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

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 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 Saku near

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

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. Th ...

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

Olvi Olvi plc (, ) is a Finland, Finnish brewery and soft drinks company founded in 1878 by the brewer Williams Gideon Åberg and his wife Onni. It currently holds 18.7% of Finland's market share in beverages, making it the third-largest producer of b ...

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

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 Populated places in Estonia, small borough () in Lääne-Viru County, in northern Estonia. It is located about 10 km northwest of the town of Rakvere, by the Tallinn–Narva (Tallinn–Saint Petersburg) road (part of Europea ...

Lääne-Viru County Lääne-Viru County ( 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. Lääne-Viru borders Id ...

. It housed Viru Brewery until 2020 and is now the main production site of Finland's Pyynikin Brewing Company. 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 as far south ...

and other plants such as sweet gale, 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 and most populous island in Estonia. Measuring , its population is 31,435 (as of January 2020). The main island of the West Estonian archipelago (Moonsund archipelago), it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hi ...

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

Craft beer

Craft beer Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...

came late to Estonia, but that began to change in 2012 when Mikkeller 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 brewery, Ceres, Faxe Brewery, Faxe, Albani Brewery, Albani, Thor Brewery, Thor, Karlens Brewery, Karlens and Royal. Royal Unibrew also has a s ...

. Estonian craft brewers are favoured by a system of

progressive beer duty Progressive beer duty is a beer duty system that allows smaller breweries to pay less tax on their products. The idea originates from Bavaria in Germany, where such a system has underpinned the brewing industry and helped support local production. ...

. 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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