Making a business out of crafts can be regarded as a trend in the 2010s, which has conquered an attention of many via such channels as Instagram and Facebook. Silk-printed t-shirts, cotton bags with handmade embroidery, porcelain kitchenware, painted pottery made in a small studio, and many other things, like jewellery, bed linen, or an apparel have become a part of everyone’s life, stepping hand in hand with other trends like upcycling or a fair trade – parts of a sustainable living concept. which has become a bold concept, covering many aspects of everyday life. But who could have imagined that it would also touch the brewery industry, which had a well-established tradition, players, and an audience?

Making and drinking a craft beer is quite a new occurrence, which first appeared as a part of a hipster culture, attributing a beer drinking process to a guy in a chattered shirt with a tidy bird, wearing horn-rimmed glasses in the beginning of 2010s, also in Riga. A craft beer culture has also taken Riga as many other European cities, starting from just several places, it has expanded to the extent when many bars and pubs started to tailor their menu based on the supplies from small breweries, offering its clients often new tastes. The tastes are based on local beer components, like herbs or berries, these are deliberately developed by small breweries,. Later on, the beer is distributed to various sellers in town, who have their own clientele, which decides, what taste is better and what to chose.

And while it is like with the one-product brands still unclear, whether the producers will manage to survive in a competitive environment for a long time, growing into a big brewery (who knows), since it is easier for small companies to adjust to changes in the business environment, various places in Riga continue to gratify the tastes of its visitors with a never-ending choice of a craft beer. Here are some of them, which might be worth to visit.

1. Taka bar, Miera Street, 10. Opening hours are available on the webpage.
2. Laska bar, Ernesta Birznieka-Upīša Street, 8b. Opening hours are available on the webpage.
3. Pagalms bar, Kronvalda boulevard, 2b. Opening hours are available on the webpage.
4. Walters&Grapa, Miera, 41. Opening hours are available on the webpage
5. Aleponija bar, Ernesta Birznieka-Upīša Street, 22 Opening hours are available on the webpage.