Day 52, Feb 21 / Viru Beer

Day 52 / February 21

Viru Beer

A. Le Coq Brewery  /   Tartu, Estonia

A

NG

P

G

VG

O

Don’t judge a beer by its bottle.

I am friends with a mixed couple – he’s American, she’s Estonian.  Estonian-American, actually.  She grew up in Massachusetts, but she is extremely proud of her Estonian heritage.  And he has adopted her culture as well, having visited Estonia 2 or 3 times, hosting Estonian parties at their house, and exposing his friends to Estonian culture as well.

And by culture, I mean beer.  I’ve actually got another bottle of Estonian beer sitting in the fridge, awaiting a future tasting.  But tonight I sampled Viru beer, marketed as “Beautiful Beer.”

As you can see, the design of the bottle is very unique.  It is a century old design and originates from Imperial Russia; it is intended to resemble the medieval-era turrets found in Estonia.  The bottle I had actually has the signature of the original brewery name, A. Le Coq, embossed in the side.  But Viru is actually going through a slight rebranding as they expand into other markets, so it looks like they’ll be losing the signature.  Viru was first imported into the US market in December 2009.

Now for the beer – it is a light (in color and taste) pilsner style beer.  It was an unremarkable, less than average tasting beer.  It had no particular unpleasant aftertaste,  so I’ll give it a Passable grade.