Estonia
Ownership: Privately held — Tallinn, Estonia, founded 2011
Known for: Estonia's most internationally recognised craft brewery. World-class imperial stouts and Baltic porters from one of Europe's newest beer cultures. Öö (imperial stout, 10.5%) is a benchmark of the style globally.
History: Founded in Tallinn in 2011 in a country with almost no craft brewing tradition. Within a decade, Põhjala's Öö and its Cellar Series limited releases were appearing on international best-beer lists alongside breweries a century older. In a market dominated by foreign-owned Estonian lager brands — Saku owned by Carlsberg, A. Le Coq by Olvi — Põhjala is the independent, locally-rooted answer. A sign of how fast a new European beer culture can be built from scratch.
