Riga craft beer guide: bars, breweries and what to drink
Where is the best craft beer in Riga?
Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs (Peldu iela 19, Old Town) is the most atmospheric beer destination — a medieval cellar with 12+ taps and live folk music. Labietis (Aristīda Briāna iela 9a) is the best craft brewery tap room in Riga proper. For a beer tour with a guide, the brewery visit and 5-beer tasting (€38, 2 hours) is the most efficient option.
The Latvian beer context
Latvia’s beer culture has two distinct strands. The first is the commercial lager tradition — dominated by Aldaris (Carlsberg) and Cēsu Alus, the two macro-breweries that between them supply most of the bars, restaurants, and supermarkets in Latvia. These beers are inexpensive, technically competent, and not particularly interesting. They are what you get if you sit at a bar in Old Town and ask for “a beer” without specifying.
The second strand — older in tradition and more interesting in flavour — is the farmhouse and artisanal brewing that has existed in Latvia since before industrialisation, and which has experienced a revival since the early 2010s. Latvia now has approximately 40 microbreweries producing everything from traditional dark lagers and farmhouse ales to modern IPAs, sours, and barrel-aged beers. Several of these are worth seeking out specifically.
The best craft beer bars in Riga
Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs (Peldu iela 19, Old Town)
The basement of the Folkklubs Ala building contains what is probably the most atmospheric beer venue in Old Town: a medieval cellar with exposed brick arches, a mix of local craft and commercial taps (12+), and live Latvian folk music on most evenings. The food is traditional Latvian (grey peas, smoked pork, dark rye bread) and the crowd is a genuine mix of locals, musicians, and tourists who have found their way here.
Prices are fair for Old Town — €3.50–5 for a 0.3 litre craft pour — and the food is genuinely good rather than tourist-grade. The live music makes evenings here genuinely different from the standard Old Town bar experience. Open from 12:00 daily; live music starts around 20:00.
Labietis (Aristīda Briāna iela 9a, Avoti neighbourhood)
Labietis is the most interesting craft brewery in Riga proper. Founded in 2012, they specialize in beers using Latvian and Baltic herbs, indigenous yeasts, and traditional fermentation methods alongside modern craft styles. Their tap room is in the Avoti neighbourhood near Miera iela — about 15 minutes walk from Old Town.
The beer list rotates regularly and includes their signature herb ales (often featuring juniper, heather, or meadowsweet) alongside more conventional styles. The tap room is small and serious — this is a place for people who want to understand the beer rather than just drink it. Prices: €3.50–5.50 per 0.3 litre glass.
Taka (Mazā Pils iela 1, Old Town)
A small bar in Old Town with a rotating selection of Latvian craft beers and a commitment to not charging excessive tourist prices. The selection leans toward local producers. Good standing space; no table reservation needed. A reliable option for Old Town beer exploration without the tourist markup.
Alus Dārzs (Meistaru iela, Old Town)
A larger beer garden in Old Town (open in summer) with a good selection of Latvian beers on tap. Popular on warm evenings; can get crowded but the atmosphere is festive rather than hectic. Food service is basic pub food.
Book the Latvian brewery visit and 5-beer tasting tour (€38, 2 hours)Latvian breweries worth knowing
Valmiermuiža — a brewery outside Riga in Valmiera that makes one of the best dark lagers in Latvia. Available on tap in many Riga bars (look for the Valmiermuiža sign). Their Tumšais (dark lager) is consistently excellent: malt-forward, lightly bitter, well-balanced. Not available on tours from Riga, but available on tap throughout the city.
Tērvetes — a brewery in the Zemgale region making traditional Latvian-style beers including a notable dark porter-style beer. Available in supermarkets and selected bars.
Labietis (already described above) — the most interesting Riga brewery for visitors.
Mīlestība — “Love” in Latvian, a smaller craft operation producing Belgian-influenced ales and experimental styles. Available in specialist craft beer bars in Riga.
Igate Alus — a small farmhouse brewery near Cēsis making genuinely traditional Latvian beer with local ingredients. Harder to find in Riga but worth seeking out in specialist bars.
The guided beer experience
The brewery visit and 5-beer tasting tour (€38, 2 hours) is the most efficient way to get a structured introduction to Latvian craft beer if you are not already a specialist. The tour visits a Latvian brewery, covers the brewing process and the history of Latvian beer culture, and provides five guided tastings with food pairings. Rated 4.8/5 with 130 reviews.
The beer and tasting tour through local pubs (€42, 3 hours) is a longer alternative that covers more venues and is better for visitors who want to explore multiple bars rather than focus on a single brewery. Less educational but more sociable.
Try the beer and tasting tour through Riga’s local pubs (€42, 3 hours)The Latvian beer and bread tasting (€32) is the most budget-friendly option — shorter and simpler, but a good combination of the two most distinctive Latvian food and drink products.
Honest tips for craft beer in Riga
Ask what is Latvian. In Old Town tourist bars, the tap list is often dominated by international lagers and Belgian beer brands. Ask specifically for Latvian craft beers — the bar staff will generally know what they have. “Latvijas alus” (Latvian beer) is the phrase.
Pubs crawls and Old Town bars. Old Town has many pub crawl options targeting stag parties and budget travellers — these are not where you find interesting Latvian beer. The craft beer bars listed above are separate venues with a different clientele and a different beer culture.
Supermarket craft beer. Latvian supermarkets (Rimi, Maxima, Prisma) now carry a reasonable selection of Latvian craft beers at retail prices (€1.50–3 per 0.33l bottle). This is a cheap way to try several different producers without leaving the city centre.
Pairing beer with food. Traditional Latvian dark lager pairs excellently with smoked fish, dark rye bread, and the various pork preparations of the traditional cuisine. Labietis’s herb ales pair well with mushroom dishes. The combination is worth trying deliberately rather than accidentally.
For the broader Riga drinks picture, see our guide to Riga Black Balsam. For the full food context, see our best Latvian foods guide and our guide to food tours.
Latvian beer culture: a brief history
Latvia has a brewing history that predates the corporate lager era, though you would not know it from the mainstream tap lists in Old Town tourist bars. Understanding the history helps you appreciate the craft beer scene’s relationship to what came before.
The pre-war tradition. Latvia had a functioning brewery sector before World War II, with regional breweries producing dark lagers, porters, and ales that reflected both German brewing influence (through the Baltic German cultural connection) and local traditions. The dark Latvian lager style — maltier, less hoppy than the Czech or German pilsner tradition — has roots in this period.
The Soviet period. Soviet industrial food production consolidated Latvia’s brewing into a small number of large plants producing standardised lager. The Aldaris brewery in Riga was the dominant producer, making a reliable if unremarkable light lager that became ubiquitous. Regional diversity was eliminated in favour of production efficiency. The Soviet period also brought Zhigulevskoe — the standard Soviet lager — into common circulation.
The independence period. Aldaris survived independence and remains operational, now owned by the Carlsberg group. But the post-independence period also saw the emergence of microbreweries, beginning slowly in the 1990s and accelerating in the 2010s. Labietis (founded 2012) and the subsequent generation of craft breweries brought genuinely innovative brewing — including the herb ale programme — to Riga.
Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs deserves mention as the venue that most directly connects the craft beer revival to Latvian cultural identity: the cellar bar format, the folk music programme, and the Latvian craft beer list on the same menu as traditional Latvian food created a cultural proposition that transcended pure beer nerdery.
The main craft beer styles worth knowing
Latvian dark lager (tumšais alus). The traditional Latvian beer style — amber to dark brown, malty, with low to moderate hopping and a smooth finish. At its best (Latvijas alus, some Aldaris seasonal productions, and the craft versions from Labietis and others) it is genuinely excellent: warming, complex, food-friendly. At its worst, it is merely sweet and flat. Ask for tumšais alus at any traditional bar and you will receive either the real thing or an education in the difference.
Herb ales (Labietis style). The herb ales that Labietis pioneered are their most distinctive and most specifically Latvian product — fermented beverages made with juniper, yarrow, meadowsweet, hops, and other foraged plants, following traditions that predate hops as the standard bittering agent for European beer. These beers are not for everyone: the flavour is complex, botanical, sometimes earthy or medicinal. They are also genuinely unlike anything else in European craft beer and are the product most worth seeking out specifically in Riga.
Baltic porter. The porter style — dark, rich, high alcohol, with notes of coffee, chocolate, and roasted grain — has a long tradition in the Baltic states, originally produced for export to Baltic ports from British breweries in the nineteenth century. Latvian craft breweries have revived and developed the style. A Baltic porter from Labietis or from one of the newer Riga craft producers is an excellent choice for autumn and winter evenings.
Wheat beer and pale ale. The standard international craft beer styles (Belgian-influenced wheat beers, American-style IPAs, session pale ales) are well-represented in Riga’s craft beer bars. They are made competently and are familiar to international craft beer drinkers; they are less specifically interesting in the Riga context than the traditional and herb-influenced styles.
Where to drink: expanded options
Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs (Peldu iela 19, Old Town) is the most recommended single venue in Riga for Latvian beer and food combined. The format — a cellar bar with a traditional food menu and folk music most evenings — is the most complete expression of Latvian food and drink culture in a single location. The beer list focuses on Latvian producers. The food (pīrāgi, smoked fish, traditional pork preparations, dark rye bread) is honest and reasonably priced. The music ranges from folk acoustic to more energetic traditional styles. Expect to share long wooden tables with a mixed crowd of Latvians and informed international visitors.
Labietis Taproom (Aristida Briāna iela 9a, New Town) is the production site and taproom for Latvia’s most significant craft brewery. The atmosphere is utilitarian — this is a working brewery that happens to have a taproom attached — but the beer list is the most complete available for Labietis products. Bring some knowledge of what you want to taste: the staff can guide you, but having a sense of whether you want herb ales, dark lager, or something hop-forward speeds up the process.
Bergs Bazaar area wine bars. For visitors who prefer wine to beer, the Bergs Bazaar area around Elizabetes iela has developed a natural wine bar scene since approximately 2019. These are small venues with short, curated lists focused on European natural and low-intervention wines. They are not specifically Latvian in character — Latvia does not produce wine — but they represent the same quality-conscious food and drink culture as the best Miera iela restaurants.
Seasonal beer drinking in Riga
Summer. Outdoor seating is available at most Miera iela venues, the Folkklubs Ala courtyard, and various Old Town bars. Light Latvian lagers and wheat beers are most appropriate in the heat. The Kalnciema iela Saturday market (Pārdaugava) occasionally has craft beer vendors in summer.
Autumn. The best season for Baltic porters and dark lagers, which pair naturally with the mushroom and pork preparations dominant in autumn Latvian cooking. Folkklubs Ala in October, with a bowl of mushroom soup and a dark lager, is one of the better simple experiences Riga offers.
Winter. Mulled beer (karstais alus) appears on some menus in December — warmed dark beer with spices, a Latvian winter tradition less known internationally than mulled wine but equally warming. Most Folkklubs Ala regular visitors order it at least once in winter.
Frequently asked questions about craft beer in Riga
What is Aldaris and is it worth trying?
Aldaris is Latvia’s largest brewery, now owned by Carlsberg. The standard Aldaris lager is fine — a competent commercial pilsner — and is ubiquitous across Latvia. It is not the most interesting beer you will drink in Riga. The Aldaris dark lager (tumšais) is better and worth trying for the traditional Latvian style reference.
Can I visit the Labietis brewery on a tour?
Labietis occasionally runs brewery events and open tap room sessions. Check their website or social media before visiting Riga for current events. The taproom is open most evenings without reservation.
Is Latvian craft beer expensive?
At the craft beer bars, a 0.33 litre glass of Labietis or similar craft beer runs €3.50–5. Cheaper than London or Amsterdam equivalents; comparable to other Northern European capitals. At supermarkets, Latvian craft beers in bottle are €1.50–3 for a 0.33–0.5 litre bottle.
Are there brewpubs in Riga where they brew and serve on-site?
Labietis has this model at their taproom. There are a handful of other small operations; the craft beer scene in Riga is still smaller than Prague or Copenhagen equivalents, but it is substantial enough that a beer-focused visitor can spend two or three evenings exploring different venues without repeating.
Frequently asked questions
Does Latvia have a craft beer tradition?
Yes, and it is older than most people realise. Latvia has a farmhouse ale tradition — Latvian-style kaimiškas — that predates the modern craft beer movement. Breweries like Valmiermuiža and Tērvetes have been making non-industrial beer for decades. The contemporary craft beer scene emerged after 2010 and now includes about 40 active breweries producing everything from IPA to barrel-aged sours.What is Aldaris beer?
Aldaris is Latvia's dominant commercial lager, owned by Carlsberg Group. It is the beer you will find everywhere in Riga's tourist bars — light, inoffensive, and not particularly interesting. It is cheap (€2–3 in a bar) and ubiquitous. For something more interesting, ask specifically for Latvian craft beer or look for Labietis, Valmiermuiža, or Mīlestība on the tap list.How much does craft beer cost in Riga?
A 0.3 litre glass of craft beer in a craft bar runs €3.50–5.50. In Old Town tourist bars it can reach €7–8 for the same glass. Commercial lager (Aldaris, Cēsu) is €2–3 everywhere. The brewery beer tour with tastings (€38) covers five beers plus the brewery context and is good value.What style of beer is traditional in Latvia?
Traditional Latvian beer is amber-to-dark, malt-forward, and lightly hopped — closer to a Baltic porter or a dark lager than to the bitter IPAs common in British and American craft beer culture. Many Latvian breweries still make versions of this style. Farmhouse ales with local herbs (juniper, heather, yarrow) are another traditional Latvian tradition being revived by craft breweries.
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