beer guide latvia - Labs alus

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A short history of Latvian beer
Latvians tend to pride themselves as a beer drinking and brewing nation with beer as
the national drink and so on and so forth; they are no different from any other European
nation in this aspect. In addition, the Latvian and Lithuanian word alus is amongst some
of the most ancient words meaning beer in Indo-European languages. Unfortunately
the grim reality as well as the recent history clearly shows that Latvians during the last
couple of centuries have also shown quite a keen interest in spirits and the production
and consumption of vodka in Latvia (in the terms of absolute alcohol) has exceeded that
of the beer for the last 200 years. In addition, average beer consumption pre capita is one
of the lowest in Europe, hovering slightly below 70 litres per year.
Former Aizpute
Castle pub.
Aizpute, a town
of 5500 in central
Kurzeme, it
boasted at least
30 pubs during
the second part
of 19th century.
Now there are
none.
Beer, for sure, was very important just a dozen decades ago - in the 19th century there
were several hundred small and more than 60 larger breweries in Latvia, producing beer
both for the local population as well as export to the vast Russian Empire. Riga at this
time was one of the most important industrial hubs (just after St.Petersburg and Moscow)
of the Russian Empire and that was true also with regards to brewing.
Things went pretty well until the First World War that saw most of breweries closed
and their equipment was “evacuated” to Russia in order to avoid it falling into German
hands. Of course, most of it never returned from the Soviet Russia, as newly established
Soviet state invented many reasons why it can not be handed back. And a large portion
of it was looted anyway.
Although a fresh start was difficult, things started to improve again in 1920 - immediate-
ly after the independence was gained. About 100 breweries re-opened, the future started
to look bright, despite the loss of the largest export market - Russia. Unfortunately this
development lasted only till 1925 when new anti-alcohol measures were passed that saw
70% of the breweries closing during the following years and the total output dropping by
almost 40%. Although these laws were repelled in a few years time, commercial production
of the beer was further hampered by extortionate import tax, incredibly high excise
duties (the highest in Europe during that time) and a cartel of five largest Latvian brewers
that resulted in high prices - from double to triple compared to those e.g. in Germany
during that time. It meant that average worker simply could not afford to drink commercial
beer and spirits provided much better price/drunkness ratio. This is verified by
the official statistics that shows that in 1927 only 3.5 liters!!! of beer annually per person
were consumed (15 - 25 times less than in pre-war years) in Latvia. There is no doubt the
actual consumption was many times greater, as most of the beer was produced by homebrewing.
Still, the government policies during the 1920s and 1930s can be considered as
the most severe blow to the Latvian beer industry (surpassing even changes caused by
the both World Wars) that caused most of the smaller breweries to close and paved the
way to mass-produced and boring beer.
In 1937 the authoritanian regime of Kārlis Ulmanis decided that foreign capital is not
needed in a healthy nationalist state. The most succesful businesses in all industries were
simply taken away from their owners, but at least they were adequately compensated for
their loss. Similar things took place also in the brewing industry - three breweries “voluntary”
sold their operations to the state that established a new central brewery, called
Aldaris. It is interesting that the necessity to nationalise a significant portion of the brewing
industry was explained by arguing that the beer was becoming too expensive for ordinary
Latvian peasants that were the backbone of the great Latvian nation. Never mind
Former Aizpute
brewery.
Established in the
19th century, the
brewery finally
ceased operations
during the 1950s.
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