IndieJānis

Its name is a double wink: "indie", for its claimed independence, and Jānis, the quintessential Latvian first name — the one the whole country celebrates at the Jāņi solstice, beer in hand. From Upespils, a hamlet in the Suntaži parish some fifty kilometres from Riga, IndieJānis brews in microbatches a rural, uninhibited craft, cited by The Brewers Journal among the players keeping the Latvian scene alive outside the capital. Pale ales, IPAs and seasonal brews circulate through the country's bars and specialist shops — proof that the indie spirit also grows in the Ogre countryside, between forests and the banks of the Mazā Jugla.