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Viru 30cl

Brewed under the historic name of A. le Coq by AS Tartu Õlletehas in Tartu, Estonia. The brewery, once owned by the company founded in London in 1807 by Albert le Coq is currently owned by the Finnish company Olvi and has an eventful history, having survived through Estonia's turbulent 20th century history and supplied both the imperial Russian army and the Red Army. Estonia's history leaves one wondering about other, shadier, military collaborations but the brewery website makes no mention of this. Viru (as its just been re named, cant say its an improvement), Viru's colour is pale and clear, quite lively, with a lightly hoppy nose and fairly thin on the mouth with a shallow, clean, slightly grassy flavour rather than the sweet, rich malts evident in good Czech pilseners. It's quite gassy but not unpleasantly so. Despite the lack of depth and complexity and my slight prejudice against light lagers, this is a rather good beer and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It's very simple and clean, but tastes well made and doesn't suggest the evident low quality of the mass-produced industrial slop lagers from Anheuser-Busch and its ilk. I really couldn't find any reason to fault it as a good example of a light, refreshing lager beer. There are times in life when a light, simple, refreshing beer is just the ticket, and on those occasions this beer would certainly not be a poor choice.

Strength: 5.00% ABV
Only £1.65