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Reyka Vodka Announces the World’s First Glacier Bar in Iceland

Mike Richard
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Some drinks taste better earned: Cracking a cold beer after a 5,000-foot hike; fixing a stiff Rum Old Fashioned after wrapping up the month’s TPS reports; polishing off an entire punchbowl of eggnog after the in-laws leave on Thanksgiving Day. This October, Reyka Vodka is taking that concept to a whole new level — literally.

For five days this month, Iceland’s “most Icelandic” spirits company will open the world’s first pop-up glacier bar — the aptly named Reyka Glacier Bar. Reyka Vodka is heading to Langjökull, Iceland’s second-largest glacier at 361 square miles. It also happens to be the water source for all of Reyka’s vodka. Is the whole thing an unabashed publicity stunt? Sure. Is it awesome anyway? Absolutely.

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Wine-tasting deep inside the glacier atop Klein Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland Glenn van der Knijff/Getty Images

Anyone with a love of vodka, Iceland, and very cold places can enter to win a trip to the Reyka Glacier Bar. Official details are scarce, but applicants will need to interview with the company’s ambassador. The best part, however, is that the bar will also be open to anyone, provided they can get themselves there. If you’re the adventurous sort, follow your GPS inside the Arctic Circle to 64.565653°N-20.024822°W. Once there, look for the large, orange Reyka flag and head inside for a signature Puffin Collins. They’ll be waiting for you.

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Given Reyka’s beautiful, yet bizarre approach to just about everything, this one-of-a-kind glacier bar concept is hardly surprising. The company is no stranger to thinking outside the box, relying on unique distillation processes like water drawn from lava fields and volcanic charcoal filtration. This summer, it debuted an Adopt a Puffin campaign and, seriously, who wouldn’t want to be on board with that?

As to the Glacier Bar itself, the “pop-up exhibit in the middle of nowhere” concept is hardly new. In 2014, haute couture brand Prada famously announced a pop-up “shop” (more of a sculpture, really) in rural Marfa, Texas. In 2017, 37.5 Technology debuted Cliffside Shop — a pop-up store literally hanging 300 feet in the air off a sheer rock wall in Colorado. Last year, The North Face opened a legit limited-edition store on the side of a mountain high in the Italian Dolomites. So, it’s clear that some people will travel far, far off the beaten path to see something new and unique.

The Reyka Vodka Glacier Bar will pop up between October 16 – 20, so you’ll need to hurry if you want to see it. Just know that you’ll probably have the entire place to yourself.

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