I don’t want to teach people to suck eggs but; pop into one or two of your local Eastern European shops and take a prolonged look at their beer selection.
I have been pleasantly surprised with what I’ve found, plus they have some really weird crisp flavours to try!
I’ve not really gone down this avenue, even during lockdown, as I’ve had some stinkeroos from Eastern European shops. I think the ones around me are pretty disappointing. I had better luck in Bedford, where I came across some Russian stuff as well as my only Montenegro tick.
I guess it’s the benefit of being in a more rural location with Eastern European farmworkers?
Went to the Centre Parc in Thetford and the majority of new ticks I found were Lithuanian, Latvian and Russian.
Unfortunately my Ukrainian colleague has been on mat leave because she has been known to pick me up a tick when she’s been to shops in London. Although she never did deliver on her promise of a Georgian beer.
I’ve only really begun to scartch the surface of this. Plenty of Polish shops in Crewe, and the one I visit mainly I’ve been so impressed with, I’ve added it to RateBeer. Most are bog-standard lagers of course, but I’ve also picked up things like an Irish Ale (Polish) and a Cannabis beer (Lithuanian).
As you may know, I visit Latvia frequently and my beers total there is about 300, but that didn’t stop me picking up a new beer from a shop in Burton on Trent yesterday.
I’ve not had much luck with this lately, all of the shops near me tend to stock the usual Lech, Tyskie etc. but nothing more ‘exotic’. Am moving house soon so hopefully my new area will hold more promise.
Been meaning to check out that shop. Unfortunately Soph did the deliveries in Telford this week and there’s no chance in hell she’d take a detour to pick up some Latvian lagers for me.