Lithuanian microbreweries tackle the challenge of serving a new generation

“Recognition of microbrewery beer is strong – especially in larger cities – but if microbreweries fail to apply new technologies and won’t look for ways to please consumers, they may not survive. A new generation is coming and they are individualists, their understanding of bar culture is totally different, so we must also match their tastes and needs. If we don’t, who knows if all 70 of the microbreweries – as that’s about how many there are in Lithuania – will survive,” said Tomas Cesevičius, CEO of Širvėnos Bravoras and one of the creators of Dundulio Alus.

The trend of offering a wide selection of microbrews at beer bars is still going strong, but brewers are considering ways to adapt to their consumers’ changing habits. This is why Širvėnos Bravoras and Panevėžio Alus create two or three new beers every year to displace those that have already “don their duty.” Both of the breweries share a single brand – Dundulio Alus. Their best-selling brews are their IPA and Grynas beers.

The brewers enjoy experimenting, both to keep themselves engaged and to provide consumers with new flavours.

“We recently made a run of IPA Dūda. We created this beer together with beer enthusiasts from Belarus – they don’t have their own brewery, but they have plenty of recipes and ideas for beers that can be made. So we started a project together with our neighbours. We won’t make this beer forever, but it was fun to experiment,” said Žilvinas Nemeikšis, the CEO of Panevėžio Alus.