The History

Björk and Birkir, our very first two products to be made, are natural products based on Icelandic birch, Icelandic water and high-quality corn spirit. The sweet birch sap is collected from the trees in the spring and made into a syrup that conveys a fresh and memorable savour. The birch sprigs in each bottle are individually hand-culled from a forest in Iceland, and add a special touch to the appearance of the product.

Our aim with Björk and Birkir is to capture the experience of a spring night in Iceland, the moment when, after rain has cleared, the dew settles on the leaves of the birch trees on a wooded hillside.

Birch has been noted in writings from as early as 1860 for its health-promoting properties. For centuries our ancestors saw it as having a stimulating and healing effect and used it for herbal treatment of various ailments. Dwarf birch (Betula pubescens) has a number of health-promoting properties, but that is not the only reason why we chose birch for the production of these drinks. The main reason is the flavour, which is unique. Icelandic birch is easily recognisable by its delicate dentate leaves and silver-hued papery bark. About a third of Iceland is thought to have been covered in birch woods when the first settlers arrived nearly 1,150 years ago, which shows that the tree had fully adapted to the windy and changeable conditions in the country. Our policy is to interfere as little as possible with Nature, and so we take the sap from the trees at the best time for the trees and collect the decorative sprigs when cuttings are made by specialists to thin the woods and facilitate natural growth.