A guest post by Quinten Taylor, Pub data and Beer scores coordinator for Reading & Mid Berks CAMRA (2023) who is on Twitter as @SirQuinno. [Photos by Quinten Taylor & Tanya Kynaston]
Baltic beers – Latvia
A couple of
months ago I was fortunate to take a break away to two of three
Baltic states, Latvia and Lithuania, in order to finally complete the
set.
Whilst it feels
like Estonia tends to be the more dominant of the three Baltics -
with its big tech sector, UNESCO-listed capital city and connections
with its Scandinavian neighbours - the two L’s have plenty to offer
and are different both to Estonia and each other. They are certainly
not just different flavours of the same thing!
Time constraints
meant that bar-hopping and boozing was restricted to the two capital
cities (that’s Riga for Latvia and Vilnius for Lithuania) but both
have plenty of options for the thirsty traveller. Let’s dive
in…this will be over two posts, with Riga as our starting point.
Background
There’s plenty
to see and do in Riga aside from drinking.
Of particular interest to
me was the huge
indoor market housed in the old Zeppelin hangars.
We
booked a food tour here which really helped get in with the local
offerings (book here)
and was excellent value in retrospect.
Nearby is the Latvian
Academy of Sciences, known locally as Stalin’s
Birthday Cake, a really striking building that’s best
seen up-close. As it’s just behind the food market, it’s easy to
combine the two.
Take a trip over the jet black Daugava River to see
the new
National
Library which is a magnificent piece of modern
architecture; an insider tip is that you can access the top floor if
you blag a visitor’s pass which affords a superb panoramic view of
the city.
Also make sure to explore the
stunning
Art Nouveau buildings in Alberta iela and Elizabetes
iela and visit the
Paul
Stradins Museum of the History of Medicine which
houses the taxidermied remains of Vladimir Demikhov's famous
two-headed dog experiment.
Beer and bars
Perhaps due to
the volume of young western European tourists, Riga has a thriving
craft beer and bar scene and it certainly presented me with plenty to
have a go at, with lots of variety if you go hunting for oddities.
The stag and hen party types are pretty much confined to a small area and
most of the bars listed below are not in that zone. Prices are pretty
reasonable, usually coming in a quid of two below British prices for
the more exotic beers, so it’s worth going high-end. Most places
are bar service – those which are table are mentioned as such.
We
ticked-off a fair few places, so I’ve added a rating to guide you
to what I think are the ‘must-do’ places if time is tight. Most
Latvians under the age of 40 speak very good English, though it
tapers off fairly swiftly above that. Usual rules apply – learn a
few key words in advance and you’ll often get a smile and a bit of
chat.
Alus Celle -
Baznīcas iela 35 Rīga
My pidgin Latvian
worked out the name of this one pretty quickly – ‘beer cellar’.
Which indeed it is, a basic place tucked away on an otherwise fairly
unremarkable street.
This is without doubt the ticker’s bar in Riga
(just look at Untappd’s loyal patrons list for the venue for the
astronomical amount of check-ins) and the owner takes pride in
sourcing some truly weird and wonderful beers from around the world.
There’s a small array of draft but the main action lies on the
shelves, which are laden with all sorts of stuff. The owner seemed intently fastidious, though perhaps that was because we occasionally
lost things in translation – he was a few years older than us and
that’s where the divide seems to be locally between those who can
easily understand English and those who weren’t brought up with it
being ubiquitous. Everything we tried here was fab.
The standout beer
was possibly my favourite of the whole Riga jaunt - Ārpus x Bereta
Peach x Apricot x Mango x Strawberry x Lemon x Maple x Smoothie Sour.
Ārpus became a bit of a go-to over the course of three days, make
sure you have at least one of theirs.
Rated 9
Alus Muiža -
45 Ģertrūdes iela Rīga
I’ll have to
hold my hands-up here and admit that by the time we did one at the
end of the night, my memory had started to go a bit goldfish at
points. I can say for sure that I didn’t find this one as immediate
as its nearby peers and the range over the ten taps was fairly samey,
albeit with a Latvian bent. Neither of our choices set the world
alight - we might have got unlucky. You’ll want to take a look
though if you’re after local beer.
Rated 6
Banshee -
Skarnu iela 11 Riga
A new craft bar,
all moodily lit and aimed squarely at the Bright Young Things of Riga
though most of the crowd on my visit were middle aged guys (rather
like me…). A sizeable line-up of 24 taps, with around a 50/50 mix
of Baltic and world brews. Ārpus Brewing seems to be a regular and
we dallied with their dangerously drinkable 12%er Peanut Butter x
Vanilla x Coffee Imperial Stout. Maybe a bit less personable in here
than some other nearby bars, but well-worth dropping in.
Rated 7.5
BEERA Bar -
Ģertrūdes iela 39 Riga
Another cellar
bar which also has a huge range of beers to try and makes for a great
double-header with Alus Celle as they are only a couple of minutes
apart. 12 taps with around 40% Baltic-dedicated alongside plenty of
bottles and cans, with a good Latvian focus. We broke our ‘drink
local’ rule to try a super Canadian Imperial Stout courtesy of
Willibald Farm Brewery. Sorry Latvia, but it was lovely and were
addicted to high abv after our stint at Alus Celle!
Rated 8
Folkklubs Ala
Pagrabs - Peldu iela 19 Rīga
Subterranean
restaurant and bar housed in old vaults. The restaurant operation is
95% of the output, but just push your way through to get a seat at
the bar along with half-a-dozen other locals – the staff are always
busy prepping drinks for the diners, so you need to use your skills
to catch them at the right time. There’s a fair beer list here with
a more traditional outlook on life. The Madonas Alus Nefiltrēts by
Madonas Alus was a farmhouse style beer, bready and chewy. Not an
essential venue but I enjoyed it and the food looked hearty, so you
might fancy scheduling grub here.
Rated 6
Lido
(Alus Sēta) - Krāmu iela 2 Rīga
Now, this isn’t
a bar as such, it’s a handy grab-and-go canteen which charges low
prices for hearty local-style comfort food. There are also four
self-service taps dispensing three beers (from their own branded
‘brewery’ and the national Ventspilis) plus a perry. Located
centrally, so be sure to eat here one evening in order to line your
stomach and save a few Euros into the bargain.
Rated 6 (4 for
beer and 8 for food!)
Labietis -
Aristida Briana 9A-2 Rīga
30 minutes on
foot from the centre, though plenty of buses go this way and
Googlemap is pretty good on the times and routes. Housed in a
courtyard, The venue name is that of the brewery – Labietis
(there’s also another bar of theirs in the Zeppelin market -
plastic glasses though, which put me off trying anything there).
We were really impressed by this one, from the friendly service
through to the quality of their own beer. 16 taps of theirs plus a
number of bottles. We decided to extend our stay and worked our way
through five of their beers, with Ķiršu Mežonis 2022 (Cherry
Wildling) being the stand-out; so good we got a couple of bottles of
it to take out and bring home. Make sure you make the effort to get
to this one if time allows.
Rated 8
Miezis un
kompānija. Vecrīga - 21 13. janvāra iela Rīga
I had high hopes
for this one as others raved about it online. It’s a bit out of the
way and isn’t at all obvious on approach, being housed at the base
of a bland modern building. This is probably the most
self-consciously ‘craft’ venue in Riga; super-modern and snazzy
inside, with fairly uncomfortable high stools that are some weird
triangular shape. 20 taps here almost all with Baltic beers to be
had. Sea Goes Radical by Nurme was a horseradish gose, which did an
admirable job. The Anticiklons by Alus darīšanas apvienība Prusaks
was much less successful, described by as tasting like “a donkey
blanket soaked in battery acid”. Very few people in on a grey
Sunday afternoon and the barmaid was a classic craft beer stereotype,
be-hatted and pretty uncommunicative (I might go as far as to say
surly, but maybe that’s unfair given the potential language
barrier).
Rated 5
Ms&Mr BEER
The Local Taphouse - 1 Maza Miesnieku Riga 1050
A new-opener with
a lot of buzz around it. Steampunk stylings, and possibly the only
pub I’ve been in which also has a whole car as well. Pretty limited
selection, with all beers seemingly brewed by Lielvārdes, a contract
brewery and neither were much to write home about. Felt more like
they were after the party topers with the music turned up loud at 5pm
on weekday afternoon - I was happy with the one. Worth a visit for
the novelty value, but this’d be a place I’d skip next time.
Rated 4
MyBeer / Mans
Alus - 10/12 Alksnāja iela Rīga
Now, this was my
pick of the bars in Riga. Up a fairly quiet street and down a few
steps, is a modern and bijou bar, ram-packed with beers from all
corners of the Baltics and beyond with every style imaginable.
Pick
of our pops was Atentāts by Alus darīšanas apvienība Prusaks, a
tomato-infused beer with a bit of salt and chilli, much like a Bloody
Mary.
And Talka by MIGLA brewery which is a garlic beer -not a thin
and reedy one like you may have tried as a novelty value as this one
is big, deep and roasty and was a real treat.
We were also extra lucky to
have Nicola as our server for the evening who was an absolute joy to
share beer and chat with – full of recommendations and really made
a huge effort for us to get stuff we’d like. Stayed far longer than
intended and even then it was a wrench to leave.
Rated 10
Sidērija -
Peldu iela 24 Rīga
The name should
give you a clue – this is a cider bar! A neat place with few
pretensions. They also own a cidery (Mūrbūdu Sidra Darītava) and
most of the tap range is from there. Over two visits (we liked it!)
we had two faves; Sidrons, which tasted like it was infused with
thyme (Google Translate is still a bit haphazard with Latvian, we
discovered) and Pussauss Apiņots Saison Sidrs, which is a cider
infused with hops which gave it a grassy flavour. Something a bit
different and should be towards the top of your visit list.
Rated
9
Two More Beers
- 9/11 Kalēju iela Rīga (table service)
Slightly
confusing in here, as there’s a restaurant operation at the front
and our request for ‘just beer’ was met by a blank stare; luckily
another staff member realised we were after the rear bar and we were
whisked there. A mid 80’s boys bedroom feel with red and black
predominating. Table service here which worked fairly smoothly. 25
taps though the beer range is fairly mainstream for the seasoned Euro
toper,with only three or four local beers. Some good bets in the
fridge, though these are at a fair mark-up compared to the draft.
Rated 6
 |
| Riga Coach Station |
After three days
in Riga, we headed-off to Vilnius, via a white knuckle coach drive
via the ever-reliable FlixBus. If you’re thinking of doing the
same, coaches leave from the station on the bank opposite to the
Zeppelin market. It’s very easy to access and simple to navigate. I
hope that’s whetted your appetite for a visit - Lithuanian
adventures will follow in a later post!
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