Union Brewery (Slovenia)

The modern brewery in Celovška cesta in Ljubljana

Union Brewery (Slovene: Pivovarna Union) is one of the largest breweries in Slovenia. It was formed in 1864 in Ljubljana and became part of Heineken International in 2015. Since 1987 it includes also a Museum of beer.

History

Historic image of the Union Brewery
The old malt house of Union in Ljubljana is now the café Pivnica Union

The first record of beer brewing in Ljubljana is from 1592.[1] The brewery was founded in 1864 as a small family business by Ivan and Peter Kosler as Kosler brewery.[2] The actual birth of the Union brand dates back to 1909 when Kosler brothers, due to the increase in sales and the great market potential of the then Austro-Hungarian empire, founded the Pivovarna Union joint venture with the contribution of Credit and Trade Institute in Vienna. This joint stock company consisted of the union of the breweries of the Kosler brothers with the Reininghaus AG and Puntigam brewery in Graz.

Between 1910 and 1926, Pivovarna Union acquired several small Slovenian brewery factories. In 1910 it acquired the Auer and Perless brewery in Ljubljana, in 1911 the "Perless" brewery in Kočevje, in 1912 the Smidt brewery in Škofja Loka, in 1916 the Mayr brewery in Kranj and Zimmerman brewery in Lesce, in 1917 the brewery of Mengeš, In 1918 the Frählich brewery in Vrhnika, in 1924 the Pivovarna Laško and finally, in 1926, Thomas Gatz brewery in Maribor. All brewed mills stopped making beer independently, so the Pivovarna Union remained the only brewery in the Drava Banovina. Subsequently, some brands became independent on the market, such as Pivovarna Laško. In 1925, the Pivovarna Union produced over 100,000 hectoliters of beer.

Despite the difficulties caused by the outbreak of World War II, in 1945 the factory produced 45,000 hectoliters of beer. In 1946, when Slovenia was an integral part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the brewery was nationalized. In 1963, beer production rose to more than 220,000 hectoliters and today is around one million.

In 2005 the Laško Brewery acquired the majority of Union Brewery shares[3] and subsequently became part of Heineken International in 2015 after Heineken acquired a majority stake of Laško Brewery.[4]

In 2016 Laško and Union were formally merged into Pivovarna Laško Union under the Owner Heineken.[5]

Brewing museum

There is an organised tour at the Brewery, with a small museum dedicated to the famous beer.[6]

Brands

A bottle of Union Pils

References

  1. ↑ Enciklopedija Slovenije: Nos-Pli 1994 p.363 "Pivovarna Laško v Laškem, varilnica piva Pivovarna Union v Ljubljani, varilnica piva Osebje pivovarne Simona Kukca v Laškem ... Prvi podatek o izdelovanju piva v Ljubljani je iz 1592, "
  2. ↑ Enciklopedija Slovenija ed. Tone Bole, ‎Josip Vidmar - Volume 6 1987 p.227 " ... pivovarna bratov Kozler v Spodnji Šiški (1864), poznejša d.d. Pivovarna Union, "
  3. ↑ pivo-union - Our story
  4. ↑ HEINEKEN to acquire a majority stake in leading Slovenian brewer Pivovarna Laško d.d.
  5. ↑ "Laško and Union formally merged", retrieved 14 June 2017.
  6. ↑ Shann Fountain Alipour Moon Croatia & Slovenia 163121294X 2016 "Located in the 150 year old Union Brewery, the displays consist of the history of brewing in Slovenia, a tour of the brewery, and a beer or iced tea."
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