Estonia
Breweries on the map
A. Le Coq
The A. Le Coq story begins in 1807, when a Huguenot family from Prussia started exporting London-bottled imperial stouts to Russia. To brew closer to its market, the house bought Tartu's Tivoli brewery in the early 20th century, where it still operates today. Nationalised as Tartu Õlletehas in Soviet times, it regained its name in 1997 under Finnish group Olvi and grew into Estonia's leading drinks producer. Its red-brick complex on Tähtvere hill houses a remarkable six-storey beer museum in an old malt kiln, with guided tours and tastings — the great brewing experience of southern Estonia and a proud rival to Saku in the north.
Anderson's Brewery
Founded in May 2014 by two homebrewing friends, Anderson's first lived as a nomad, brewing its recipes at Genika, Tanker, Lehe, Pühaste and Käbliku, before opening its own brewery in Tartu in June 2020 with equipment bought second-hand from a closed brewery. The house philosophy fits in one sentence: beer shouldn't just quench thirst, it should surprise you, move you and make you smile. Expressive IPAs, indulgent stouts, polished pilsners and playful one-offs make up an original, balanced and consistently well-made range that has turned Anderson's into one of the rising names of southern Estonia's craft scene, best discovered in the bars of Tartu.
Pühaste Brewery
It all began in 2011 in brewer Eero Mander's summer cottage in the village of Pühaste: his first experiments delighted friends, then a string of gypsy brews, until he opened his own brewery in Tartu on 10 September 2016. Named after the village where it started, Pühaste has become one of Estonia's most creative craft breweries: precise lagers, intensely hopped IPAs, powerful dark beers, wild ales and the barrel-aged Silver Series, keenly sought by collectors. Exported to some thirty countries, the brewery welcomes groups by reservation for tours with tastings, a short walk from central Tartu — the perfect craft counterpart to the city's historic giant.
No brewery for this initial.