Beer #402 - Leičių IPA

In my previous post I featured a Vilnius brewpub and this post features another, Alinė Leičiai. This place is clean and modern yet has some lovely touches that make it feel homely and comfortable. The brewing kit is visible through large glass windows and they have also decorated a wall by the toilets with a 'periodic table of beer styles' which is quite a nice touch. Each table in the pub has its own tap dispensing the brewery's lager - each tap has a counter so you can pour your own beer, drink as much as you like and pay for it when you leave. I've never seen anything like it before. I was more interested in what they had on the bar, where much to my surprise they had a line of hand pumps. I went for the IPA which poured a murky orangey-red colour. It had a big tropical fruit aroma but the initial flavour was far more flowery/perfumery and bordering on the bizarre. Not bad by any means, just quite different. The bitter fruit flavours were there but were dominated by that floral taste. I drank the whole pint and couldn't really decide whether it was genius or not. As an aside, my girlfriend tried the porter which was very solid. If you're interested in visiting the brewpub is located at Stiklių g. 4.

Brewery: Alinė Leičiai
Country: Lithuania
ABV: 6.2%

Beer #401 - Būsi Trečias Juodas

Following on from my two previous posts featuring a couple of mass-produced Lithuanian beers, my next couple of posts jump to the opposite end of the spectrum. Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, has a number of brewpubs with beer produced on site. The first I went too was Būsi Trečias on Totorių street. The pub is a pretty dimly lit, rustic affair but is comfortable and cosy. It offers three unfiltered, unpasteurised beers that are brewed on the premises; a lager, a dark lager and a porter. I wanted to try the porter (I was in the Baltics, after all) but unfortunately it was off so I settled for the 'Juodas' - the dark lager. I quite like a dark lager and this one was decent, some nice roasty, coffee flavour from the malt and a decent dose of sweetness. Not a world-beater but quite drinkable.


Brewery: Būsi Trečias
Country: Lithuania
ABV: 6.5%