Estonian micro revolution starting to get big.

Last weekend, I went down to Tartu to visit fellow beer shop owner, and beer geek Karmo. Karmo owns the excellent "õllepood Nr.1". The reason for my visit, was that there was a gathering of Tartu home brewers and Karmo wanted me to help judge their beers.

                                 

"Make sure you stay overnight" said Karmo, which I took to mean that there was going to be plenty of sampling going on.

Before I did the judging, I went next door to Möku, which is a nice little bar that has recently expanded its beer range. Lauri asked me if I'd like to give his staff a brief training session about some of their new beers, which of course I was very happy to do. Beer culture in Estonia has expanded so rapidly, that more and more beers are appearing on taps and in fridges each month - with the staff needing to know a bit about them. That in itself is refreshing - staff actually wanting to know about the beer they are serving. I think it goes to show that craft beer actually has a personality, with each having its own story to tell. Mainstream generic beers are boring - they all have the same life story - which is not really that exciting to tell the truth. So we had a good chat about beer, how it's made, why it tastes like it does bla bla bla, so much so that I over-ran and was late for my date by half an hour. I could have gone on for hours more.

                                     


So I arrived at Karmo's place, and there were already people there waiting for me. It was good to see that the usual photo fit of a home brewer wasn't present here. No socks, sandals and beards, but regular guys including two smartly dressed young educated gentlemen, a biker, a DJ and me. And Karmo - who has a beard and was wearing sandals with socks.



Now I have to admit - I'm not a fan of all home brewed beers. Some are very good, some are passable, but to be honest, most are pretty bloody awful. The people who make them, have to drink them. When you've spent a good few hours brewing and bottling them, you'll drink the sweat of your labours, no matter how it tastes. And what you'll also do - is give some to your friends and ask them to try  it. I get a lot of these - with requests of "honest feedback". Most of the time, I'm not entirely honest, but forthright enough to make sure that I don't get any second bottles sent to me.

Life is too short for bad beer. So I take a sip, and if I don't like it, then it gets poured down the sink.  Which is interesting in itself. I told an Estonian friend that I pour the beer away if I don't like it, and he looked at me shocked. "But it's free" he said. "How can you waste something that is free?" he asked. Whereas my viewpoint is that if I didn't pay for it, then I'm losing nothing by pouring it down the drain.

So when I was told that there was going to be over 20 different beers to try, I tried to work out how I was going to throw away the beer I didn't like - when I had the guy who made it sitting right in front of me.

                                       

As it turned out, it was pleasantly suprising. There were 28 different beers, which at times was a bit of a chore - because not all of them hit the mark. Some of them were not, how shall I put it...."to my taste". As all the narrative was in Estonian, I did my best to work out the ingredients, and in one beer I was sure there were bananas. A banana IPA I wrote on my tasting notes. When I submitted my feedback, I was given looks of astonishment and hilarity. "What sort of bananas do you have in England?" They all laughed. The beer didn't have any banana in it at all. Shame it tasted like it did. Drainpour!

But on the whole the beers were good. Some were excellent, with one Imperial Black IPA in my opinion, being good enough to sell to the public. It was the overall winner out of the bunch, with an IPA brewed by the same brewer coming in second place.

                                       

I left Tartu smiling, not only because I had tasted some nice new beer, but because I managed to sell six copies of my book to these home brewers too. That's the hotel sorted then ;)

So what's happening in Tallinn? What's not happening in Tallinn is more to the point. Talk of the town this month is that a new beer bar called Pudel has opened up in the up and coming area of Telliskivi. I'm lucky enough to be co-owner of it, and once again I'm glad that I decided to enter the beer industry when I left University, not sell washing machines like my old man wanted me to. The great thing about being involved in small scale bars, is that you get to pick and choose what brands you sell. If you're boring and want to make a sure fire profit, you go with the major brands, and basically sell your soul to them. If you are a bit more gung ho, and want to work hard at making a profit by being non mainstream, then you get to play around with some interesting beers, hoping that the fact you are being different will bring the punters in.

                                               

Pudel has its foot firmly in the non mainstream camp. It has the largest selection of beers in Tallinn (read, Estonia) with many of the brands making their debut. Punk IPA, Baltic Frontier, Thornbridge beers are all on tap, and there are world class ratebeer 100/100 beers on the shelves in the name of Mikkeller George Cognac Edition, Nelson Sauvignon and Trappist beers from Rochefort, Achel among others.



One of the other co-owners, also happens to be a brewer. Not a kitchen or garden shed brewer, but a full on "we're gonna make so much we're gonna keg it" brewer.  They call it Põhjala, which means Nordic Territory in English. They've been putting together a few brews, sampling it (I get bottles too, and I'm pleased to say that I don't have to drain pour them), re brewing it, sampling it over and over to ensure it's ready. Ready for what? Bottling and kegging with the intention of becoming the first Estonian micro/gypsy brewed beer available to buy in Estonia. They are so intent on becoming the best, that they learnt and borrowed resource from the best. Two of the brewers spent a week at Brewdog, and then Brewdogs brewer came over to Estonia to help them put together the beer.

Next Friday, the 8th of Feb in Pudel bar, the boys will be having a launch night for their new beer. It's called ÖÖ, which means Night in English. It's a Baltic Imperial Stout coming in at 9,5% abv, and like the name suggests, is a black as the night. Look out for the Facebook invitation - the brewer from Brewdog will be coming over too, so it's a great chance to try the beer and ask questions to the guys who created it. The very cool thing is that the beer is packaged in Key Kegs, which uses compressed air to dispense. No gas enters the beer, which means you get to taste it just as the brewer intended.

Just to whet your appetite for the 7th, I managed to blag myself a bottle, and reviewed it.

It's a 33cl bottle (50cl at 9,5% abv would be too much), with a striking design on the label. It depicts a black night, with twin, vanilla coloured moons, reminding me a bit of Tatooine's binary sunset in the Star Wars film.

The pour is nice and thick, and it is at this moment when you realise that the beer is as black as the label. It comes out like a sludgy engine oil, building a thick creamy foam which is coffee cream in colour. It's the sort of head Guinness drinkers like to boast they can rest a penny on top. Except this one didn't require any nitrogen or 181 seconds to pour.

                                   
                                     
The aroma is as you would expect (if you are experienced at this game) of a Baltic Stout. Loads of roasted scents such as burnt oak, coffee, caramel, liquorice, spice, raisins and alcohol. It's worth pointing out, that the head has diminished from its original state, but is still there, almost like a vicars collar on top of the beer.

The taste is similar to the aromas you pick up - but there is a little sweetness too, almost like black syrup or molasses. It's not overly bitter, and any bitterness that is picked up is mostly from the malts rather than the hops. It's nice and smoky, and has a good depth of flavour, starting with smoke, which turns into chocolate, which then turns to dark fruits. The alcohol is there, but it's very well hidden, making this an easy 9,5% beer to drink.

The finish is smooth, but also a little salty. I'm not sure if this salt is intended, as it gives a little medicinal saline finish to the beer - which doesn't really fit in with the rest of the flavour portfolio. I'm not talking sea water salt, but just a little hint towards the end. Normal people probably won't notice it at all. Such is my curse for being a geek.

                             

The overall impression of the beer is that it's very good. It's up there in style with such luminaries as Mikkeller Black Hole, and Brewdog Alice Porter (which maybe even had the same brewer). Of course the real success story of this beer will be its loyal, Estonian fans. Estonian beer geeks have always been hunting for that really good beer made by one of their own, and now they have one. There is talk of more styles coming from them, including one called "Topelt Nelson", which is a dry hopped IPA using the Nelson Sauvin hop. Looking forward to that.

So, if you want to check out the new bar, and also check out the new beer, and also check out the brewers - then put a date in your diary/iphone/Samsung for the 8th of Feb. Check out Pudel Baar on Facebook for further updates. This stuff is great in bottle, but I suspect it will reach another level on tap.

The glass is always cleaner on the other side...

I went to a pub the other day, ordered a draught beer and it was served to me in a Weston's cider glass.  Now, there's two things wrong with this. The cider glass has something called an "activator" on the bottom of it which enhances the gas in the liquid (more on this later). Basically, it makes it more fizzy. Unfortunately, I'd ordered a pint of Abbot ale - which isn't meant to be fizzy. The second thing wrong, is that it just didn't look right. I like my beer to be served in it's own branded glass.

Its a bit like sticking a Citroen badge on VW. You know it's a VW, but it doesn't look right, and the car would perform so much better with its correct badge on the bonnet.

Glasses are designed to increase or enhance the performance of your drink. Take a wheat beer glass for example. Tall, 50cl, narrow at the bottom widening at the top. It looks nice, but this design has a purpose. The width allows for the aroma to be channelled towards the drinkers nose, and also accommodates the thick fluffy head that wheat beers have.

In the UK, until the end of the Victorian era, pub-goers mostly drank out of pewter tankards, which hid the bits of sediment that used to float around in their beer. Then two things happened: dark pubs began to be better lit, and modern filtration methods started to produce a clearer drink. As newly enlightened drinkers took more notice of the clarity of their pint, the modern beer glass was born.

The first mass-produced beer glass – the 10-sided, handled pint mug – arrived in the 1920s.

                         An advert showing a typical 10 sided handled glass
                                 

After the war, it was replaced by the dimpled beer mug which was cheaper to make, made of thick glass patterned with indentations, oddly resembling a hand grenade. This design change fitted in with changing drinking habits: dark beer had acquired an unfashionable image as an old working-class man's drink, and its substitute, amber bitter, looked lovely in the refracted light of a dimpled glass.


Then, in the 1960s, the dimpled mug went into a long, terminal decline because (or so the brewers told us) drinkers preferred a lighter, straighter glass. The invention of a new type of glass, with a bulge about an inch from the top, also solved the perennial problem of straight glasses – their tendency to chip near the rim when being washed together. The bulge prevented this from happening, and the glass was called a "Nonik" (no nick) glass.

The UK only really produces two types of beer: Lager and ale. These can be served in the same type of glass. It's when you go to continental Europe, that you'll see the different types of glasses really coming into play. Belgium is a great example.

I was in Bruges a couple of years ago and walked into a tiny little bar. This bar boasted over 200 different beers - I've no idea where they put them all. I ordered a beer, and is customary in Belgium, it arrived in it's correct branded glass. That got me thinking about their storage problem. Not only do they need space to store the beer, but also (if they have glasses for each beer) all the glassware too. So I did a test. The first beer I ordered was pretty mainstream - big brewers have money to spend on glasses. The second beer I ordered, I chose a much smaller brewery from the list, and sat back to see what glass it arrived in. Lo and behold, the glass matched the beer (it was a "De Graal Tripel in case you are wondering). The next beer I had, was a "Satan Red", which also arrived in it's own glass. I was suprised about this, not because I didn't think that the glass would be available, but suprised because THEY had any available. The problem with interesting glasses, is that they get stolen.

The iconic glass from Kwak is the worlds most stolen beer glass. The glass is distinctive because it stands upright in its own wooden holder. Legend has it, that this glass was used by a 19th century coach house, and that the wooden holder was designed to fit into the stirrups of the drinkers horse so that he could drink on the move. No such thing as drink driving laws back then.

The second most stolen glass in the world is also produced by the same brewery - the Tripel Karmeliet glass is a wonderful looking item, but once again it's designed with practical intentions. It's tapered at the top to allow a big creamy head. The only thing unpractical about it, is trying to sneek it into your wife's handbag when no one is looking (although seeing as it's a very popular glass to steal - it can't be that difficult).

I actually don't serve either of these beers at Drink Bar. While they are very good beers, whoever drinks them always wants the correct glass. As I've said, these are the two most stolen glasses in the world, so I think that if I did start stocking both the beer, and the glasses, in a short space of time I'd only have the beer. And there's nothing more disappointing than if you ordered a Kwak and it came in just a regular glass. The glasses are pretty hard to come by, and although I'd get some for free on my first order, after that I'd have to start paying for them. In Belgium, is a tradition that if you want a Kwak in a Kwak glass, you hand over your shoe as a deposit. I don't want to do that either - we're a small bar and the smell of ripe feet might put people off their drink!

Beer glasses aren't always beautiful. In many traditional pubs in the UK, you'll find an unusual item hanging up behind the bar - the "Yard of Ale". A yard of ale or yard glass is a very tall glass used for drinking around 2.5 imperial pints (1.4 l) of beer, depending upon the diameter. The glass is approximately 1 yard long, shaped with a bulb at the bottom, and a widening shaft which constitutes most of the height.^[The glass most likely originated in 17th-century England where the glass was known also as a "Long Glass". It is associated by legend with stagecoach drivers, though was mainly used for drinking feats and special toasts.Drinking a yard glass full of beer is a traditional pub game. The fastest drinking of a yard of ale in the Guinness Book of Records is 5 seconds. You wouldn't want to be in a round with him.

There's also a boot you can drink out of.  Beer boots, or Bierstiefel, have over a century of history and culture behind them. It is commonly believed that a general promised his troops to drink beer from his boot if they were successful in battle. When the troops prevailed, the general had a glass maker fashion a boot from glass to fulfill his promise without tasting his own feet and to avoid spoiling the beer in his leather boot. Since then, soldiers have enjoyed toasting to their victories with a beer boot. At gatherings in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, beer boots are often passed among the guests for a festive drinking challenge. 

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It is an old joke to hand the boot to a young novice drinker with the tip pointing away from his person, which will result in beer pouring over the drinker's face uncontrollably when air enters the tip Experienced drinkers always point the tip towards their body until the glass is sufficiently drained. It's the same with a yard - an experienced drinker will rotate the glass, to prevent the beer coming up from the bottom of the bubble and drenching them.

The general rule is that if it's a lager, then a regular nonic glass can be used. If it's a Pilsner, then it's best to use a Pilsner style glass which gradually taper outwards to let all those aromas out. Weiss beer is the same. If you're going to be drinking an ale, again a nonic or straight sided tulip glass can be used. No need for a stemmed glass - because the ale isn't going to be cold. The darker the beer, the more aroma you want to get from it. You might want to think about using a glass similar to what Chimay use. This allows for maximum air to get into the glass, and maximum aroma to come out. And if it's a very strong beer, you might want to think about using a smaller glass. Quite often, the stronger beers come in 33cl or even 25cl bottles. Something to sip and not gulp down is the order of the day here.

While lots of glassware dates back to tradition, there has been lots of new modern technology to help enhance your drinking experience. It is increasingly common to find pint glasses which contain markings on the base; very often these glasses are branded to one particular beer. The markings themselves are formed from small etchings which aid in allowing the gas within it to more readily release and thus preserve the head. Without the aid of these pits a regular pint glass will keep a head for only 3 or 4 minutes before appearing 'flat'.The markings come in a variety of styles ranging from a simple circular or square hatched pattern to more complicated branding messages.

                                                  An activated glass for Harp Lager.

I'm actually carrying out a consumer survey with Saku on this topic. The glass etching technology was new to them, and even though nearly every lager glass in the UK uses this system, Saku were still unsure of it's benefits.  I got some of their glasses mocked up with the Saku logo, and we're currently testing how drinkers think of the glasses compared to normal ones (go into Dubliner or Karja Kelder in Tallinn's old town and ask to take part - you'll get a free pint!). If the results are positive, then Saku will look to use activated glasses across their range. I must point out, that it's only for lager. There's no need for bubbles in ale. Here's a short video I made in my shed, proving how geeky you can get about glasses.

And keeping on the geeky theme - do you know how to spot a dirty glass in the bar? There's the obvious glass handed to you with lipstick smudges on it, but the less obvious can still mean the glass is dirty. In the video I explained about rising bubbles from the bottom of the glass showing the sign of a quality beer, but if you see bubbles on the side of the glass - then you should really hand that beer back and ask for a fresh one. The bubbles clinging to the inside of the glass, are actually trapped on particles of dirt. Yuk. You might sometimes see it on your glasses at home, because home dishwashers aren't as good as industrial glass cleaners. 

                                                 DISCLAIMER: That is not me.

Something else that ruins your beer inside the glass is milk. You should never wash a beer glass and a coffee cup in the same machine. The lactose in the milk makes the glass oily, and will kill head retention.  Same with fabric conditioner - let your glasses air dry, don't towel dry them if you want to keep the foam on your beer

A good way to identify a clean glass, is by "lacing". Lacing is the definition of the latticework of foam left on the glass after a drink has been taken. This is normally found when drinking ale, as ale is much more creamy and less carbonated than lager.  It's said you can tell how good the beer is , by counting the amount of sips (or gulps) to finish the beer.

                                    I finished this pint in 9 sips. I must have been tired.

So armed with this information - you're now going to send back any dirty glass you get served with aren't you? No, I didn't think so. Unfortunately, it's still a problem area in most bars. Many bar staff don't know the signs of a dirty glass, so will just shrug their shoulders and say that it's not their problem. Just as bar staff should be educated on which beer goes into which type of glass, they should also be taught how to correctly clean, dry and store glasses.  The main problem is, that many people still consider beer to be a cheap drink that gets you drunk. A dirty glass isn't going to prevent this from happening, so what does it matter if the glass is dirty, chipped or the wrong size? Quite a lot to my overall beer experience thank you very much. Cheers for the beer, but I won't be coming back to your bar again. 

Beer is a food. To serve it, you need a food licence and a health and safety certificate. I don't think many (although I am sure some do) serve food on dirty plates.

As Stella Artois say in their adverts "You wouldn't serve champagne in a teacup", and the more people who start to understand what they mean by this, the better. Demand more from your beer and it's glass!

I'll raise my glass to whoever starts the glass fightback!

Gourmet beer comes (back) to Estonia.

Right, after much complaining to Viru that they are ignoring their home market, they have done a u-turn and decided to make the beers available in Estonia. I got some samples last week from the sales rep. As far as  I am aware, they will be on general release from May. The price he quoted me was under a Euro a bottle. Alarm bells.

For those who don't know, Viru Olu recently revealed that they are brewing "gourmet beer" for the Danish market, and the Danish market only. They said that Estonians don't like ale and aren't ready for gourmet beers. I chuckled at this quote, because at that time of writing, I had just struck a deal with Mikkeller of Denmark, to bring their "gourmet" beers to Estonia for ale thirsty Estonians.

Doing a bit of research shows that the brewery where this is made is the Gourmetbryggeriet in Roskilde, some 60 or so km West of Copenhagen. This brewery produces quite a few beers, and has even been used by Mikkeller to brew their Christmas beer "Santa's little helper" in 2006.

I have to admit, I am still a bit confused where Viru come in. Do GB brew it under licence for them?

They are planning to release 4 different beers. 3 under the GB name, and 1 other under the Puls brand.

Here they are:



Puls "ale" (and in very small print "pale ale"). 5.2% abv

It's the same packaging as the other Puls beers - which I kind of like in an Art Deco way. I have to admit that my concerns were immediately alerted when I read that the word ale, was in inverted commas. On the back, (in Estonian) while saying that it is top fermented, it goes on to say that it's an ale style beer. The fact that it's top fermented means that it uses ale yeast, so that means that it's an ale. Ale is not a style, pale ale is a style, brown ale is a style, lambic, stout, scotch and Burton are all styles.

And a pale ale it is not. It's actually quite a deep, caramel red. A reasonable sized head, sits proudly on the liquid. And this caramel carries onto the nose. There is no smell of hops, but quite a nice sweet, toffee aroma. Not the sort of smells you'd associate with a pale ale - modern or traditional. It's almost like smelling the beer from Sillamae "Munchen". Which incidentally, is a lager. I find that this sweetness soon becomes quite irritating. If I am smelling a pale ale, I want to smell fresh hops - spicy one if its a classic pale ale, or more floral tropical fruit ones if it's a more modern style.

By the time I am ready to taste it, the head has rapidly disappeared. Another sign that there is little hops used. The taste is similar to the smell - pretty sweet, with lots of caramel flavours. Perhaps this is where the colour is from - caramel or candy sugar? Very little bitterness, and overall pretty one dimensional because of the sweetness. It's very very similar to Saku Manchester.  Mouth feel is slightly cloying and chewy. I served this at about 12c. I don't think serving it any warmer or colder would have any difference on the taste.

I'd just taken a second sip, when the wife called me from upstairs to tell me it was time to put the kids to bed, starting with changing the littlest ones nappy. I went upstairs without a second thought.  Came back downstairs half an hour later, saw the beer and poured it away.  Kind of sums it up.

Verdict: Drainpour.



Next up is "Piney".5.2% abv.

This is part of their "GB" range. Someone said that it sounds like a toilet cleaner brand. On the label it explains that Cascade and Amarillo hops are used. Brilliant! The same hops that are used in Brewdogs 5AM Saint. So it was with some excitement that I opened the bottle.

Not much aroma comes from the bottle, but it does pour a decent straw golden colour with a pretty strong head. A big sniff into the glass to get all those lovely American hops aromas (some of which should be pine - hence the name of the beer I guess), leaves you disappointed. Its that same sweet caramel aroma again. The beer is the same abv, and a pretty similar colour - is it the same as the Puls beer?

Once again the head has gone. The taste does have a little fragrance, but is lost amongst the caramel which dominates the beer. There is a suggestion of a finish, but that, like the head on the beer quickly disappears.

If you are going to do an American style beer, you have to be able to a) smell the hops and b) taste the hops. Two things that are missing in this beer. They also recommend to serve it at 6c. Odd.

Verdict: It's not bad, but those who know what Amarillo and Cascade taste and smell like will immediately disregard this beer as being not true to the style. Those who don't, will wonder what the difference between this and the Puls beer is, and also might think that American hops used in this beer are probably used in Bud too.

It's a lager next. "Bock" . 7% abv.

Gourmet strong beer on the label. Pours very thin (even in my specialist bock glass). Struggled to keep a head even for the picture. A nice amber colour. (uh oh - please, not more caramel).

Aroma is almost non existent. The taste is ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME as the previous two! The only difference is that there is more fizz on the tongue. I'm getting bored of saying it now: caramel sweetness, toffee and very little hops.  Here's the weird thing. Recommended serving temperature 7c. Higher than the ale?

Here's a picture, 4 minutes after I poured it.

Bock beer is traditionally served on special occasions. I suggest that April fools might be a good time to drink this. Or my funeral wake.

Verdict: You think I was going to continue drinking it when it looked like that after 4 mins? Woudn't raise an eyebrow if someone told me that this came from a 2L plastic bottle.  Drainpour.

And last, and hopefully not least is FinAle. Is that a play on words. Finale, meaning last? Or is this an ale for Fins? Lets find out. 6.5%

Pours a deep burnt orange, amber colour. Decent size head. Looks pretty nice in the glass.

Serve at 7c it says on the label, so I did. The result is no aroma at all. Despite being promised as described on the label, as having West Coast flavours from the Cascade hops.

I don't even need to say what it tastes like. Except this is the worst of the lot. Apart from the sickly sweet caramel flavours, there is a metallic finish. It's actually diffiicult to drink because it's so heavy and chewy. It's a sort of beer where you struggle to finish the whole glass. Again, as you can see below, intital good looks quickly disapear. GB should supply free beer goggles for all of these beers.

Verdict: What's the difference between this and the others? The name. Which actually is quite apt. It's the FinAle nail in the coffin for this particular group of beers. Felt guilty about pouring YET ANOTHER beer down the sink. So I left it on the worktop unfinished, for the Mrs to pour it down the sink in the morning. Wife drainpour.


As much as I totally commend what they are doing, I just wished that they had done their research a bit more fuller. I completely buy in to the fact that 99% of Estonia is a lager market, and that means that many of  the people drinking this beer will be trying ale for the first time. I am sure most will enjoy it - because this type of ale is more amber lager, than pale ale. Saku Tume and Sillamae Munchen drinkers will probably like this. Ale geeks like me won't like it. My main fear are those people who have seen these funny named brands on the shelf "Punk IPA, Trashy Blonde, Bishops Finger etc etc" and have wanted to try them, but have been put off by the price, name of style, so decide to try a GB beer instead. After drinking one of them, they are bound to wonder what the fuss is all about over Brewdog and Mikkeller, and go back to drinking lager instead.

If you are only aiming at a small segment of the market who like quality ales - then make one for them. Spend a bit of  money. We don't mind if the beer is more than 4€ a bottle if it's worth it. If that means using hops by the bagful instead of sprinkling them on like saffron, then so be it. If it means adding some aromatic American hops towards the end of the boil, or dry hopping for aroma - then do it. It's only going to be 1% of Estonians who don't like it, but if done properly - you never know how many new craft beer converts you might get.

But of course for every craft beer drinker who dislikes this, there is a lager drinker who will like it. And this in turn will hopefully make them feel more confident about ale, and will give them the courage to try some of the more "out there" beers currently available in Estonia. We all have to start somewhere I guess.

Still, it's early days and things can only improve. Lets hope they forgot to add the hops or something. Or that the head brewer decides to leave.

Ah well, lets all sit back and wait for A Le Coq and Saku to release their version of "ales". At least it makes the beers in Drink Bar and Shop taste even better.

EDIT: After sleeping on it (and I think I've found the cure for a hangover - drink bad beer! The more you pour down the sink, the less chance of a headache in the morning), I decided that I'd been a little harsh and possibly cruel. I don't want to be seen as the Englishman living in Estonia who shoots down Estonian beer because its....Estonian. Maybe Estonian ale is different from British ale and this is how it's meant to taste. Not everyone enjoys the uber hoppy beers such as Punk IPA, Hardcore IPA or the new style American/NZ hops which are currently en vogue. But then I thought, they've got "West Coast" and lists of American hops used in the brew in their marketing on the bottles. So I'm not being harsh. These beers are not a true reflection of the style that they are supposed to represent.  


So I'm still sticking to my original reviews. I will however look out for further reviews with an open mind. As I mentioned in a previous tweet, You are bound to think Ferrari's are great cars if you've only ever driven Fords before. I suspect that these beers will receive much acclaim from the local press, simply because they will be comparing it to the generic lagers and "ale types" that are currently on their radar. In this case, they probably think Fords are Ferraris too.

The cost of going organic.

Right, let me set the record straight! I am NOT against Estonian beers! Point taken that I generally focus on imported beers, and point taken that Saku/A Le Coq focus on beers that make them more money because more people drink them than anything else. However, my point is that if I just reviewed beers that are all the same, then my reviews would be.........all the same!

I've pointed out before that Estonian beer is pretty much driven by two brewers. I don't need to say who they are. And like all brewers, they are focussed on market share. They need it, they want it. they want to keep it. And in order to do this, they must produce beer exactly like their nearest competitior. Now, in Estonia, seeing as the market is almost 50/50, that means almost 100% of the beer tastes exactly the same. They produce a fruit beer, then They produce a fruit beer. They produce a wheat beer, then They produce a wheat beer. And so it continues. The good thing about this is: They produce a shit beer, then They produce a shit beer. What happens then is that both sets of  "loyal"  customers complain and threaten to start drinking something alternative like Stella Artois instead, and Saku/A Le Coq then decide that they need to produce something which will get their bedmates back onto their pillow.

What pleases me about Estonian beer drinkers is that they are always willing to try something new out. I guess thats the same reason why Estonian guys always have a different good looking girl on their arm each month.

I used to be in charge of deciding what beer was sold in all of the Rimi stores. When I had put some new beers (not neccessarily import beers - I was playing the game back then), on the shelves, it always pleased me that a large amount of shoppers baskets contained these new beers. Estonians like to try something new. Maybe it's because of years of communist regime, but really I think it's because Estonians buy new things because they want to say they don't like them.

It's the same in Drink Bar/Shop. If we've got something new, then I am almost certain that it will sell very well, simply because it's new. Ok -  maybe a bit is down to the marketing on Facebook etc, but I don't promote beers that I am not proud of, and I don't import beer that I don't think the Estonian market will
drink.


Of course this promotes change and drives customer expectation. If there is a lack of new products on the market, then the customer gets restless and demands something more. And the new product is going to be judged on previous products. If the product before it was good, then the bar is raised and the new product has to be of similar or preferably higher quality. If the product was bad, then the new product better be good, because the guns will be out before it's even hit the shelves.


Which brings me to a new product that Estonian brewer A Le Coq have released. Not only is it a new product, but it's a first to market for the producer - an organic beer. This is a brave move in my opinion, because organic products are very fashionable at the moment, and in most people eyes - because you can't actually see anything different, many people think its just a way of being current and in touch with the environment, while at the same time being able to charge a lot more for your product.  It's even more difficult with beer, because in essence, the producer is saying that their beer is healthy beer. So what makes a beer organic?

Beer is made from four main ingredients: Malted barley, hops, water and yeast. The first two of these ingredients are grown across the world, and it's actually these two that dictate the price of beer (if you don't include the Government taxes). If hops and barley are plentiful, then everyone can have access to the ingredients they need to make beer. If hops and barley are in short supply, then it becomes a case of supply and demand, with prices rising because of this. Last year, the UK had it's worst barley harvest in forty years due to the lack of rain. The barley failed to grow in the drought, leaving many of them unsuitable for harvest. Fertilisers were used in some cases, but the knock on effect is that fertilisers produce too much nitrogen in the barley, which means that there is too much protein in the sugar resulting in longer brewing times and erractic germination/fermentation. 


It's not just the UK either. Global production of barley was 43% down on last year. Hops too has it's problems. If the weather is too dry, the hops reacts the same way as the barley and simply can't grow. If the weather is too wet, the hops is very succeptible to rotting, and if the weather is too cold, then the hop vine will refuse to flower. And it's the flower that the brewers use. 2007 was a very dark year for hop and barley growers. Many couldn't produce the quantity of hops they wanted, which meant that not all the brewers got their quota. In worse case scenarios, the hop producer went out of business. Not only does this have an effect on price, but also taste. Brewers that had been using a specific type of hops in their beer, had to change their recipes because the hop wasn't available. This in turn affected sales, because the consumer noticed the difference. Another scary thing is that the big brewers - AB for example, cut out their risk by buying up all of the next years crop in advance. They can afford to do it, but that leaves little behind for the smaller producers, who have to fight over what is left and pay through the nose for it.

Simply put, if there isn't some intervention or help in growing these crops, then they are not going to make it. Fertilisers, and other steroids are needed to give the crops a boost in times of bad weather to ensure the farmers meet their quotas. And of course, many of these chemicals are not natural, which means they can't be certified organic.


To be certified organic, you have to use farmers who are signed up to producing hops and barley without the use of chemicals. Water too can be softened using a variety of chemicals, so if you want to produce organic beer, then the water you use in the production must also be chemical free. The yeast used in the beer is not allowed to have been used in the production of any non organic beer previously. This yeast has to be seperated from the other yeast. It's not a fun guy to be with (see what I did there?).


All of this increases expense due to a lot of factors. Yield and time being the two main causes. If you're not using fertilisers to boost growth, then it's going to take a lot longer to grow. You won't produce as much as your neighbour who is using chemicals either. And don't forget the constant fight against disease and pests. I grew some hops a couple of years ago and maintained the fact that I wanted them to be organic. I didn't use fertlisers, but used organic materials instead (fish bones), but when I had an attack of green aphids, I automatically reached for the bug spray. Fortunately I checked the ingredients before I pulled the trigger, and found out I couldn't use it if I wanted to be organic. Instead I had to resort to picking them off by hand, or use a sugar and water solution which only seemed to make the aphids more hyperactive than dead. Imagining doing this on an industrial scale?

So now you know why it's only a small quantity of beers that call themselves organic. It's hard enough producing quality beer, but very hard producing something that pushes the cost up and production scale down.


The UK has been on the organic trail for about ten years. If first started off with health foods, then premium foods - mostly meat, then just about everything including beer became organic. When I first started working for Rimi, I suggested that we should devote a small section of each category to organic produce. I was met with looks of bewilderment and questions asking what benefit if would bring to the store. Six years later and there are still very few organic products in the main retailers, and the market is still very much in it's infancy. Dedicated organic stores are growing the category, and provide wines that have been produced organically. I'm guessing that A Le Coq saw a potential gap in the market and decided to fill it.


You can get organic beers in Estonia - Shepherd Neame (Whitstable Bay organic ale), Fullers (Organic Honeydew Ale) and a few German beers are available. As is organic cider, with Westons offering both organic apple and perry. This is the first time an Estonian beer has been produced that has been fully certified as organic.

The CEO of A. Le Coq, Tarmo Noop, says that the popularity of organic products is increasing all over the world. "There are increasingly more consumers and companies that want to do something for the environment and preferring organic products is an option," said Noop when explaining the reasons why the brewery decided to launch this new beer. "As a leading Estonian brewery, we feel responsible for the development of the beer market and believe we also have to introduce the concept of organic products in the beer segment," he added. The brewery also wants its new product to be a beer that offers something new and unique that no other local brewery has done yet and to show that an organic product does not have to be expensive and something that cannot be bought in ordinary shops.
Noop explained that the malt and hops used to make Organic Beer are grown according to organic farming standards, and that the production of organic beer is highly regulated. "We have made the necessary changes in our production process and passed a thorough inspection carried out by the Veterinary and Food Board," said Noop. "As a result of this, we were issued with a special certificate for the production of organic beer"

They buy their malt from Finland and their hops from Germany. It's described as a light tasting lager, with some "oomph" from well balanced hops and a toasty flavour from the beer yeast. I suspect that the last comment might be a typo. Toasted is not one of the flavour profiles I've ever come across when describing yeast. 

So, let's see what it's like.

The bottle is actually quite nice. Organic products seem to have to carry an air about them - nothing too flashy, quite basic and reserved, but looking reassuringly expensive and, well, organic. On the label is a picture of some barley - although it's not the type of barley that is used in brewing (brewing barley is generally two row barley or 6 row barley - which have a lot more husks than the one on the A Le Coq label), but what do designers know? I actually think it looks more like wheat than barley. Maybe this barley gives a yeasty taste...

On opening, there is not the "oomph" of hops I was expecting. In fact, I couldn't really detect any hops at all. There is a faint yeasty, bread smell and quite a strong smell of sweetcorn. This sweetcorn smell is due to dimethylsulfide. I could go into this in more detail, but I suggest you have a read of this if you are interested   http://www.picobrewery.com/askarchive/dms.htm 

It looks nice. A pale straw colour with a decent sized head. It's pretty fizzy too.

So what does it taste like? Does it taste organic I hear you ask? To be honest, organic beer doesn't really taste or look any different from other beers. Because yeast gives off it's own flavours, as does hops - you aren't really going to notice anything different. Certain other organic items are different and you can tell. Eggs are a good example. Look at the yolk of an organic egg compared to a regular egg. Happy chickens lay much more yellow yolks. But at least you can be happy drinking this beer safe in the knowledge that all the aphids on the hops were removed by hand. Probably.

The taste is quite different from other A Le Coq lagers. It's certainly dry, but this dryness comes across as quite metallic. It's not a dry, bitterness you asscociate with hops, but more like heavy metals. It's quite sweet too, but the finish is of an overall, quite unpleasant metallic dryness. Strangely, it also tastes quite greasy, and my mouth was left feeling like I had just eaten a bag of cold French fries. Again, it sounds like I am saying it's bad - it's not great, but I'm very happy there is at least some flavour from the hop.

It's quite a smooth beer, and the carbonisation that we there on opening quickly settles down. The head stayed for most of the drink, making it quite easy to drink combined with the  4.5% abv.

Overall I'd say there is more hop profile than usual, but unfortunately it's all hop bitterness and no hop aroma. In my opinion, it tastes as though it's been overboiled, resulting in the DMS profile giving a skunky dogfood aroma and metallic taste. The finish leaves a stale beer taste in your mouth, and while you expect that the morning after, you don't expect it during the actual drinking. Not a bad beer, but nothing out of the ordinary.

I think it's great that A Le Coq have taken the bold decision to step out of the mainstream and into a niche market. Unfortunately, it's almost as if they are trying to do mainstream niche. It only cost me .98€ a bottle from the store.  This beer is only going to appeal to those who actually care about the organic concept. Other regular drinkers don't care if the aphids were struck off the hop with a nuclear bomb, as long as their beer tastes the same and costs the same. In this respect, A Le Coq should have gone fully organic and charged a premium price. Make the beer unfiltered, keep it unpasteurised and sell it as a "live" beer. Number it, make it collectible. This way, you are really bigging up the process of making beer, and promoting the fact that beer is special, and if produced with the minimum amount of process as possible, it can be treated, stored and matured the same as wine. You've also got to ask yourself, if other organic products are more expensive than their non organic versions, how did A Le Coq do this so cheaply?

As much as I applaud their efforts, I still can't help but think that this is just another way of trying to outdo Saku. It's not a suprise that this week, Saku have announced that they too will be producing a new beer. Not an organic one, but a beer that is named after their founder. It's a historical beer.

Same old story I am afraid.