is delicious, presumably because the water’s so nice.

    • PepeLivesMatter@lemmy.today
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      1 year ago

      Norway and Sweden are like that too. Something about the long, dark winters that makes alcoholism spiral out of control unless they clamp down on it.