Viru Brewery was Estonia's third largest brewery, and produced the Wiru, Puls, Žiguli and various other brands. It was 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 ...

. Production of beer was discontinued in 2020.

History

Viru Brewery grew out of one of the branches of the Viru collective farm, or

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz., a contraction of советское хозяйство, soviet ownership or ...

in 1975. Originally only Žiguli beer was produced, a pale

lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storage" ...

with minimum 2.8%

abv Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

which was brewed throughout the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. During the first year, 640.000 litres of beer was produced, and in the following year more than five million litres of beer was made in Haljala.Harboes Bryggeri. ''Viru Õlu Brewery.''
/ref> In 1991 the collective brewery was formed into ''AS Viru Õlu'', and in 1992 Harboes Bryggeri A/S of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

became the biggest shareholder. Production of Christmas beer, Bear Beer and

soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...

s started in the 1990s. In 2008 Viru Brewery bought the "Puls" trademark of the former Pärnu Brewery. In February 1997, a strong light beer Bear Beer (7.5%) was licensed from Harboes Bryggeri. Later, Bear Beer was produced with up to 10% alcohol content. In 2001, the Frederik brand was introduced. New beer varieties Frederik Premium and Frederik Pilsner, light alcoholic drink Shandy (2.5%) were launched. Viru Brewery was a member of the Estonian Breweries Association (''Eesti Õlletootjate Liit'') which represents the interests of the larger Estonian breweries. In 2019 the company declared a net loss of 488,200 euros. In July 2020 Harboe Group announced that beer production would be transferred from Haljala to other Harboe breweries in Germany and Denmark, following years of financial losses.ERR News. ''Viru Õlu to stop brewing in Haljala.''
/ref> The Haljala brewery was sold to a Finnish businessman, who leased it to the

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 ...

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

.Kähkönen, Heikki
Viron pienpanimoiden kärkeen kuuluva Tanker siirtyy tanskalaisen olutjätin omistukseen
''Viisi Tähteä'' 13 September 2021. Accessed on 28 November 2021.

References

{{Reflist Beer in Estonia Food and drink companies of Estonia Breweries in Estonia

History

See also

References