Beer in Slovenia is dominated by the

pale lager Pale lager is a very pale-to-golden-colored lager beer with a well- attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. The brewing process for this beer developed in the mid-19th century, when Gabriel Sedlmayr took pale ale brewing ...

market. The most commonly known brands of

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

n beer, now united under the same parent company, are Laško and

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

, although a number of smaller breweries exist.

History

There were several minor

breweries 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 bee ...

in Slovenia before the 19th century. The first lager brewery, the

Laško Brewery Laško Brewery ( sl, Pivovarna Laško) is the largest brewery in Slovenia. It is located in Laško and named after the town. The brewery was founded in 1825 by Franz Geyer, a gingerbread baker and mead producer. After World War II ended in 19 ...

, was established in 1825 in Laško.

Beers

Today, two major beers dominate the market and both breweries are currently owned by

(Pivovarna Laško) after buying Union brewery with the

Interbrew Interbrew is subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV is based in Breda, Netherlands. It has one subsidiary, Ambev S.A. of São Paulo, Brazil. Brands Interbrew brands have historically included Budweiser, Stella Artois, Boddingtons, Beck's, Star ...

. Both breweries offer a variety of beers, but the most popular are plain lagers, Union beer and Laško/Zlatorog beer. The main beer is lager, drunk in over 95% of the cases. Since both are lagers, the beers are similar. Laško is a bit more bitter. Union is the beer of the capital city,

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

and Laško is mostly drunk elsewhere. Estimates give Laško beer a 60%

market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those units would have a ...

. Together with the two main breweries, there are around 127 breweries in the country.

References

{{Slovenia-stub

History

Beers

See also

References