Smiðjan Brewery in Vík was the first to sell alcohol directly to customers when it officially got its license on Wednesday, July 13.
In a statement to Morgunblaðið, Sveinn Sigurðsson, one of the founders of Smiðjan, stated that it was important for the brewery to finally be able to sell directly. A majority of the customers that visit the brewery are foreign tourists and beer enthusiasts, and now they will be able to take beer home with them more easily.
At the moment, Smiðjan just has a restaurant and bar, but they are planning to significantly increase their production to meet the rising demand of direct sales.
Smiðjan has been offering brewery tours but expressed frustration that up until now, they were not allowed to sell alcohol directly to their customers after these tours. Smiðjan has also been frustrated that getting their product onto Vínbúðin shelves also takes several weeks, meaning that customers are not getting the freshest product possible.
Iceland has, up until now, had a state monopoly on alcohol. All alcohol must be purchased at Vínbúðin, the state alcohol distributor, except for some light beer which is available in grocery stores. Alþingi recently relaxed these restrictions, leading to a boom in online alcohol sales by private retailers.
