The modern history ofbeer inBulgaria (Bulgarian:пиво,pivo or бира,bira) dates back to the 19th century, when it was introduced to the country by foreigners (fromAustria-Hungary,France andSwitzerland) shortly before theLiberation of Bulgaria. Until then, beer was practically unknown in what used to be a mainlyrakia andwine-drinking country. Today, Bulgaria ranks 15thby beer consumption per capita, with 73litres a year.
TheHungarian exiles inShumen, led byLajos Kossuth after theHungarian Revolution of 1848, brewed beer and are thought to have found followers among the locals. However, their stay in the city was short and they could not manage to introduce beer to the masses. The Frenchman Ducorp, who worked as a railway engineer nearSofia between 1873 and 1876, opened a small brewery inKnyazhevo [bg]. TheCzech Jiří Prošek, who first came to Bulgaria in 1873 to work on the same railway line, noted that the localShopi had the custom to brew primitive beer atharvest time. They soakedbarley, leaving it to germinate, drying it, adding hot water and wildhops, with naturalfermentation and cooling.
Bulgaria's earliest commercial brewery was established inPlovdiv by theGerman Swiss Rudolf Frick and Friedrich Sulzer in 1876. It became a large and modern factory in 1879–1881 with the help of another Swiss expert, Christian August Bomanti. Production began in 1882 in the Kamenitsa area near the city and continues today, its successor being theKamenitza brewery. The first brewery inVarna dates back to 1884, when the contractors Kasabov and Vtichev opened up a small factory.
The professional Czech brewer Franz-František Milde established theShumensko beer factory inShumen in 1882, and helped found the Bulgarian Brewing Association the same year. Jiří Prošek and his brothers founded theVitosha brewery in Sofia in 1884; they also bought Ducorp's small brewery and owned the Dalbok Zimnik cellar. Today, the Vitosha brewery is known asAriana.
In 1899, Milde's Bulgarian partners tried to deceive him, so he bought theAustrian Johann Habermann's brewery inRousse (established in 1876) and started producing beer there. Fearing his competition, his partners quickly paid their debts and Milde returned to Shumen, leaving his brother Sebastian as the Rousse factory's manager.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, beer rapidly grew in popularity among the Bulgarianmiddle class, and a large number of beer houses were established in most big cities. AfterWorld War I, there were already 18 breweries in Bulgaria. Besides those already mentioned, these included theStara Zagora factory of Dr. Kozhuharov (since 1902), the Czechs Malotin and Hozman's factory inLom, the Habermann and St Petka breweries in Rousse, the German Moritz Ratt's Cherven Rak factory inPleven, W. Ollinger's in Koshava, others inVeliko Tarnovo andGorna Oryahovitsa, etc.
FollowingWorld War II, as Bulgaria became part of theEastern Bloc, all breweries were nationalized. Since the democratic reforms in 1989, the Bulgarian beer market has been dominated by some of the world's largest multinational beer companies who privatized the local breweries and produce both locally and internationally branded beer. Numerousbeer festivals (birfest) are organized yearly in the major cities all around the country, for example in Sofia, Plovdiv, Pleven,Gabrovo,Sevlievo,Bansko,Vidin, etc.
The most popular form of packaging is theglass bottle, closely followed by thePET bottle, which, in 2008, accounted for 41% of beer packaging. Some Eastern European countries are showing a trend towards purchasing lager in large PET packs, for Bulgaria this trend is mainly confined to standard and economy brands ofpale lager.[1]
The domestic beer market produces 582 million litres annually. Standardpale lager has been the traditional beer choice for Bulgarians, but withHeineken,Molson Coors andCarlsberg buying up local breweries, the choice for beer drinkers in the premium and economy segments has expanded. Beer imports and exports have started to diverge - exports climbed in 2007 to 8.4 million litres, compared to imports declining to 4.6 million litres. Bulgaria exports mainly to neighbouring countries, such as Macedonia, Romania or Serbia, and to countries where there is an expatriate population, such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Spain.[1]
There are thirteen breweries in Bulgaria, four of which are owned byMolson Coors, two byCarlsberg and two byHeineken.[2] Local breweries include Bolyarka, which makes a range of lagers,[3] and distributes the Warsteiner brand in Bulgaria.[4]
In addition, international beer brands have a large market share and are, in many cases (e.g.Stella Artois,Beck's,Heineken,Staropramen,Tuborg,Amstel), brewed locally.
Bulgaria, while being a relatively small country inEastern Europe, has quite a number of beer brands. The most popular breweries (all producing namesake lagers) areKamenitza (produced in the city ofPlovdiv),Zagorka (produced mainly inStara Zagora) andAstika (Produced in city ofHaskovo). Other notable brands areStolichno (bock beer produced byZagorka),Shumensko (both lager and red ale, produced in the city ofShumen),Burgasko (produced in the city ofBurgas),MM (produced in the city ofVarna),Pirinsko (brewed in the city ofBlagoevgrad),Ledenika (brewed in the town ofMezdra),Lomsko (brewed in the town ofLom),Bolyarka (brewed in the city ofVeliko Tarnovo),Britos (brewed in the city ofVeliko Tarnovo), andPlevensko (produced in the city ofPleven). Most of the Bulgarian breweries are currently owned by foreign breweries, such asHeineken (Zagorka) and Molson Coors (Astika andKamenitza).
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