Hot drinks trends set to hit the UK in 2017

3. Icelandic fever

Moving on from the Nordic foraging food scene that has been around for a good few years (not to mention Scandi-noir dramas), it was Iceland’s success over the England football team over the summer that propelled it to greater consciousness in the UK.

The impressive Thunderclap welcome for the returning national team in Reykjavik was widely shared on social media, and was soon followed by the tongue-in-cheek ad from Icelandic native and Game of Thrones regular, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, as the face of Icelandic Mountain Vodka.

According the Davies, the country is seen as “interestingly adventurous,” and Hafþór’s high profile has helped the brand break into the big brand-led and notoriously hard-to-crack vodka market. More than 20 pallets were shipped and sold in Las Vegas for example and the Whisky Exchange has signed on as the exclusive distributor in the UK from November.

“There is this idea of Iceland pushing itself forward, it is slowly creeping in but will grow,” Davis said. “Bar tenders are increasingly experimenting with moss and birch schnapps, for example, and there is also going to be a release of an Icelandic whisky.”

Move over birch water…