Beer (

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

: ''Õlu'') has been brewed in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

for over a thousand years. The first written reference to beer in what is now Estonia dates to 1284. In Estonian, beers are often described as ''hele'' (pale) or ''tume'' (dark).

Major breweries

The Estonian beer market is dominated by

Saku Saku may refer to: Places *Saku, Nagano, a city in Japan *Saku, Nagano (Minamisaku), a town in Japan *Saku Parish, a rural municipality in Harju County, Estonia **Saku, Estonia, a small borough in Saku Parish, Harju County, Estonia *Saku Constituen ...

and A. Le Coq,ERR News. ''Roughly one third of all alcohol consumed in Estonia bought in Latvia.''
/ref> who in 2022 together possessed over 90 percent of market share. Saku was founded in 1820 in the town of

near

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

and is owned by

Carlsberg Group Carlsberg A/S (; ) is a Danish multinational brewer. Founded in 1847 by J. C. Jacobsen, the company's headquarters is in Copenhagen, Denmark. Since Jacobsen's death in 1887, the majority owner of the company has been the Carlsberg Foundation. T ...

.Saku Õlletehas.
/ref> Tartu's A. Le Coq was founded in 1807 and is currently owned by the Finnish company

Olvi Olvi plc ( fi, Olvi Oyj, ) is a Finnish brewery and soft drinks company founded in 1878. It currently holds 18.7% of Finland's market share in beverages, making it the largest Finnish-owned business in its sector. Among its subsidiaries, A. Le C ...

.A. Le Coq. ''About Us.''
/ref> Saku is traditionally more popular in north and west Estonia, while A. Le Coq has its heartland in the south and east. A. Le Coq states that it is the biggest drinks manufacturer in Estonia, while Saku states that its ''Saku Originaal'' is Estonia's most popular beer brand. Both produce non-alcoholic drinks as well as beer and

mixed drink A mixed drink is a beverage in which two or more ingredients are mixed. Types * List of non-alcoholic mixed drinks -- A non-alcoholic mixed drink (also known as virgin cocktail, boneless cocktail, temperance drink, or mocktail) is a cocktail-st ...

s. Both Saku and A. Le Coq operate brewery museums at their respective breweries. Estonia's third-largest brewery is located in

Haljala Haljala is a small borough ( et, alevik) in Lääne-Viru County, in northern Estonia. It's located about 10 km northwest of the town of Rakvere, by the Tallinn–Narva (Tallinn–Saint Petersburg) road (part of E20). Haljala is the admin ...

Lääne-Viru County Lääne-Viru County ( et, Lääne-Viru maakond or ''Lääne-Virumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is in northern Estonia, on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland. In Estonian, ''lääne'' means western and ''ida'' means east or eastern ...

. It housed

Viru Brewery Viru Brewery was Estonia's third largest brewery, and produced the Wiru, Puls, Žiguli and various other brands. It was located in Haljala in Lääne-Viru County. Production of beer was discontinued in 2020. History Viru Brewery grew out of o ...

until 2020 and is now the main production site of Finland's

Pyynikin Brewing Company Pyynikin Brewing Company ( fi, Pyynikin käsityöläispanimo Oy) is a Finnish brewery located in Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most popu ...

. The Estonian Breweries Association (''Eesti Õlletootjate Liit'') represents the interests of the two largest breweries. The Association successfully lobbied the Estonian government into reversing rises in alcohol

excise duty file:Lincoln Beer Stamp 1871.JPG, upright=1.2, 1871 U.S. Revenue stamp for 1/6 barrel of beer. Brewers would receive the stamp sheets, cut them into individual stamps, cancel them, and paste them over the Bunghole, bung of the beer barrel so when ...

in 2019. This had led to a reduction in cross-border beer sales to Finland, and an increase of sales in Latvia to Estonians. The production of once popular former Soviet Žiguli (Zhigulevskoye) beer was discontinued in Estonia by the end of 20th century.

Koduõlu

Estonia has a tradition of home-brewed beers (''koduõlu'') and farm beers (''taluõlu'') which survives mainly on the West Estonian islands. They are often flavoured with

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...

and other plants such as

sweet gale ''Myrica gale'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Myricaceae, native to parts of Japan, North Korea, Russia, mainland Europe, the British Isles and parts of northern North America, in Canada and the United States. Common names include ...

, also known as bog-myrtle. Unlike many beers, koduõlu is not boiled during the production process and is served with only natural carbonation. Pihtla farmhouse brewery on the island of

Saaremaa Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring . The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the island i ...

was originally established in 1907 and describes its beers as "cloudy, yeasty and unpredictable."

Craft beer

Craft beer Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...

came late to Estonia, but that began to change in 2012 when

Mikkeller Mikkeller is a microbrewery founded in 2006 in Copenhagen, Denmark that was originally based on the so-called "cuckoo", "phantom" or "gypsy" ethos; that is, the company did not operate an official brewery and, instead, collaborated with other br ...

brewed a custom beer for the Estonian market, called Baltic Frontier. Then one local brewer in particular, Põhjala, led the way for other Estonian microbrewers such as Lehe, Koeru and Õllenaut. By 2017 there were nearly 30 microbreweries on the Estonian market, in a country with a population of only 1.2 million. In 2021, one of the country's larger craft breweries, Tanker, was acquired by the Danish company

Royal Unibrew Royal Unibrew is a brewing and beverage company headquartered in Faxe, Denmark. Its brands include Ceres, Faxe, Albani, Thor, Karlens and Royal. Royal Unibrew also has a strong presence in the Baltic region, where it owns Vilniaus Tauras, Kalna ...

. Estonian craft brewers are favoured by a system of progressive beer duty. Producers brewing up to 300,000 litres a year pay just half of ordinary

rates. Since 2015 Põhjala Brewery has organised an annual craft beer festival called "Tallinn Craft Beer Weekend". The Estonian Association of Small Brewers (''Eesti Väikepruulijate Liit'') was established in 2013 with the aim of "developing the Estonian tradition of handcrafted beer, wine and cider and furthering the Estonian alcohol culture by providing quality products and educating the consumer."Eesti Väikepruulijate Liit. ''Liidust.''
(in Estonian)

Gallery of Estonian breweries

File:Saku Brewery.JPG, File:A Le Coq (cropped).jpg, File:A. Le Coqi Õllemuuseumi sisevaade.jpg, File:Põhjala Brewery & Tap Room 5 - Renee Altrov.jpg, File:Beer House brewery.jpg, File:Haljala alev 25.05.09 (cropped).jpg,

References

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