“Brewing has long been my interest and I’ve been carrying this dream in my heart,” says Marteinn B. Haraldsson, owner of the brand new microbrewery Segull 67, in the small town of Siglufjörður.
Marteinn has long been an enthusiastic home brewer, but now he is in charge of something far bigger—housed in Siglufjörður’s abandoned old fish freezing plant.
Marteinn grew up in Siglufjörður, North Iceland, according to Vísir, and will be Segull 67 brewery’s only employee to begin with—although he will have the help of friends and family. He hopes to be able to employ more people as soon as production gets up to speed. The word ‘segull’ means ‘magnet’ in English.
“To start with we will be able to brew a thousand liters at a time and are aiming for the first bottles to hit the shops before Christmas. And hopefully we’ll be on-tap here in the local area a bit before that. We will probably have a go at seasonal beers, like other microbreweries have been doing.”
The brewery’s alcohol license is already sorted and beer making can therefore begin as soon as everything in the building is ready. The brewery will have facilities to welcome guests and offer tours.
“I have traveled extensively around the world and everywhere else has more liberal alcohol sales laws than here. I would personally like to see it in specialty shops,” Marteinn says. “I think they could go a little easier on small breweries. Maybe have some sort of marque like the ‘straight from the farm’ one.”
67 has long been a lucky number in Marteinn’s family, which he wanted to reflect in the name of his company—and magnets are essential to compasses.
