Beogradska industrija piva (

abbr. An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

BIP; full legal name: ''

a.d. The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", ...

Beograd Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 million ...

'') is a Serbian

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

which declared bankruptcy in September 2015. Its headquarters were in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, Serbia. The brewery was founded in 1839, although it has operated under the current name ''Beogradska industrija Piva'' (''BIP'') since January 1963. In addition to a range of

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

s, the brewery produced

soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...

vinegar Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to et ...

, and

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constitut ...

Predecessors

Weinhappl-Bajloni brewery (1839)

BIP's oldest predecessor was founded in 1839 by the Czech milling expert Johan Weinhappl from

Sremska Mitrovica Sremska Mitrovica (; sr-Cyrl, Сремска Митровица, hu, Szávaszentdemeter, la, Sirmium) is a city and the administrative center of the Srem District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the left bank ...

. It was a facility for cooking barley juice. At the time, the brewery was not in the BIP's modern location at the Mostar Interchange, but its exact location is unknown (

Vračar Vračar ( sr-Cyrl, Врачар, ) is an affluent urban area and municipality of the city of Belgrade known as the location of many embassies and museums. According to the 2011 census results, the municipality has a population of 56,333 inhabitants ...

Skadarlija Skadarlija ( sr-Cyrl, Скадарлија) is a vintage street, an urban neighborhood and former municipality of Belgrade, Serbia, located in the Belgrade municipality of Stari Grad (Old Town). Skadarlija partially preserves the ambience of ...

). After the brewery in

Savamala Savamala ( sr-cyr, Савамала) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipalities of Savski Venac and Stari Grad. Location Savamala is located south of the Kalemegdan fortress and t ...

was opened by the royal family, Weinhappl's lost market. Filip Đorđević previously purchased the equipment from Weinhappl's brewery, and founded a new brewery in 1850. He installed it in the ending section of the Cetinjska Street, which forms the atrium with

. The manually operated brewery became known as Little Brewery, to distinguish it from the Big Brewery in Savamala. It was purchased by the Bajloni family in 1880, who introduced the steam machines. It produced "Aleksandar" beer, made from thermal waters that spring out in the brewery's backyard. When Bajloni began digging for the foundations of his brewery in 1892, he discovered the bones of the mammoths and skulls of the Neanderthal Krapina man. The well is located ) under the surface. Under the brewery is a complex of ''lagums'' (subterranean galleries or catacombes), which were used as a storage rooms for the beer barrels.

Princely (Big) brewery (1840)

Architect

Hadži-Neimar Nikola Živković ( sr-cyr, Никола Живковић; 1792–1870), known as Hadži-Neimar (Хаџи-Неимар), was the chief builder during the first reign of Serbian Prince Miloš Obrenović (1817–39). Born in Voden (now Edessa, Greece) ...

designed in 1840 an elongated, large, ground floor house, built from hard materials at the corner of modern Balkanska, Gavrila Principa and Admirala Geprata streets. It was called Princely or Great Brewery, or, because it was owned by princess Ljubica Obrenović, Ljubica's Brewery. It also hosted kafana, and alarge yard. The building later hosted the

Saint Andrew's Day Assembly The Saint Andrew's Day Assembly ( sr, Светоандрејска скупштина, Svetoandrejska skupština) was the name of a Serbian parliament which was in session from (Saint Andrew's Day) to 29 January 1859 in the Great Brewery in Belgr ...

in 1858-1859 and served as the temporary theatrical scene from 1857 to 1862 after the demolition of

Đumrukana Theatre on Đumruk, or Đumrukana ( sr-Cyr, Ђумрукана), was a theatre in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Originally a customs house which was built in 1835 near Belgrade docks in the neighborhood of Savamala, it was adapted into the the ...

. It was later acquired by the Vajfert family, until the building was demolished in 1935.

Vajfert brewery (1873)

In the 1870s the area of Smutekovac in

Senjak Senjak ( sr-cyrl, Сењак, ) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia. Located in Savski Venac, one of the three municipalities that constitute the very center of the city, it is an affluent neighborhood containing emba ...

(modern

Mostar Mostar (, ; sr-Cyrl, Мостар, ) is a city and the administrative center of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is sit ...

) was purchased the land from the lawyer Pera Marković by

Đorđe Vajfert Đorđe Vajfert ( sr-cyr, Ђорђе Вајферт, german: Georg Weifert; 15 July 185012 January 1937) was a Serbian industrialist, Governor of the National Bank of Serbia and later Yugoslavia. In addition, he is considered the founder of the ...

, and parcelled. As he was a German subject, he couldn't own properties in Serbia. Instead he paid the entire sum to Marković who issued him a receipt. Vajfert then started to build the

in 1872, predecessor of the modern BIP Brewery at the same location. As soon as he was granted Serbian citizenship, Vajfert received a

deed In common law, a deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions, sealed. It is commonly associated with transferring ...

on the land. He finished the brewery and turned the surrounding estate into an exquisite garden, which hosted many banquets and parties. In 1892, city authorities organized a banquet with

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''

The brewery was opened in 1873, under the name of Đorđe Vajfert's First Serbian Steam Brewery. The entire brewery complex was completed in 1880. After it was finished, the entire structure changed the urban character of this part of Belgrade. The brewery itself was designed by foreign architects. Vajfert studied beer brewing at the College of Agriculture and Brewing near

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

. In 1892–1893, within the complex, Vajfert built a mansion which became known as Vajfert's Villa. The one-storey edifice was designed by engineer Jovan K. Ristić, in the Romantic style. It became known for its interior, richly decorated woodworks, including the central wooden staircase. Close to the villa is the vast network of ''lagums'', or underground corridors. The so-called Vajfert storage cellars, long and wide subterranean rooms, were divided into 14 sections where beer was stocked in barrels and tanks. The villa became one of the most distinguished venues in Belgrade, hosting numerous balls and receptions. The surrounding neighborhood was occasionally referred to as Vajfertovac. Vajfert's beer won golden medals at 1889 Paris World Fair, and 1900 Paris World Fair, where Bajloni won silver. Becoming one of the greatest industrialists in the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

, Vajfert owned the brewery until his death in 1937. It was then inherited by his nephew Fernand Gamberg. The factory was damaged in both

World Wars A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

BIP brewery (1963)

After the Communist takeover in 1945, it was nationalized and repaired as the 7th of July factory, while Bajloni became the Belgrade Brewery. They merged in 1950 under the name 7th of July. On 23 January 1963, it merged into the Belgrade Beer Industry (BIP), with Bezalko company. The brewery was modernized and expanded, while the only surviving part of the original complex was Vajfert's Villa. The brewery in Skadarlija was declared a cultural monument in 1967, and was operational until 1989. The spring water was bottled for drinking until the early 2000s. By 2008, the entire inner complex is abandoned and slated for demolition. However, as the project of massive reconstruction failed, the brewery became home for many coffeehouses and clubs. The

malting Malting is the process of steeping, germinating and drying grain to convert it into malt. The malt is mainly used for brewing or whisky making, but can also be used to make malt vinegar or malt extract. Various grains are used for malting, most ...

section became operational in 1965 and was the only brewery in Serbia which produced malt. The brewery's golden age was in the 1970s. By the middle of the decade, the factory was brewing 1.5 million hectoliters per year, covering over one quarter of the market in all of Yugoslavia. It invested in the most modern equipment, including the

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

control board which at that time only existed in

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

. After the collapse of the federal state in the early 1990s, the situation in the company worsened. It was especially hard-hit after a major fire in the factory in 1997.

Privatization

Failed attempts

Public bidding for the sale of the company in 2004 failed. In another attempt, in July 2007, the factory was sold to the Swedish-Lithuanian consortium. The consortium consisted of United Nordic Beverages AB and Alita for €26.5 million, for 52% of the factory. In February 2010, the privatization was terminated due to non-fulfillment of investment obligations. The clauses included not investing the additional €5.1 million, not buying off the rest of the shares and not paying taxes. The consortium also administered the properties contrary to the contract: they sold the offshoot factories in the neighborhood of

Krnjača Krnjača ( sr-cyr, Крњача, ) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Palilula. Location and population Krnjača is located on the left bank of the Danube, across the Belgr ...

and the town of

Čačak Čačak ( sr-Cyrl, Чачак, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Moravica District in central Serbia. It is located in the West Morava Valley within the geographical region of Šumadija. , the city proper has 73,331 inhabitants, wh ...

and even pawned the company's brand for a credit of €1.1 million without consulting the administrative board. In October 2012, the Privatization Agency of Serbia announced that it had won the case against the former owners, meaning they would have to pay €17 million in the name of compensation. The malting section was repaired and became operational again. In 2014, the products of the factory were beer (80%),

kvass Kvass is a fermented cereal-based Alcohol by volume, low alcoholic beverage with a slightly cloudy appearance, light-brown colour and sweet-sour taste. It may be flavoured with berries, fruits, herbs or honey. Kvass stems from the northeastern ...

(10%), soft drinks (5%) and vinegar (5%). Still, the brewery entered bankruptcy proceedings in September 2015, and officially went bankrupt in the early 2016. Belgrade Auffahrt Autobahn Prokop 8 (1 von 1)

Belgrade Auffahrt Autobahn Prokop 8 (1 von 1)

In April 2017, a Macedonian investor leased the brewery for the annual price of €900,000. Svetozar Janevski, owner of the company M6 EDEN SRB which leased the factory, and who also owns the Tikveš vinery and the

Skopsko beer Skopsko ( mk, Скопско) is the most popular beer in North Macedonia. It has 64% of the market in North Macedonia. It was the first commercial beer, the best-known and best-selling beer brand in the country. Once a "Best of Macedonia" has bec ...

brewery (both in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

), announced that the old brewery would be operational for the next two to three years until the new brewery is built in another location. He announced negotiations with the government to reach an agreement on the new location. The new investor claimed that he was not interested in just taking the highly valuable land on an excellent location, but that he wanted to revitalize the beer production. However, in early 2019 the city announced a new urban regulatory plan for the area where the brewery is, envisioning the conversion of the land from "economic" to "commercial". On 1 July 2019, Janevski broke the lease, claiming the "concept" of BIP has no future. In 2017, the brewery had a total loss of 51.5 million dinars (€435,000). The Ministry of Economy stated that the brewery would not be shut down; instead, the state made a public offer for a new lease. The process failed as no one made an offer by 15 July 2019, but production continued under the bankruptcy manager. By this time part of the complex became dilapidated and was taken out of use, reducing the factory's capacity. The ''lagums'' had not been inspected in a long time while the terrain of the complex is prone to

mass wasting Mass wasting, also known as mass movement, is a general term for the movement of rock or soil down slopes under the force of gravity. It differs from other processes of erosion in that the debris transported by mass wasting is not entrained in ...

. In 2009, a partial supporting wall was built to prevent the soil from moving while the unbuilt part of the complex became covered in overgrowth. In November 2019 the city published the detailed regulatory plan for the area, the work of urbanists Radmila Grubišić and Milica Andrejić. It anticipates the complete demolition of the entire complex and construction of the commercial neighborhood with hotels, business offices and malls. The only surviving part of the former complex will again be Vajfert's Villa, which was placed under preliminary protection. Minimal beer production in some of the new areas may be preserved for tourism purposes. One of the pre-war inheritors, the Veljković family, threatened to sue the state because the factory was not returned to them in the process of restitution. In February 2020, director of the Restitution Agency, Strahinja Sekulić, said that they decided not to return the factory as natural restitution, but instead to financially compensate the shareholders (including the Veljkovićs), as the brewery was a joint-stock company when nationalized. On 14 March 2020, an

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...

leakage was reported from the brewery. White ammonia smoke covered the area, and 18 people were hospitalized.

Selling and future

In July 2021, the brewery was offered for sale once more, for an estimated worth of 4.17 billion dinars, or €35.5 million. Offered assets include the factory complex at Mostar (), a juice factory, the brewery in

, commercial offices in

Obrenovac Obrenovac ( sr-cyr, Обреновац, ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. According to the 2011 census results, the municipality has a population of 71,419 inhabitants, while the urban area has 24,568 inhabitants. The largest Serbian th ...

Kosovska Mitrovica Mitrovica ( sq-definite, Mitrovicë; sr-cyrl, Митровица) or Kosovska Mitrovica ( sr-cyrl, Косовска Митровица) is a city and municipality located in Kosovo. Settled on the banks of Ibar and Sitnica rivers, the city is ...

and

Alibunar Alibunar (; ro, Alibunar; hu, Alibunár) is a town and municipality located in the South Banat District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Alibunar town and Alibunar municipality have a population of 2,883 and 19,780 respectively. ...

, a retail store in

Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Serbia, and is situated on ...

, and an apartment in

Budva Budva ( cnr, Будва, or ) is a Montenegrin town on the Adriatic Sea. It has 19,218 inhabitants, and it is the centre of Budva Municipality. The coastal area around Budva, called the Budva riviera, is the center of Montenegrin tourism, kno ...

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

. In August 2021 the company was sold to the only bidder, a consortium consisting of DL Holding from Hamburg, Germany, and the Serbian company Auto Čačak, for half of the originally offered price (2.09 billion dinars or €17.8 million). The new owners announced that the brewery complex at Mostar will be turned into the "most modern business park in Europe", while the rest of the company "will be further developed". The sale sparked further controversies. Members of the Veljković family continued to claim that the restitution process was not finished and that company was sold illegally. Bogdan Veljković described the entire sale process as "criminal, lawless, corruption", claiming the entire worth of BIP was €300 million. Small shareholders were also dissatisfied, especially with the low price, claiming the company's bankruptcy was forced. Investment expert Mahmut Bušatlija said that the sale was probably done for the sake of building the shopping mall on the brewery location. The company Auto Čačak also participated in many other deals with the state, selling or leasing thousands of passenger vehicles to state organs and companies, including the police (over 700 cars) and the city of Belgrade.

References

{{Reflist Breweries of Serbia 1839 establishments in Serbia Manufacturing companies based in Belgrade Food and drink companies established in 1839 Serbian brands