Portland brewers heading to Iceland beer festival

Representatives from two breweries in the northwestern US city of Portland will be present at this year’s Icelandic Beer Festival in a bid to show residents of the North Atlantic island what they have to offer.

Hopworks Urban Brewery and Breakside Brewery are two of only a small number of breweries from across the globe that have been invited to attend the annual festival, which will be held on 1 March – exactly quarter of a century since beer prohibition in the island nation was brought to an end.

The brewers from Portland said they were looking forward to showing people at the festival their products as well as excited about getting some new ideas from their Icelandic counterparts.

Hopworks owner and brewmaster Christian Ettinger said Portland beers would go down well at the festival as the US city and Reykjavik were alike in a number of ways. He noted that the Icelandic brewing scene was “young and growing” while it also had a vibrant food scene – two things that were comparable to Portland.

Ettinger went on to say that they intended to share some Portland love at the festival and have enjoy the occasion.