What's brewing in Greenland?

The third in the series of Dr. Masters' vacation blogs.

We've heard a lot about recent studies showing that glaciers in southern Greenland have accelerated sharply over the past ten years, and that Greenland's ice cap is melting at rates not seen since the 1930s. It may seem difficult to put a positive spin on these ominous developments, but that's just what some entrepreneurs in Greenland have done by establishing the world's only beer brewed with pure Greenland Ice Sheet meltwater. The Greenland Brewhouse microbrewery, located 390 miles south of the Arctic Circle, is the world's first Inuit brewery. Founders Salik Hard and Steen Outzen use ice from small icebergs that have broken off from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Local fishermen specially select the icebergs, and tow them to the brewery in Narsaq. The ice is between 2000 and 180,000 years old, so has no pollution. The brewmeisters, conscious of the dwindling resource that forms the basis for their unique beer, emphasize that they only use ice from icebergs that have already broken off from the ice sheet and would melt anyway. Their web site states, "We are very much aware of the global warming, and it is very important to us not to destroy or use the unique inland ice, but only use the ice that have broken off."

I'm not sure if Greenland Brewhouse beers are available outside of Greenland and Denmark, but if anyone has ever quaffed one, please give us a review!

Jeff Masters