# Slovakia

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

- Official name: Slovak Republic
- Local name: Slovenská republika
- Caps in the collection: 167 (https://dacaps.imcoll.com/country_caps/38)
- Brands: 74

## Beer in Slovakia

Beer was brewed in the Slovak lands long before industry. In the 14th and 15th centuries the main brewing towns were the mining towns of Kremnica, Banská Bystrica and Banská Štiavnica, Bardejov, Prešov, Košice, Trnava and Bratislava, where brewing was a privilege of the burghers; the first brewers' guild is said to have been founded in Bardejov in 1450. Banská Bystrica asked for a new town privilege in 1501 and King Louis II granted it on 7 August 1524; by the 17th century the town had about 80 small breweries. It is often said that King Matthias Corvinus served Bardejov beer at his wedding, but no source confirms it. The beer tax of 1850 ruined most town and village breweries. Steam engines and artificial cooling then brought new plants in Košice (1857), Michalovce (1867), Bratislava (Stein, 1873), Martin (1893-94) and Nitra (1895-96); around 1900 there were almost 40 industrial breweries, mostly small.

Stein of Bratislava was the biggest. The brothers Stein brewed their first beer shortly before Christmas 1872 and opened the brewery on Blumentálska Street in early 1873, with a malthouse on Cintorínska Street; it made 60,000-80,000 hectolitres, sent beer to Germany and Switzerland, and reached a record 109,000 in 1930. After 1945 twelve breweries were merged into three state companies, and Stein was nationalised in 1948. New plants were built to a plan in the 1960s and 70s: Topoľčany (Topvar, 1964), Rimavská Sobota (Gemer, first beer before Christmas 1966), Veľký Šariš (first brew on 26 May 1967), Hurbanovo (foundation stone on 1 November 1964, the Zlatý Bažant name from 1969), Banská Bystrica (Urpín, opened on 13 August 1971 with 350,000 hectolitres a year) and Trnava (1974). In 1982 the Bratislava plant, long without the Stein name, brewed 733,000 hectolitres.

After 1989 the plants were privatised and foreign groups came in. Heineken entered Hurbanovo in 1995 and SABMiller bought Šariš in 1997. In 1999 the group of Karol Konárik, which also held breweries in Ilava, Martin and Bytča, took over Gemer, and early in 2000 Heineken got Gemer and Martiner of Martin. Sales fell year after year from 2002, and Heineken moved brewing to Hurbanovo, closing Nitra, Martin and Rimavská Sobota one after another: Martin stopped in November 2003 with 121 jobs, and the closing of Gemer was confirmed on 22 September 2006. The Stein site was sold to the developer Orco in 2007; the brand is brewed at Vyhne, and only the green-domed fermentation hall is a protected monument. Urpín of Banská Bystrica, bankrupt in the 1990s, was rescued from 1 May 2007 by Branislav Cvik and Ľubomír Vančo with more than 15 million euros. SABMiller merged Šariš and Topvar on 1 January 2007 and announced in November 2009 that Topoľčany would stop brewing (last day 28 February 2010, about 170 jobs). Asahi bought the business on 13 December 2016, and since March 2018 it is Plzeňský Prazdroj Slovensko.

The brewery at Vyhne near Banská Štiavnica dates its tradition to 1473. Eduard Rada modernised the plant, putting nearly half a billion Slovak crowns into it over ten years, and gave it the mining name Steiger; the name Steiger Pivovar dates from April 2006, and in 2007 Stein moved there. A group led by Jan Vyskočil entered in 2016; the brewery was offered for sale in 2023. Small breweries followed Kaltenecker, a restaurant brewery that started in Rožňava in 1997. Wywar began in the former granary of Joseph II in Holíč in 2014, and Berhet, a travelling brewer of Bardejov registered in April 2017, brews at BrauHaus in Kežmarok and in Kolačkov. In 2025 Slovakia had about 100 active breweries, 77 of them under 1,000 hectolitres a year, 20 more than in 2019.

Slovak output rose 3.7 per cent to 3.089 million hectolitres in 2025, with a record 189,000 hectolitres of non-alcoholic beer; consumption per head fell from 75 litres in 2019 to 54. Hurbanovo brews about 1.8 million hectolitres of beer and cider a year (2023). Steiger's revenue fell 19.5 per cent to 7.79 million euros in 2025 and it lost 1.17 million, the second loss in a row (reported on 25 September 2026). Fólkvang Brewery in Poprad and Jajnekem Brewery in Gemerská Panica closed in early 2026. The old Martiner brewery in Martin, silent since 2003, was to be demolished for housing, as reported in April 2023.

Sources:
- [Wikipedia: Beer in Slovakia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_in_Slovakia)
- [Urpiner: About us, Banskobystricky pivovar](https://urpiner.eu/en/about-us/)
- [Startitup: Stein brewery of the Stein brothers (2020)](https://www.startitup.sk/?p=396938)
- [oPive.sk via SZE: The story of the Gemer brewery (2017)](https://maxwell.sze.hu/~ungert/slovensky_jazyk/du_20171019_pribeh_gemerskeho_pivovaru.pdf)
- [Turistika.cz: Hurbanovo, Zlaty Bazant brewery](https://www.turistika.cz/mista/hurbanovo-pivovar-hurbanovo-zlaty-bazant/detail)
- [Slovak Spectator: Heineken halts beer production in Martin (2003)](https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/heineken-halts-beer-production-in-martin)
- [Startitup: Martiner brewery to be demolished (2023)](https://www.startitup.sk/ikonicky-slovensky-pivovar-zrovnaju-so-zemou-nahradia-ho-panelaky-obyvatelia-sa-buria/)
- [Noviny.sk: Topvar brewery in Topolcany ends (2009)](https://www.noviny.sk/ekonomika/68887-pivovar-topvar-v-topolcanoch-konci)
- [Wikipedia: Saris Brewery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0ari%C5%A1_Brewery)
- [SYMsite: Asahi to change name to Plzensky Prazdroj Slovensko (2018)](https://www.symsite.sk/single-post/2018/03/05/asahi-to-change-name-to-plze%C5%88sk%C3%BD-prazdroj-slovensko)
- [Startitup: Steiger brewery loss of 1.17 million euros (2026)](https://www.startitup.sk/?p=1240418)
- [Startitup: Third largest Slovak brewery looks for a new owner (2023)](https://www.startitup.sk/mega-obchod-sceny-treti-najvacsi-pivovar-slovenska-hlada-noveho-majitela/)
- [Startitup: Beer power in crisis (2026)](https://www.startitup.sk/pivna-velmoc-je-v-krize-10-pivovarov-zbankrotovalo-dalsich-5-zatvara/)
- [TASR/OTS: Hurbanovo brewery sustainability report (2023)](https://www.teraz.sk/slovensko/pivo-setrne-k-planete/736258-clanok.html)
- [Startitup: Small Slovak breweries, Kaltenecker](https://www.startitup.sk/top-6-malych-slovenskych-pivovarov-o-ktorych-si-mozno-ani-netusil/)
- [Startitup: Eight Slovak breweries, Wywar](https://www.startitup.sk/prinasame-ti-8-slovenskych-pivarni-kde-ti-nacapuju-to-najlepsie-chmelove-smoothie/)
- [Berhet: Our brewery](https://berhet.sk/pivovar/)
- [Archontology: Slovakia, Polity Style 1939-1945](https://archontology.org/nations/slovakia/01_polity3.php)
- [Archontology: Slovakia, Polity Style 1990-2026](https://archontology.org/nations/slovakia/01_polity5.php)
- [Wikipedia: Flag of Slovakia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Slovakia)

## Breweries (27)

- [Banskobystrický Pivovar Urpín s.r.o.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/836.md) — 2 caps, 1971–
- [Berhet s.r.o.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/7176.md) — 1 cap, 2017–
- [Pivovar Bratislava](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5088.md) — 1 cap
- [Budis - Stredoslovenske Zriedla](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/2278.md) — 1 cap
- [Pivovar Corgon a.s.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/842.md) — 12 caps, 1895–2003, closed
- [Esperia, a.s. Pivovar Horden](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/3420.md) — 4 caps
- [Gemer Pivovar (Heineken SK)](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1350.md) — 6 caps, 1966–2006, closed
- [Heineken Slovensko AS](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/3738.md) — 1 cap, 1995–
- [Holičsky Pivovar Wywar](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/7095.md) — 1 cap, 2014–
- [Pivovar Ilava](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1770.md) — 1 cap
- [Pivovar Kaltenecker s.r.o.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1831.md) — 2 caps, 1997–
- [Pivovar Karpat](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/3430.md) — 2 caps
- [Pivovar Martiner a.s. (Heineken Slovensko)](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/452.md) — 9 caps, 1894–2003, closed
- [Brauerei Pálffy](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/7037.md) — 1 cap
- [Pivovar Pilsberg s.r.o.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/446.md) — 2 caps
- [Pivovar Michalovce Starý Prameň a. s.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/5138.md) — 1 cap, 1867–1999, closed
- [Pivovar Zlaty Bazant, A.S.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1825.md) — 15 caps, 1967–
- [Pokrovar Martin](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1556.md) — 1 cap
- [Pivovar Popper Bytča s.r.o.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/445.md) — 4 caps
- [Pivovar Šariš, A.S.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/438.md) — 25 caps, 1967–
- [Pivovar Steiger a.s.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/437.md) — 23 caps, 1473–
- [Pivovar Stein a.s.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/436.md) — 17 caps, 1873–2007, closed
- [Stredoslovenske pivovary](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1827.md) — 1 cap
- [Pivovar Tatran a.s.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/434.md) — 5 caps, –2007, closed
- [Pivovary Topvar a. s.](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/209.md) — 25 caps, 1964–2010, closed
- [Pivovar Trnavan](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1835.md) — 2 caps
- [Pivovar Urpin](https://dacaps.imcoll.com/brewery/1828.md) — 1 cap, 1971–