Beer in Slovakia ( sk, pivo) has been produced and consumed at least since the 15th century. Together with the neighbouring
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
, with whom it has a shared and intertwined history,
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
has a number of breweries and a rich beer culture.
Brews in Slovakia usually range between 3.8 and 5.0% alcohol content, and are traditionally classified by their density, or specific gravity using the Plato scale. This is the amount of dissolved solids before fermentation and tells roughly how much fermentable material (usually malted barley) was used and hints at what the alcohol content might be. Common measurements of 10° or 12° would be equivalent to 1040 or 1048 in the English "original gravity" scale. A common misconception is that this is a measure of the colour of the beer.
Since the fall of communism, most large commercial breweries were privatized and subsequently bought by foreign multinational companies. Today most are owned by either
Heineken
Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star.
History
On 15 Feb ...
or
SABMiller.
History
Modern historians agree that the consumption of beer in Slovakia started with the
pre-Slavic inhabitants and was later continued by the arriving Slavic tribes. The fermentation of beer during this early period was simple and commonly done within the household. Later, during the Middle Ages, the brewing of beer became a privilege that was granted mostly to townspeople, who were mostly members of the local City Council.
Middle Ages
In the 14th and 15th centuries, beer production was significantly extended. The most important brewing centres were mainly mining towns (
Kremnica,
Banská Bystrica,
Banská Štiavnica), towns in the
Spiš
Spiš (Latin: ''Cips/Zepus/Scepus/Scepusia'', german: Zips, hu, Szepesség/Szepes, pl, Spisz) is a region in north-eastern Slovakia, with a very small area in south-eastern Poland (14 villages). Spiš is an informal designation of the territory ...
region (
Kežmarok
Kežmarok (german: Kesmark or ; hu, Késmárk, yi, קעזמאַרק, Kezmark, pl, Kieżmark) is a town in the Spiš region of eastern Slovakia (population 16,000), on the Poprad River. Prior to World War I, it was in Szepes county in the ...
,
Levoča
Levoča (; hu, Lőcse; rue, Левоча)
is a town in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia with a population of 14,700. The town has a historic center with a well preserved town wall, a Gothic church with the highest wooden altar in the wo ...
),
Bardejov
Bardejov (; hu, Bártfa, german: Bartfeld, rue, Бардеёв, uk, Бардіїв) is a town in North-Eastern Slovakia. It is situated in the Šariš region on a floodplain terrace of the Topľa River, in the hills of the Beskyd Mountains. ...
,
Prešov,
Košice and the area south-west of present-day Slovakia (
Trenčín
Trenčín (, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a population of more than 55,000, which makes it the eighth largest muni ...
,
Trnava
Trnava (, german: Tyrnau; hu, Nagyszombat, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a ''kraj'' ( Trnava Region) and of an '' okres'' ( T ...
,
Bratislava). Especially its famous beer is brewed in Bardejov. According to legend, the Hungarian king
Matthias Corvinus
Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several m ...
used this beer for his wedding parties.
During this period there existed a brewery in almost every medieval town including the oldest existing brewery in
Vyhne Slovak. This was followed by the development of medieval craft guilds and the first brewing guild was founded in 1450 in Bardejov.
[
In 1473, alleged clandestine Knights from the order of the Knights Templar build a brewery of their own in the ]Banská Bystrica region
The Banská Bystrica Region ( sk, Banskobystrický kraj, ; hu, Besztercebányai kerület, ) is one of the eight regions of Slovakia. It is the largest region by area, and has a lower population density than any other region. The Banská Bystric ...
. This turned out to be a good choice of location, as the region was a centre for the mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...
industry and over the years the brewery would find success selling to the miners that dominated the work force of the area. Miners in the area often refer to beer as liquid bread and they often drank it while they worked.
Industrial Revolution
The situation changed dramatically in the early 19th century, when beer production in the vast majority of towns and villages were destroyed, mainly due to the "beer tax" of 1850.
Later during the 19th century, the brewing industry slowly began to recover with the help of new knowledge and technology. The arrival and implementation of the Watt steam engine
The Watt steam engine design became synonymous with steam engines, and it was many years before significantly new designs began to replace the basic Watt design.
The first steam engines, introduced by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, were of the "a ...
along with artificial cooling (Carl von Linde), as well as the work of Louis Pasteur saw significant developments in the production of beer.[
In the second half of the 19th century These new technologies gave rise to new breweries. Some examples were in Košice (1857), ]Michalovce
Michalovce (; hu, Nagymihály, german: Großmichel, Romani: ''Mihalya'', Yiddish: ''Mikhaylovets'' or ''Mykhaylovyts''; uk, Михайлівці) is a town on the Laborec river in eastern Slovakia. Originally named after the Archangel St Micha ...
(1867), Bratislava (Stein, 1873), Spisska Bela (1877), Martin Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austr ...
(1893) and Nitra
Nitra (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, situated at the foot of Zobor Mountain in the valley of the river Nitra. It is located 95 km east of Bratislava. With a population of about 78,353, it is the fifth l ...
(1896). Their production was initially not significant given the low demand and competition from Hungarian breweries, which covered most of the demand in Slovakia.
At the beginning of the 20th century Slovakia has almost 40 breweries with industrial production. Mostly, however, it was small to medium plants. The two strongest were Bratislava and Kosice Bavernebel Stein. In comparison, however, the average annual production of the Burgher's Brewery in Pilsen was five times greater than the production of all the Slovak breweries combined.[
]
Modern times
During the years of the Czechoslovak republic from 1918 and onwards, the Slovak brewing industry lagged far behind that in the Czech lands. After World War II the new communist regime nationalized altogether 12 breweries, which was subsequently merged into three national companies. In 1953 this number rose to eight. Constantly increasing beer consumption created favourable conditions for the continued growth of brewing. Old enterprises were either renovated (Bratislava, Martin, Kosice, Michalovce, Poprad, Nitra, Bytča) or cancelled altogether (Hlohovec, Levoča, Burgher Brewery Bratislava, Banská Bystrica).
Gradually, the construction of new breweries began – Topoľčany (1964), Rimavska Sobota (1966), Velky Saris (1967), Hurbanovo (1969), Banská Bystrica (1971) and Trnava (1974). Hurbanovský brewery's capacity was 1.2 million hectoliters, which was the most in Slovakia. Even before the brewery in Hurbanovo built a new malt house, it had a record production of 66 thousand tons of malt annually.[
The five largest breweries in Slovakia are members of the group which was nationalized after World War II, however closures amongst the independents have left Slovakia with only 4 breweries founded before 1950. There are currently 18 active industrial breweries in Slovakia. Microbreweries however, are becoming increasingly popular.
]
Breweries and brands
Brewery Hurbanovo
Founded in 1967, Zlaty Bazant (Golden Pheasant) Brewery was built in Hurbanovo
Hurbanovo (until 1948 ''Stará Ďala'', hu, Ógyalla, german: Altdala) is a town and large municipality in the Komárno District in the Nitra Region of south-west Slovakia. In 1948, its Slovak name was changed to Hurbanovo, named after Slovak wri ...
. The location was carefully chosen because of its warm climate (the warmest in Slovakia) and its altitude (about 115 metres about sea level). These conditions made it ideal for growing hops. Furthermore, the water in the area is plentiful and of excellent quality. Production began in 1969 and it didn't take long for the brewery to build a market. Having the newest brewing technology and high-quality ingredients, allowed the brewery to penetrate the global market. In 1971 they became the first beer company in Eastern Europe to package their beer in cans. This transformation required a lot of work and ultimately resulted in the decision to become a joint stock company. In 1995, the company merged with Heineken. This helped them expand further internationally and allowed them to update their malting house.
Other Slovak breweries were later purchased by Heineken
Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star.
History
On 15 Feb ...
and closed with their production controversially moved to the brewery in Hurbanovo. In one such case, relocation of the hugely popular brewery Martiner, dating back to the 1893 and located in the city of Martin Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austr ...
created so much fury that to this day many people in that city refuse to drink Heineken. Today Hurbanovo has one of the largest malting operations in Europe with much of it being exported across the world.
Brands
* Zlatý Bažant
* Kelt KELT may refer to:
*A Salmonid that has spawned and did not die as a result
*An alternative spelling of Celt
* KELT (FM), call letters of an FM radio station located in Encinal, Texas
* KELT, the former call letters of an FM radio station located i ...
* Corgoň
* Martiner
* Gemer
Šariš brewery
In 1964, the Šariš brewery was built and it quickly became the largest brewery and the largest exporter of beer in Slovakia. As business boomed, Šariš expanded. They started producing and selling soft drinks and even had their own race car. By 1983, they were producing one million hectoliters of beer per year. They continued to be Slovakia's largest brewery, which drew attention from SABMiller (the brewing company behind MGD, Pilsner Urquell, Fosters, and many other successful breweries).
In 1997 SABMiller purchased the company. Ten years later they were merged with Topvar, another successful Slovak brewery. They continue producing the beers that made them so popular, using the same recipes. Reflecting the brewery's location in the eastern city of Veľký Šariš
Veľký Šariš ( hu, Nagysáros) is a small town near Prešov in eastern Slovakia. The town is known as the site of the largest brewery in Slovakia – Šariš Brewery.
Etymology
The etymology of the name is uncertain. Hungarian historians and ...
, the company has promoted its beers around the Eastern Slovakian culture, using the eastern Slovak dialect in commercials, as well as using its main slogan "Srdcom Východniar" ( sk, Easterner by the heart).
Brands
* Topvar
* Šariš
Šariš is the traditional name of a region situated in northeastern Slovakia. It encompasses the territory of the former (comitatus) Sáros county.
History
Sáros county was created in the 13th century from the ''comitatus Novi Castri'' (name ...
* Smädný Mních
Steiger brewery
Since 1473, the brewery has undergone many rebuilds and changed owners several times. Production went up and down, depending on the times. During times of war, sales would increase, however, during the German occupation in World War II Jaroslav Raiman, the director of operations was killed and many of the workers were arrested. This put a halt on production until December 1944 when the brewery slowly started making beer again. During the communist era, more people drank beer and business peaked. In 1958 they sold 280–300,000 hectoliters. It wasn't until 2004 that the brewery became what it is today. The name Steiger Pivovar was adopted in April 2006 and it became the companies main brand of beer. In 2007, Stein brewery moved its production from Bratislava, the country's capital, to the Steiger brewery. Steiger Brewery currently represents only 6–10% of the beer sales in Slovakia.
Brands
* Steiger
* Stein
Stein is a German, Yiddish and Norwegian word meaning "stone" and "pip" or "kernel". It stems from the same Germanic root as the English word stone. It may refer to:
Places In Austria
* Stein, a neighbourhood of Krems an der Donau, Lower Aust ...
* Kachelmann
* Sitňan
* HELL 11% Svetle
Erb brewery
The mining town of Banská Štiavnica had eight to ten breweries during the late Middle Ages. These, being run by the owners of the local mines, meant the salaries paid to the miners went straight back to the owners. Centuries later in 2010, a local mining engineer, Eduard Rada opened ERB (Eduard Rada Breweries) Brewery. Surrounded by his immediate family in senior management, he began to brew his own way. The beers of ERB was Lager 10% and 12%, ERB Special Dark 13% and ERB Weizen 12%, have been produced at the brewery since its opening. Later, ERB Smoked Lager 12% was added, which has become a forerunner for the ERB Limited Edition.
In 2011, Andrej Gašpar starts at the position of Brew Master, representing a new generation of brewers in Slovakia. Handing over the baton to Andrej Gašpar, was Ján Koma who leaves four decades of experience in the brewery business. In 2013 ERB rejected repeated offers to export beer to Japan, Norway, Australia and Austria. Owner Eduard Rada wants ERB beer to be linked to the country of Slovakia: "So tourists can say, I was in a country where they brew great beer.“
Types
*ERB LAGER 10%
*ERB LAGER 12%
*ERB SPECIAL DARK 13%
*ERB WEIZEN 12%
Urpiner Brewery
The tradition of brewing in the city of Banská Bystrica dates to 1501 with the arrival of new German and Jewish settlers in the city. In 1524 the city gains official privilege to brew beer from King Louis II of Hungary
Louis II ( cs, Ludvík, hr, Ludovik , hu, Lajos, sk, Ľudovít; 1 July 1506 – 29 August 1526) was King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia from 1516 to 1526. He was killed during the Battle of Mohács fighting the Ottomans, whose victory led to t ...
. By the 17th century, around 80 small breweries had been established
The modern brewery was established in the year 1971 with later restructuring into Banskobystrický pivovar, a.s. in the year 2007
Types
*URPÍN 89
*Urpiner Dark Nealko
*Urpiner IPL 13°
*Urpiner Classic 10°
*Urpiner Dark 11°
*Urpiner Premium 12°
*Urpiner Extra chmelený 14°
*Urpiner Exclusive 16°
*Urpiner Nealko
*Urpiner Radler
*Urpiner Radler Nealko
*Kaprál 10°
*Kaprál 11°
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slovak Beer