In fact, Midsummer is the only time of the year when no customer is ashamed of buying beer in large stores, even though beer is considered a national drink. However, the year 2022 will probably prove that during the Midsummer, non-alcoholic beers are becoming more and more popular, and the desire of customers is probably really like a song – that it is not difficult to drink, that is, not to get drunk.
There is also the other side of the Aldar road – there will soon be Tērvete whiskey.
Beer Festival – the first news swallow
The 10th International Beer Festival Latviabeerfest 2022, which is included in the top ten largest beer festivals in the world, has just ended, Andrejs Šikors, the Chairman of the Board of the Beer Brotherhood, confirmed to Dienas Bizness. The beer festival in Vērmane Garden in Riga was the first post-pandemic beer festival in the world, and there was no shortage of visitors.
“About half were foreign tourists, and I am glad we succeeded. It was a pleasure for both the accommodation and the restaurants, but when it comes to the assortment, it is basically the same as before, despite the great fashion trends. Up to 90% of bearings and the rest – rows. Namely, if divided by the fermentation method – warm or cold – then nothing changes. Of course, in terms of taste, the offer changes. There are many so-called Radler beers – just beers with some juice. There are many interesting beers with an extra dose of hops and different forest flavors. Labietis should be highlighted here. They have really tried. Another trend is that the brands of antiquity are being restored, for example, Riga beer with exactly the same taste as it was once available, ”said A. Šikors.
Riga cave can be found in Egle, in the restaurant Alchemist, in the pub MyBeer. The truth is that supermarket shelves are only a small part of what can be found in pubs and breweries, and the variety is mind-boggling if you want to find something special and different from the usual light beer taste.
Both in shops and pubs
Beer brewery Labietis beer is available both in supermarkets and in their own pubs, so Dienas Bizness also asked the company’s co-owner Reini Pļaviņa about the latest beer fashions and where to go for special tastes.
“Beer fashion is just like clothing fashion. There are things that people wear on a daily basis. In the case of beer, they are lagers and rows that go well with food or just taste good and are not intrusive. The clothes are fashionable, which is not worn every day for convenience, and there is also a tongue fashion that is full of exaggeration – bitterness, strength, toast, sweetness, saturation, ”explains R. Plavins, pointing out that tongue fashion has been coming to the USA lately. and New Zealand hops and hop concentrates.
“Although they are not bitter, they are saturated, aromatic and with the indispensable growth of hops. For comparison – a classic IPA would have taken about 5 grams of hops per liter 5 years ago, today’s finest beers can take up to 50 grams of hops per liter of beer, ”says R. Pļaviņš, adding that the tongue is still tolerable because the beer itself is sweet due to a specially selected combination of less aggressive yeast and malt.
Like all Aldaris, the Aldaris brewery offers some news every year, and the first of these is the public demand for soft drinks. It is understandable that beer is needed during the Midsummer holidays and there are people who are looking for non-alcoholic beer. “This year, before the season, the Mežpils beer portfolio has been supplemented for the first time by non-alcoholic lager-type beer, which is already available on store shelves. It is brewed with caramel malt to get a similar taste character to the assortment of alcoholic beer. A wide range of US hops is used in brewing – Chinook, Cascade, Citra and Mosaic. We have always been in favor of responsible alcohol consumption, so we hope that our novelty will be useful for those who will be at the helm during the holidays and summer, ”Toms Kursitis, AS Aldaris communication specialist, told Dienas Bizness, adding that the soft beer market in Latvia is segment is more open.
Like Aldar, the novelty of this year’s sales to Valmiermuiža is non-alcoholic beer. Given that two major producers are launching such an application, I would like to ask – is it really possible to make soft beer taste like real beer? It seems that Valmiermuiža succeeds! This is evidenced by sales results. “This spring we introduced Kokmuiža non-alcoholic wheat beer with grapefruit Breeze. This is the fourth Kokmuiža soft beer taste that we will introduce in two years. The aim of Kokmuiža’s poems is to break the stereotype that non-alcoholic beer does not taste like real beer. Kokmuiža’s job lines are brewed in Valmiermuiža beer workshop in small quantities, not imported. Non-alcoholic beer is the fastest growing beer segment in Latvia and also in Europe. The sales of Kokmuiža soft drinks brewed in Valmiermuiža in the first five months of this year have been doubled compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, therefore I conclude that the buyers have evaluated Kokmuiža soft drinks, ”says Aigars Ruņģis, the owner of SIA Valmiermuižas alus.
Read the full article June 21 in the magazine Dienas Bizness!
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