Any idea why beer was illegal for so long? Did that also apply to other alcohol or just beer?

Prohibition in Iceland which went into effect in 1915 and lasted until st of March 1989

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31622038

Nice, my birthday is March 1st! Booking tickets to Iceland :)

Thanks

interesting contrast to russia, where beer wasn't even classified as alcohol until 2011

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-14232970

The things people will turn into virtues to signal.

"Wine is okay! Beer is unpatriotic!"

I had a few decent beers in Iceland - some good breweries there.

70 years of sobriety for the descendents of vikings.

I lived in Iceland in 1984-85. I was told they thought if beer was legal people would drink too much. Little did they know...

During this time bars would serve beer with a side spigot that would inject some alcohol (I think Brenevin) into it.

In those days, if you knew the right people you could always get bottled (canned) European beer.

Wine got a pass because Spain, the biggest purchaser of our fish at the time, threatened to stop trading with us if we banned wine since most of it was imported from there.

That's a misconception. Beer and stuff like cider was just a separate tax group from all other alcohol. Regulations like public and underage drinking still applied.

yet their national liquor tastes like betty ford's nail polish remover

Banning alcohol just flat never works. Humans gonna human.