Latvian beer – Let's Learn Beer!

solidly experimental

by Ceit
August 13, 2025August 13, 2025

There’s a name I haven’t seen for a while – Arpus! They had a whole suite of fruity sours that pleased even the less enthusiastic of beer drinkers. A little surprisingly it wasn’t at Más Que Cervezas or Be Hoppy, but La Buena Cerveza. I don’t see a name on the can, but a description. A long description. Black Currant x Cherry x Blueberry x Coconut x Almond Smoothie Sour Ale. That is quite a collection of ingredients. It was the currant that sealed the deal for me, although I’m not sure if coconut in a sour rather than a stout is going to come out very well. I guess it’s common in tropical cocktails, so it’s not like there’s no established connection with fruity drinks. Piña colada anyone?

This one has a real hurry to escape as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Kind of like how I imagine that octopus, it oozes out of the can in a determined way and starts bleeding over the edge. I rush to get it in the glass and notice a very unusual amount of solids. This really is a smoothie beer! There is something like a head of lighter colored ruby red stuff in the glass in the end, but most of the product is dark movie blood red. Again, should have saved for a later holiday? It smells weirdly salty, with a hint of toasted almond. With careful sniffing, coconut also makes its presence known. There is a small nip of fruit, although I can’t distinguish them. Wow oh wow, that is one chunky beer! It isn’t hard on the throat though, which is a plus. The currant is especially present in the flavor, and probably has a lot to do with the coloring, but the blueberry is kind of hiding in the background, keeping things from getting too crazy. Even the coconut does its part to soften the blow of acidic berries. That being the case, it’s not a terribly sour beer. Being in the shitty fridge, it isn’t super chilled, it would possibly benefit from being a couple of degrees colder. But it definitely does not taste bad, and starting at a lower temperature I might have missed the interplay of the ingredients at first. I was excited for the black currant and cherry but hesitant about the addition of coconut and almond, but I must say this is a successful experiment. Another real dessert stand-in, not only not needing a food on the side, but would probably but interfered with by its presence.

Supplier: La Buena Cerveza
Price: €8.40

wake up

by Ceit
December 7, 2023November 17, 2023

It seems to me that the stouts are getting more and more extravagant, which means they are also getting more and more expensive. I guess if you want something special you better be ready to shell out. I also guess since it’s the end of the year we can treat ourselves a little bit. And if anything’s a treat, it’s a flavored imperial stout, something like vanilla, coffee and maple all together. Latvian Arpus and Michigander Transient have made something that appears gentle and subdued on the label, but might turn out to be quite the flavor bomb.

Another next-to-headless pour. Maybe I’m letting things get a little too cold. Somehow the aroma is frosty, even though it’s clearly the vanilla and maple promised on the can. It’s one of those very dark brown beers, not terrifying black, like overdone syrup. The taste is a maple explosion, with a good floor of pancake. It’s really like drinking breakfast, although there’s no scrambled eggs or breakfast sausage in the beginning. It is pretty heavy on the sweet side, without any of the savoriness or even saltiness some of the other pastry stouts have brandished. If there’s any change in the flavor over time, it’s that it gets a little more sour after a while. It still feels slick and unburdensome, much softer than you would expect from the advertised elements. Maybe I should have kept this one for a little while longer, getting closer to the end of the season with a greater emphasis on the sweet and sugary to keep your engines burning. Oh well, I’m sure I won’t be without tasty beers over the month, extra sweetened or not.

Supplier: Be Hoppy
Price: €9.50