Catch up time… hell of a write up above @Martinsh (and very interesting); are you auditioning for future stat attacks? Congrats on summiting Latvia.
Sadly I’ve never been to the three Baltic states. I would very much like to visit and hope to do so one day - don’t know when that will be though. I’ve been fascinated by them since first hearing about the huge human chain that @Martinsh mentions.
My stats for the three countries are appalling, to the extent that I can list every single beer I;ve had:
Some TCBW tickets are still available: Tallinn Craft Beer Weekend - Piletilevi.ee (not cheap, but there will be plenty of interesting beer, brewery list is here: www.tcbw.ee). It could be a good reason to visit Tallinn this year
Personally I don’t think these 3 should be lumped together (especially when Luxembourg got its own week). I’m not complaining, it’s just that they all seem to have a vibrant beer culture. Either I’m going to have a long entry or 3 separate ones. I might do three separate ones. So here’s Latvia (why not start with the one in the middle)?
Latvia was the last country I visited for a holiday. I was in Riga for a few days in 2017. Highlights for me were the Art Nouveau Museum, and the lovely architecture in the Old Town and beyond. I also benefitted culturally from the Latvian War Museum & the KGB Building but to say I enjoyed them sounds too flippant.
And then there were the bars. I really dug the craft beer scene, although it didn’t look like there was much outside Riga (I didn’t have time to confirm or deny this). Despite this, I don’t seem to have a lot of Latvian beers, only 18 (the fewest of all the Baltic States). Strangely two of my top five are from the widely available supermarket darlings Aldaris. So I think there’s a lot more to discover.
As far as bars/pubs/places visited, I managed to try 14 places, making it the fourth most visited country for me place-wise (next to England, Scotland and the USA). I really dug Alus Celle, which had beer from Alesmith and the then-independent Wicked Weed alongside European delights, as well as the ultra-touristy but very enjoyable Folkklubs Ala Pargrabs which had 15 or so taps of widely-available Latvian beer but did the trick.
Estonia: The only country of the three I’ve not visited. Still does pretty well on the beer front: 28 beers putting it in 17th place ahead of countries like Spain, Italy and Canada. This is basically due to the fact the I like the Estonian breweries I’ve tried & seek them out whenever I can. Some strong beers in the mix as well, the top being:
I am a big fan of Põhjala, I fell in love with them while on holiday in Finland. I’ve had 20 of their beers, less than many on here but pretty good for me. I’ve also tried 5 from Pühaste and 3 from Tanker. I’m sure I’ve only scratched the surface of what Estonian beer has to offer.
I am really, really, even more extra behind with these. So I thought I’d do Lithuania which I’ve never done.
I’ve got 31 rates, the most of the Baltic countries, however my Lithuanian rates are frozen in time and almost all from my visit in 2015. Mostly stayed in Vilnius as it was a flying visit. An amazing, vibrant place with wonderful churches, architecture and museums. (Couldn’t find the Frank Zappa statue though.) And some good bars, although I’m sure the scene has changed. Of my top 5 rates, two are meads:
I was able to visit & rate 12 places while I was there, although of course some have closed over the years. The best ones that are still open are as follows:
I highly recommend Lithuania as a destination - probably the best holiday I’ve ever taken, short though it was - and I’d certainly like to go back & do it properly.
Have visited all three of these Baltic states though only the capitals of Latvia and Lithuania, but have done a bit of travelling around Estonia, however Latvia first.
Visited Latvia, well actually it was only just Riga) November 2004 I cannot recall all of the beery places that we visited, we almost always went away in November as this is our birthday month, 14th Loz, 16th me. This time we took my mum so it wasn’t all beer. One thing that I recall was that it was a dreadful flight for the turbulence, I hated it.
I remember dragging Loz and my mum out to the LIDO Atputas Centrs which was a strange place on the outside of town, but for some reason, I didn’t rate it, though I didn’t officially join Ratebeer for another 2 years so was probably why and maybe not so strange after all . I seem to recall that we had the famous grey peas dish, it seemed very appropriate as it was a very grey and miserable day. I remember being impressed with the market which if memory serves me correctly was two former Zeppelin hangers, I recall being grimly fascinated by a fishmonger deftly dealing with some Lamprey (type of eel) with a very sharp cleaver and then handing a still twitching bag to the customer.
Latvia ovarall ratings
10
Ārpus West Coast Citra IPA 3.9
Ārpus West Coast IPA - Citra x Mosaic x Strata 3.7
We visited Lithuania (Vilnius) in March 2006, we went with good friends Bob and Claire. I have only rated one place, namely the Avilys Brew Pub which I note has subsequently closed. I recall that the river was completely frozen over it was cold and I got horrendously drunk one evening as me and Bob really went for it I was so, so ill, we had been drinking beer all day then had a bottle of Krupniks a honey liquor type drink as I recall, we had this back at the hotel between us and yes, very poorly, I could do nothing the next day. I remember a sign on the door of the nightclub opposite which essentially asked people not to enter with a gun, I think a semi-automatic or AK47 was the image. We had some great meals, I actually ate Beaver in a restaurant one evening. It was a nice city I just wish that I hadn’t got so drunk with Bob.
17 ratings for Lihuania with the top ten below. Interestingly all my ratings for Lithuania occurred during that trip in 2006 I am really, really super surprised at this as I am sure there must be so many great breweries that have cropped up since then, I really need to rectify this and would be grateful for any recomendations.
Came across shop in Northampton - Craft Beer Station - that imports Latvia craft beer and cider, as well as other alcoholic drinks. I guess it’s something to do with the similarly named shop in Riga?
So possibly of interest to anyone who’d like some Latvian ticks. I picked up three new breweries and a cidery, and then some Baltic Porters, a Braggot and a Kvass amongst other styles.
What similarly named shop in Riga ? Labietis and Valmiermuiza are breweries to pick among this lot. I intend to place an order, but haven’t done so yet
Honestly, knowing what gets called Balkan states nowadays, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were randomly included for some idiotic reason (like “having been in Yugoslavia” is).
The linguist in me is screaming WHAT ABOUT LATGALIAN!!! But he forgot about Samogitian apparently as well so don’t mind him.
Off topic quips aside. Only visited Estonia, a couple of days in Tallinn basically in April 2010, after a seminar in Helsinki, and before our flight back from Finland. The Olympic complex ruins were fascinating, the old city center that followed beautiful. A very much sub par brewpub, a few solid beer bars, and that fun pancake place, Kompressor. The kroon was still around, not for long. I reckon my dad had visited it before in a similar way in the early 90s, fairly sure I’d had some coins from before that. In any case, it was a blast, we were annoying the locals laughing to tears talking about the events of the seminar (and the brutal national drinks party that accompanied it).
Estonia
Funnily nuff, a list dominated by Põhjala doesn’t have a Põhjala No. 1!
Lithuania - know the country better than Latvia perhaps, but had the fewest beers. Shame I couldn’t attend any seminars or fests there - still have a few of friends there… Sadly, pretty much ionly had macro garbage from there. Hope to remedy that ASAP
Oh and my top list for Estonia might change slightly soon after I start adding in my backlog - the excellent folks of Anderson have made some top-notch stuff recently!
PS. Just now saw that this thread was brought from the dead. XD
. I seem to recall that we had the famous grey peas dish, it seemed very appropriate as it was a very grey and miserable day. I remember being impressed with the market which if memory serves me correctly was two former Zeppelin hangers, I recall being grimly fascinated by a fishmonger deftly dealing with some Lamprey (type of eel) with a very sharp cleaver and then handing a still twitching bag to the customer.
But he forgot about Samogitian apparently as well so don’t mind him.
