“If you could ferment a forest, this would be it” . . . “Tastes like a tree” . . . “Woodsy natural flavor.” . . . “Taste’s like bark” . . . “A woodsy tea.” Can you guess what drink is being described? Probably not in a million years. Unless you’ve been to the frozen north.

Those are some of the comments my friends and I made at a casual cocktail hour, when we decided to open up a bottle of Björk liqueur that I had purchased on a recent trip to Iceland with Iceland ProCruises. Since the expedition cruise ship will be offering a lot of local products, I thought it would be fun to sample some of their local libations, including the drink that’s considered the best of Icelandic liqueurs.
Made by Foss Distillery in Reykjavík, Björk is flavored with fresh birch tree trimmings and birch syrup from eastern Iceland. “I wanted to capture the sensation of the bright Icelandic summer night at the moment when the rain shower clears and the morning dew sets on the birch clad hill,” says Ólafur Öm Ólafsson, one of the drink’s creators, in a booklet attached to the bottle. “I think I came pretty close.”
Even though Björk boasts an alcohol content of 27.5 percent (54 proof), those in attendance at my tasting session that day were surprised that it’s not a liqueur that makes you feel warm. Perhaps they did bottle the coolness of an Icelandic birch forest. They certainly captured the taste. One of my friends, a food scientist (yes, that’s actually what she does) described the flavor as “woodsy and spicy, not floral. It has the taste of roasted sugar.”
According to the Foss website, the drink is best served straight, on the rocks or with club soda. We preferred it with orange juice.
Next tasting? Among my other Iceland purchases were a liqueur made from moss and another alcoholic beverage that locals have dubbed “The Black Death.” Stay tuned . . .