There are some things that you just can’t go through life without — and one of them happens to be beer, and the other? Well, it’s gotta be a hot tub, or spa, am I right?! So, when I accepted an assignment to promote Blue Haven pools and spas at the Sydney Royal Easter show (back in 2007) where I had to literally do a live cross from a spa jacuzzi tub, I never thought that I’d be finding myself a number of years later doing the very same thing (again!) but this time I’d be doing it in a foreign land, and in ICEland of all places (at the top of the world, you know, where Santa is sort of from? Close to the North Pole, for those who don’t know…)

And so here I am, about to fulfil what appears like many-a-mans dream — having a spa, and a beer at the same time, while also bathing in the beer… ‘How is this even possible?’ you might be asking that very question, and yes, well that is a great question, and it’s even one that I asked before entertaining the idea when I was told about it. But, yes, yes it is all true… (and entirely possible), and it’s one of those ‘once in a lifetime’ sort of events where you think to yourself ‘well, I only live once, so why the hell not?’ So why don’t you just dunk yourself in a barrel full of hot beer, and just enjoy what you should be drinking, right?!

Upon arrival at the beer spa it’s like arriving at any other spa, and you’re asked to sign in, pay for your experience, and then you’re given a locker key, and a towel and you’re directed to the change rooms. If you’re coming here in the winter months, it time to get the layers of clothing off, and pretty soon you’ll find yourself in a towel, and out in a corridor looking for a vacant room with a spa.

And in case you’re a bit prudish (yes, I know — it’s perfectly OK if you are!) DON’T WORRY! You don’t actually have to bathe with other people… You see it’s a completely private experience, and you get your very own room with a spa to sit back and soak… and not drink the spa water (BEER!) (and you’re not a kid anymore, alright? So don’t try it!) Instead, why not play the role of barman for a day and pull yourself a beer? Upon craning your neck you soon realise that you are NOT alone… Oh, no… you see, there’s a beer tap right next to the bath, prompting you to think in your beer induced relaxed state — ‘Oh, it must be here to keep me company? How sweet!’ And before you know it you’re pulling yourself a beer into a pretty big glass, and after a while you start to feel as though your body is soaking more, and more as the HOT beer bubbles permeate through the water and exfoliate your skin… ‘This must be the manlier version of visiting a health spa’ I suddenly think to myself. And there are no limits to how much beer you can drink… so pour away another beer… and then another… and then… you might want to refill your glass, and then go outside for a bit of a break, and a dip in one of their outdoor spas, and just when you think that ‘you can’t take the beer outside’, it turns out that you were wrong — (you’re not in nanny state territory anymore, Dorothy!) and you can actually take the beer outside, so pour yourself another beer to take outside with you, why don’t you?

Stepping outside you soon realise that the beery goodness that’s been warming you up is quickly replaced by a cold stiff Arctic breeze rolling in off some seriously snow-capped mountains off in the distance… brrrrr! And so you hurriedly carry your beer over to the hot tub, and soon you realise that the outdoor spas are just hot water – WHAT? THERE’S NO MORE BEER in the spa?! Not, outside, no there is no beer spa water to be had, and it soon dawns on you that the beer spa is just an indoor thing it would seem, so rather than ‘cry over spilt beer’, you climb into the hot tub, and warm up quickly before the wind gets your face in a cold and brutal smack, and you dunk your head under the water to warm up. Get warm in the spa… and quickly take another sip of the beer.

Ahhhhh, so exfoliate your skin with the hot, and naturally mineralised waters of Iceland’s geothermal mass, and relax even more whilst taking in the stunning views of the mountains ‘off over there’. Oh, you don’t want to look directly at the mountains? That’s OK too, after all you have already broken many, many taboos today already — drinking a beer in a spa bath, pretending you’re a barman (in your own little beer-like fantasy world), and finally… the BIGGEST sin of them all… BATHING in hot beer?! OK, just go right ahead and put your back to the mountains then, why don’t cha’. But you’ll soon see that natures beautifully sculpted rockies are just reflected in the big clear windows of this facade of the building — and what is a beautiful Icelandic vista is simply inescapable… and is indeed being reflected right back to you in the glass — perfect!

This all sounds too good to be true, right? Well, yes it sort of does, doesn’t it? Combining two of the things that men love, right? But I’ll let you in on a little secret… it’s not! It’s all real, there are no catches, and there is literally nobody around to bother you (at least when I was there, and it was quiet as). So continue to bathe away, and relax… the beer is flowing, the beer is exfoliating, and the hot water from those geothermal water sources are elevating your heart rate slightly, but it’s stripping the body of dead skin and dirt — it’s removing the crap from your pores — it’s bringing cool beer into your body, and your starting to feel great.

The beer spa @ Bjórböðin in North Iceland is an experience that you simply don’t want to miss… and it is simply one of those rare, one of a kind experiences that can only be found in Iceland. So bathe… exfoliate… warm yourself up… cool yourself down… AND Repeat.

If I were to score this venue, what would I give it out of ten? I would give it a Nine Out of Ten in terms of an over all score. Simply because it was a unique venue, in a truly spectacular location, taking in incredible vistas of scenic mountain ranges, and pure remote grassy desolate landscapes (what Iceland is famous for). This is something I’ve never experienced before, and it was quirky, it was a little bit different, and is very much an idea that is now (at least in my mind) uniquely Icelandic. I call this one of those ‘brilliant’ ideas, and it’s not hard to understand why. But, why exactly? Well, to be fair to the Icelandic people their island is an ecological masterpiece, and unless you’re truly into ecological stuff, and unless you find volcanos exciting, and interesting, and unless you’re an avid photographer you might find Iceland a little small, and remote. However, if you like remote, a little rugged, and unique experiences then you’ll probably like Iceland. I say an ‘econolical wonderland’ in that it’s so photogenic (from a photography point-of-view) as the features of the landscape of this place are so unique, and different (as in you’ll probably struggle to find anywhere else on earth like it), and so this is what is truly unique about Iceland. It’s unspoilt, and largely untapped naturally beauty, and the fact that the custodians of this place have truly taken care of, and looked after this place is what makes it a sight to behold, and yes, even more so if you’re dunked into a spa, a hot tub, or a jacuzzi tub full of beer!

Iceland has plenty of natural geothermal activity occuring under their ground. There’s a lot of heat, and fiery activity going on underneath, so the earth is literally quite warm, which means when they extract bore water it’s hot, and it can be showered in, or bathed in. I’ve only been in one other place on earth that was like this, and that was in New Zealand (in Rotorua to be more precise), where the geothermal activity was such that there was also lots of activity occuring in the ground (deep down), and so hot spas, and hot tubs were all the rage, and that stereotypical ‘rotten egg’ gas smell could be smelt all over, which evidently was one of the first smells I got when disembarking from the plane when I arrived at Rykjevic airport.

So to understand why Iceland has a tourist attraction like this, you need to understand their culture, and their natural environment. One of the things they do really well in Iceland are hot springs, or spas, and the water comes (naturally) from their underground geothermal resources. This is what makes this experience distinctly Icelandic, in that they’ve managed to combine a favourite activity of visiting a spa, with drinking beer, and it’s why I’ve scored it highly (as they ticked a number of boxes — metaphorically speaking) for me.

So, what sort of beer was I drinking in the hot tub? It was actually a simple Icelandic Lager (very simple), and I didn’t manage to get a name, and to be fair I was focused more on the overall experience, than just the beer itself (as important as beer is). The taste also wasn’t too complicated from memory, and I do recall asking what sort of beer I was drinking. If you’re after any other kind of beer you may have to wait, and realise that there’s only one beer tap next to your spa bath, which makes it a bit hard asking for, and getting different kinds of beer. There is no actual bar at this place, but there is a restaurant which you can have a snack, or a bite to eat at upon the conclusion of your spa session. Remember to bring your swimming costume with you — and yes, some places in Europe do allow visitors to do spas naked, but this place did encourage you to wear some trunks, and to ‘keep the mouse in the house’ so to speak…