# Serbia

Country page of DA Caps, a collection of beer bottle caps. Web page: https://dacaps.imcoll.com/country/rs/info

- Official name: Republic of Serbia
- Local name: Република Србија
- Caps in the collection: 78 (https://dacaps.imcoll.com/country_caps/90)
- Brands: 41

## Beer in Serbia

Beer came to Serbia late and from the north. During the Habsburg rule of Belgrade and northern Serbia (1718-1739) German brewers opened the first workshops and taverns in Belgrade, and when the Ottomans returned they moved to Zemun and Pančevo, from where beer kept reaching the city. The Pančevo brewery in the Habsburg Banat is dated to 1722 by a local heritage initiative and is counted the oldest in Serbia; the Weifert family held it from the middle of the 19th century. At Apatin in Bačka the brewery of the Imperial Chamber dates from 1756.

After Serbia became a principality, small hand breweries appeared in Belgrade: Johan Weinhappl's around 1840 and the Prince's brewery of Princess Ljubica Obrenović, built in 1840-41. In 1873 Ignjat Weifert and his son Đorđe opened the first modern steam brewery there; its beer won gold medals at the Paris world fairs of 1889 and 1900. Valjevo dates from 1860, Niš from 1884 (Jovan Apel moved his brewery there from Aleksinac) and Zaječar from 1895. In 1892 the landowner Lazar Dunđerski built the Čelarevo brewery on his estate, with its own malt house and hop fields, and later in the century he also bought the Zrenjanin brewery, which goes back to 1745.

After 1945 the breweries were nationalised. In 1963 the Weifert and Bajloni breweries of Belgrade merged as Beogradska industrija piva (BIP), which by the middle of the 1970s brewed 1.5 million hl, over a quarter of the Yugoslav market. Apatin, whose production stopped in 1935, restarted in 1944 and made 630,000 hl in 1977; Čelarevo installed the first stainless-steel cylindroconical fermenters in Yugoslavia in 1978.

Privatisation passed the big plants to foreign groups. Apatin went to Interbrew in 2003, then to InBev (2005), AB InBev (2008), StarBev (December 2009) and Molson Coors on 3 April 2012. Carlsberg took 52% of Čelarevo in September 2003 and 99.96% a year later; Lav is its main brand. The Rodić group's Pivara MB at Novi Sad, started in 2003, was sold to Heineken (closed on 19 February 2008), and in June 2008 Heineken bought 72% of Efes Srbija, the owner of the Zaječar and Pančevo breweries; the Pančevo plant stopped that year. Others did not last: Zrenjanin went bankrupt in July 2010, BIP was sold in August 2021 to Auto Čačak after years in bankruptcy, and the Niš brewery stopped in October 2012, left bankruptcy in August 2016 to restart and passed to the Metla Group of Leskovac in February 2026. Valjevo, sold in 2003 and taken over by the state in 2011, went in January 2019 to Brauerei Group for 3.5 million euros.

The first craft breweries appeared around 2013, according to the national tourist board, which names Kabinet, Salto, Dogma, Docker, Gvint, Tron and Crow among the brands that followed; Tron brewed its first beer in mid-2015. The association of small independent brewers counts about 66 craft breweries, and the Belgrade Beer Fest has run since 2003. Three companies, Heineken Srbija (Novi Sad and Zaječar), Carlsberg Srbija and Apatinska pivara, hold 96% of the market. In 2025 the sector's 100 breweries earned 45.8 billion dinars, Apatin ended the year with a net loss of about 103 million dinars, and consumption in 2024 was 65.6 litres a head (Biznis.rs, June 2026).

Sources:
- [Wikipedia: Beer in Serbia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_in_Serbia)
- [Wikipedia: Apatin Brewery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apatin_Brewery)
- [Wikipedia: Carlsberg Srbija](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlsberg_Srbija)
- [Wikipedia: Heineken Srbija](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heineken_Srbija)
- [Wikipedia: Novi Sad Brewery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novi_Sad_Brewery)
- [Wikipedia: BIP Brewery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIP_Brewery)
- [Wikipedia: Valjevo Brewery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valjevo_Brewery)
- [Danas: Pivo je u pocetku bilo samo za bogate (2023)](https://www.danas.rs/zivot/pivo-je-u-pocetku-bilo-samo-za-bogate/)
- [Vreme: Pancevo, Odbrana Vajfertove pivare (2024)](https://vreme.com/vesti/pancevo-odbrana-vajfertove-pivare/)
- [Vreme: Hmelj, tradicija, tranzicija (2008)](https://vreme.com/?p=4499479)
- [Vreme: Tuzan kraj Zrenjaninske industrije piva (2023)](https://vreme.com/vesti/tuzan-kraj-zrenjaninske-industrije-piva-prodaje-se-preostala-imovina/)
- [Kurir: Otkazana licitacija, nema kupca za Nisku pivaru](https://biznis.kurir.rs/info-biz/1721833/otkazana-licitacija-nema-kupca-za-nisku-pivaru)
- [SeeNews: Niska Pivara exits bankruptcy, to restart production (2016)](https://seenews.com/news/serbian-brewery-niska-pivara-exits-bankruptcy-to-restart-production-537564)
- [Biznis.rs: Metla Group kupila Nisku pivaru (2026)](https://biznis.rs/novac/metla-group-kupila-nisku-pivaru/)
- [Biznis.rs: Autocacak kupio BIP za 2,09 milijardi dinara (2021)](https://biznis.rs/vesti/autocacak-kupio-bip-za-209-milijardi-dinara/)
- [Biznis.rs: Mundijal ne donosi pivski bum u Srbiji (2026)](https://biznis.rs/vesti/srbija/mundijal-ne-donosi-pivski-bum-u-srbiji-profit-pivara-manji-za-trecinu/)
- [Serbia.travel: Craft Beer](https://www.serbia.travel/en/craft-beer)
- [Tron Brewery: home page](https://www.tronbrewery.com/)
- [Archontology: Serbia, Polity Style 1882-1918](https://archontology.org/nations/serbia/01_polity1.php)
- [Wikipedia: Flag of Serbia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Serbia)

## Breweries (22)

- [Brewery Academia](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5651.md) — 1 cap
- [Apatinska Pivara](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1370.md) — 22 caps, 1756–
- [BIP-Beogradska Industrija Piva](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1879.md) — 1 cap, 1839–2021, closed
- [Birra Peja Sh.A.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1624.md) — 4 caps, 1971–
- [Buzetska Pivovara](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/979.md) — 7 caps
- [Carlsberg Srbija d.o.o.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/7099.md) — 3 caps, 1892–
- [Carlsberg Srbija Čelarevo d.o.o.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/4069.md) — 2 caps, 1892–
- [Celarevo Pivara a.d.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1756.md) — 8 caps, 1892–
- [Pivara Crow Brewery d.o.o.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/4684.md) — 1 cap, 2015–
- [Dogma Brewery](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/4950.md) — 6 caps, 2016–
- [Pivara Gvint](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5721.md) — 1 cap
- [Heineken Srbija](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/4232.md) — 12 caps, 2008–
- [Kabinet d.o.o.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/3174.md) — 1 cap, 2014–
- [Mini Pivara Kors](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5650.md) — 1 cap
- [Pivara Niška AD](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/6476.md) — 1 cap, 1884–
- [PJ Pivara MB](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1893.md) — 2 caps, 2003–
- [Rodic M & B Co.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1625.md) — 2 caps, 2003–
- [Pivara Salto d.o.o.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5629.md) — 2 caps
- [Pivara Tron](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5648.md) — 1 cap, 2015–
- [Pivara Valjevska](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5628.md) — 3 caps, 1860–
- [Pivara Vučje](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/6496.md) — 1 cap
- [Zaječarska Pivara](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1873.md) — 3 caps, 1895–