(source: Sme)
THE BIGGEST brewery in Slovakia, Heineken Hurbanovo, has again opened its doors to all those interested in how beer is brewed. Thousands of people visited the plant in mid-September, while almost 2,000 enjoyed tours of the brewery led by its employees, the TASR newswire wrote.
This is the fifth time the brewery has opened itself to the public, and this year it dedicated the opening day to responsibility and ecology, which was highlighted, for example, by drawing beer into returnable glasses instead of plastic ones.
The opening day at Heineken has already earned a strong tradition, when a survey showed that almost 30 percent of the visitors have attended all five editions.
Two big beer companies from the world’s trio dominate the Slovak beer market, Heineken brewing Zlatý bažant, Kelt and Corgoň, and SAB Miller with Topvar and Smädný mních. According to data of the Slovak Association of Beer and Malt Producers (SZVPS), Heineken controls more than half the market.
Breweries in Slovakia produced more than 3.2 million hectolitres of beer in 2012 while the consumption was about one million litres higher. An average Slovak drinks 78.2 litres of beer annually, while it was 92.3 litres 10 years ago. Experts ascribe the decrease to the increase in excise taxes on beer. In 2010 the consumed volume even decreased to 70 litres, but since then, consumption is gradually increasing thanks to the arrival of radlers (beer mixed with lemonade) and the growing share of non-alcoholic beer, the Sme daily wrote.
