The dark-coloured beer known as a porter, although not a common drink among Latvians, nonetheless has a long history

The dark-coloured beer known as a porter, although not a common drink among Latvians, nonetheless has a long history. The careful reader of Augusts Deglavs' novel Rīga, which describes the social and cultural milieu of the first Latvian Awakening in the second part of the 19th century, will come across a passage where Pēteris Krauklītis is working the bar at his Germanicized uncle Georgs Rabemanis' party. Krauklītis has to unload boxes of beer and properly sort the bottles: porters, Muncheners, Kulmbachers, bock beers and others. Today, the Aldaris Brewery of Rīga makes a such a beer — Aldaris Porteris. Renowned British beer expert and author Michael Jackson describes Aldaris Porteris as a "liquorice-tinged interpretation" of a "strong Baltic Porter." He rates it between two and three stars out of four, a rating surpassed only by a couple of beers from the Baltic States. Cēsu Alus, Latvia's oldest brewery, also has resumed brewing a porter, according to the company's Web site. Aldaris has been brewing its Porteris continually since pre-war independence days, said brewmaster Valdis Ilguns. Aldaris was established in 1937 when the former Waldschlosschen brewery founded in 1865 but dormant since the outbreak of World War I was revived. It too was brewing a porter at the turn of the 20th century.