| Industry | Alcoholic beverage |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Nikšić, Montenegro |
| Products | Beer |
| Parent | StarBev |
Trebjesa Brewery is the only brewery in Montenegro. It is based in Nikšić, and is owned by StarBev. It produces a small range of pale lagers under the "Nik" brand name.
In state union of Serbia and Montenegro, with around 53,000,000 litres of beer produced annually, it was second by beer production, just behind Apatin brewery.[1]
Beer from Trebjesa brewery is by far most popular and most consumed beer in Montenegro. Besides domestic market and that of Croatia, Nikšićko beer and other variants have significant popularity in Slovenia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some quantities of beer are exported to France, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and England.
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Majority stake in Trebjesa was acquired by Interbrew in 1997 for DM25 million.[2][3]
In mid October 2009, private equity fund CVC Capital Partners bought all of Anheuser–Busch InBev's holdings in Central Europe for €2.23 billion. They renamed the operations StarBev.
The company produces four lagers under the brand name "Nik": Nikšićko pivo, Nik Gold, Nik Cool, and Nikšićko tamno.[4]
Besides Nikšićko beer, Beck's beer is also bottled in Trebjesa brewery, and sold as domestic beer in Montenegro.
Beer for home consumption is mostly sold in 330 ml glass bottles, 250 ml or 500 ml cans. As of 2004, beer is very often sold in plastic Q-pack bottles of 1, 1.5 and 2 litres. This beer is cheaper though equal in quality. Half-litre glass bottles (popularely "mason's beer" - zidarsko pivo) are now much rarer.
In bars, pubs and restaurants beer is either served in 330 ml bottles or as draught beer (točeno pivo), in 250 ml, 330 ml or 500 ml glasses. Old 500 ml bottles are rarely served.
Light beer dominates in Montenegro. Due to significantly lower consumption, dark beer is not as commonly present.
Beer in glass bottles costs around 0.5 euros per litre while in plastic it could go as low as 0.4 euros per litre. Beer in pubs costs around 1.7 euros per 0.33L bottle, and around 1.5 euros for 500 ml draught variant. In addition to domestic brand, majority of bars serve the usual foreign fare of Heineken, Bavaria, Carlsberg, Tuborg, etc.