Tales of the Table · Lost Tables · Before Beer Day
Bring your own bottle: how Reykjavík partied before beer
Beer was illegal in Iceland until 1 March 1989. So how did Reykjavík go out for the night before that?
For decades many of the big dance halls served no alcohol at all. At the Good Templars' hall by the pond – Gúttó – the dances were strictly dry, and stewards are said to have searched guests for smuggled bottles. On the top floor of the dairy building on Laugavegur, Mjólkurstöðin, guests simply brought their own. Even Þórscafé, the hottest hall of its day, only got a liquor licence around 1976.
Then, in November 1983, Gaukur á Stöng opened on Tryggvagata – by many accounts Iceland's first pub. It served “bjórlíki”: pilsner mixed with vodka and other spirits to about 5% strength. Bjórlíki was banned in the autumn of 1985.
On 1 March 1989 real beer finally became legal, and Icelanders still celebrate Beer Day every year. Gaukurinn, as it's now called, is still going – which makes this one lost era, not a lost table.
Sources: