The Icelandic Christmas Drink: Malt & Appelsín
Guðmundur Mar Magnússon at Ölgerðin mixing the famous Christmas soda. mbl.is/Sigurður Bogi Sævarsson
What's that strange brown sparkling stuff everyone's drinking at Christmas? It's called Malt og Appelsín and it's exactly that: a mixture of two classic Icelandic soft drinks, Malt, a malty sweet soda and Appelsín, which is orangeade.
You can also buy the mixture already prepared, known as Jólabland, or Christmas mix which comes in big plastic jugs. According to Ölgerðin, who make the famous Christmas brew, it has been made for 61 years.
The drink is non-alcoholic, or well, Malt actually contains 1 percent alcohol and the mixture is drunk by adults and children over the holidays to accompany the festive foods on offer.
According to Ölgerðin, the trick to the mix of Malt and Appelsin is to pour the Appelsin into a glass or jug first, and then the Malt. Otherwise the foam from the malt will overflow.
