Beer is a popular drink choice among Icelanders, so it may surprise you that beer was illegal for quite a while. At first, in 1915, Iceland prohibited all alcohol, but in 1921, the ban on red and rosé Spanish and Portuguese wines was lifted, because Spain threatened to stop importing Iceland’s salted cod, which was the country’s biggest export. Later, prohibition became even less strict and from 1935 to 1989, it applied only to beer with more than 2.25 percent alcohol content. When after 74 years, on the 1st of March, the beer ban was finally lifted, that day was marked as Beer Day or Bjordagur in Icelandic.