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| Beer festival and tasting competition Slovak Beer Crown 2026 - The beer festival and tasting competition Slovak Beer Crown 2026 will take place on June 5-6, 2026 at Náměstie slobody in Bratislava, opening the summer beer season. This is a prestigious showcase of the best Slovak beers, to which breweries can submit their products until April 10, 2026, reports Požnoinfo.sk.
Požnoinfo.sk
Požnoinfo.sk
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Key information about the events:
Date of the festival: June 5-6, 2026.
Location: Náměstie slobody, Bratislava.
Deadline for applications for breweries: April 10, 2026.
Focus: Presentation of small and large Slovak breweries and announcement of the results of the tasting competition.
Požnoinfo.sk
Požnoinfo.sk
+3
The event combines a professional tasting competition with a public festival, where the highest quality domestic beers are presented, informs about Beer .
Beer Festival "Slovak Beer Crown 2026" - Požnoinfo.sk
Beer Festival "Slovak Beer Crown 2026". Venue. Námestie slobody. June 5th - 6th, 2026. Opens the summer beer season at ...
Požnoinfo.sk
Slovak Beer Crown 2026 - How Tastes Will Change ...
Jan 15, 2026 Small and large Slovak breweries, including nomadic ones, can enter their beers produced in Slovakia into the competition until April 10, 2026
Požnoinfo.sk
Calendar of beer festivals, events and attractions for 2026
Jan 12, 2026 Záhoráčky Beer Festival 2026 ... Slovak Beer Crown Festival, Bratislava Collector's Beer Exchange, Banská Bystrica Kukanova d...
Požnoinfo.sk |
| Rigged tender and millions in debts: The bankruptcy of one of the largest microbreweries in Slovakia reaches the finale - They promised a revolution in Slovak brewing, but instead of honest beer or cider, they delivered rigged tenders and millions in debt. The story of the Trnava brewery Karpat, which grew up on a wave of beer craze and controversial EU funds.
The story of the Karpat brewery began to be written in a period that we can boldly call the golden age of Slovak craft beer. After years of domination by large multinational corporations, the Slovak consumer began to demand honest taste, unfiltered lagers and top-fermented specialties.
The couple Andrej and Miriam Sabovčíkovci decided to ride this wave of beer enthusiasm, and built one of the most modern and largest microbreweries in the country in Hrnčiarovce nad Parnou near Trnava. Their ambitions from the beginning reached far beyond the scope of an ordinary local pub. They planned to build a regional empire that would dictate trends not only in the Slovak but also in the Central European market.
Regional leader
In 2015, when the Karpat brewery officially launched its operations, it seemed that the owners had hit the nail on the head. Modern technology, stainless steel tanks shining with novelty and a production capacity of seven thousand hectoliters per year inspired respect among the competition. The Sabovčík family played a high game right from the start when they managed to pull off a daring stunt. As the first small brewery in Slovakia, they signed an exclusive contract with the Tesco retail chain.
Their beer suddenly found itself not only in specialized beer shops, but also went directly to the shelves of hypermarkets under the premium private label Tesco Finest. It was a success that opened the doors to the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary for the brewery. The Karpat brand has become synonymous with affordable luxury in a glass of thirds, with the price of under one euro per bottle raising questions among many experts about how a small producer can maintain such a low price level while maintaining artisanal quality.
At the time, Andrej Sabovčík did not skimp on self-confident statements about the company's future. In an interview for the oPive.sk portal in 2017, he clearly defined his expansion plans when he stated: "We would set the brewery to 15 to 17 thousand hectoliters of craft beer per year and we would like to add the same amount of craft ciders and other craft beverages to that." These words at the time seemed like a harbinger of the emergence of a true regional leader.
Pivovar Karpat - Andrej Sabovčík
Pivovar Karpat - Andrej SabovčíkSource: Facebook
Money for research and innovation
Money for research and innovation
However, a problem was already simmering under the shiny mask of prosperity, which later inexorably dragged the company into the depths of bankruptcy. It was the controversial EU funds from the era of Education Minister Peter Plavčan (an SNS nominee). At that time, as part of supporting research, development and innovation, the ministry distributed millions of euros to companies that had little to do with science. Among the chosen ones was the company Distrib Capital, which was owned by the Sabovčíks. The state knocked down the sum of approximately 3.6 million euros, which represented almost half of the total investment in the project.
However, these subsidies were accompanied by doubts from the beginning. The European Public Prosecutor's Office is now, with hindsight, uncovering a scheme that resembles an elaborate fraud rather than a sincere effort to innovate. As DennikE reported, investigators claim that the brewery's managers manipulated the public procurement for the purchase of technologies. According to them, the entire competition was set up so that the pre-selected Slovak company Omega Holding would win.
https://www.aktuality.sk/
Ekonomika
11. mar. 2026 o 07:30
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| Budweiser Budvar broke another sales record last year - Czech brewery Budějovický Budvar sold almost 1.95 million hectoliters of beer last year. It set a new record, although the growth rate compared to 2024 was only moderate.
According to the iDNES.cz server, Budějovický Budvar sold a total of 1.946 million hectoliters of beer in 2025. This represents an increase of 1% compared to the previous year, with lagers doing particularly well, where sales growth reached almost 17%.
Budvar's sales thus increased for the third year in a row. On the Czech market, the company increased its sales volume compared to 2024 by more than 3%. The company recorded growth in both retail sales and in hotels, restaurants and bars.
Sales of beer in cans recorded significant growth. "On the domestic market, they increased by a quarter year-on-year, while sales in bottles remained stable," said Budvar spokeswoman Barbora Povierová.
Foreign sales of canned beer also increased, by more than 6%. In the case of keg and tank deliveries, sales increased by almost 3%, the company added.
Praha 2. februára 2026 (TASR) |
| Many Czech breweries still struggling, despite popularity of golden brew -
Czech breweries are counting the costs of the coronavirus crisis. During the state of emergency which closed some 50,000 pubs around the country, beer consumption took a dive and although the government-imposed restrictions have now been lifted, the pace of recovery is slow.
The hardest hit by the crisis were large breweries, which are used to established sales procedures and are not able to react quickly to larger-scale crises such the coronavirus pandemic. Sales dropped by 40 percent overnight and the largest producers were faced with the task of having to dispose of hundreds of thousands of hectolitres of brewed beer that they were unable to sell.
According to Jan urán from the Czech-Moravian Association of Mini-Breweries disposing of large stocks of beer is not easy and costs money.
10.07.2020 Radio.cz |
| PPF in shortlist for Plzeňský Prazdroj and other brewing assets: report - The PPF group of the richest Czech Petr Kellner is on the shortlist to bid for Plzeňský Prazdroj and other brewery assets of SABMiller in Central Europe according ot Reuters. Other companies featuring on the list are Japanese brewery Asahi, the Swiss investment group Jacobs Holding and investment companies Bain Capital and Advent. The sale off has been sparked by the planned acquisition of SABMiller by Anheuser-Busch InBev with asset sales demanded by the European Commission as a price for the deal to proceed.
18.11.2016 Radio.cz |
| Core Beer - the new premium beer - Industry sectors:
Food and drink
valid in:
Italy, United States, China, India,Slovakia
CORE pumpkin seed beer: the beer with the power of the seeds!
The outstanding quality of the ingredients and the well researched positive qualities of the pumpkin seeds guarantee an incomparable, uniquely pleasurable beer!
Distribution in Slovakia :
EURO - BREW L.t.d. info@eurobrew.sk
6.11.2015 Trnava |
| Slovak Beer Militia Challenges Heineken to Duel - Small breweries in Slovakia have launched a campaign aimed against large producers by setting up a 'Pivobrana' ('Beer Militia'), chairman of the Slovak Association of Small Independent Breweries (AMNPS) Ladislav Vanco said at a press conference on Thursday.
Pivobrana has challenged Heineken, one of the two main players on the Slovak market, to a duel involving three public blindfolded beer-tasting tests in Kosice, Bratislava and Pezinok (Bratislava region) in September. It also offered Heineken the option of taking part in supervising the contest. Heineken hasn't reacted to the challenge, however.
Heineken recently attacked Banska Bystrica-based brewery Urpiner for its campaign with the slogan: "Do you know which beer is world-class?" Heineken has registered its trademark Zlaty Bazant with the slogan: "World-class Slovak Beer", and claims that Urpiner has violated its commercial rights.
Urpiner rejects the accusation. "The possible confusion [of our beer] with their product wouldn't be anything positive for us, quite the contrary," said Vanco.
Vanco complained that the two main players [Heineken and SABMiller - ed. note] control 95 percent of the Slovak market thanks to the use of aggressive and unfair practices.
"They restrict sales [in individual pubs] exclusively to their brands. They forbid the sale of other brands with the threat of fines in contracts," said Vanco, adding that this happens when one of the large producers provides a pub with umbrellas or a serving bar, for example.
Around 20 small breweries and one industrial brewery (Urpiner) are active in Slovakia, while there are as many as 60 industrial and 130 small breweries in the Czech Republic. This is due to a reduced excise tax for small breweries, among other things, said Vanco.
6.09.2012 TASR |
| SABMiller brews up scheme to beat competition - JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA Mar 12 2009
Brewing giant SABMiller is to cut costs sharply in its most profitable market of South Africa to boost marketing ahead of the opening of a rival brewery this year just south of Johannesburg.
Norman Adami, managing director of the group's South African operation, said it will cut costs by R350-million and plough the savings back to boost sales as Heineken opens the first non-SABMiller brewery in South Africa.
Adami said the savings will restore the group's productivity edge by cutting manufacturing, distribution and overhead costs in its year to March 2010, but this will not lead to plant closures or job losses in its 5 500 South African workforce.
The move comes as the Dutch brewer with its British partner Diageo plans to open its new plant to brew a range of their brands like Amstel, Heineken and Guinness to compete in a market where SABMiller earns a quarter of its profits.
"We believe we have a clear understanding of their strategy," Adami told an investor seminar on Wednesday, adding that SABMiller had a range of 11 different beer brands in South Africa to counter the output of the new brewery built by a 75:25 percent Heineken-Diageo joint venture.
Heineken's chance to expand in South Africa came in April 2007 when it won back the right from SABMiller to brew and distribute its Amstel brand in the country.
The premium Amstel beer accounted for over 9% of SABMiller's South African volumes before April 2007, and its loss saw SABMiller's South African beer market share falling to around 91% from 98% previously.
Heineken, the world's third-largest brewer after Anheuser-Busch and SABMiller, has been importing its beers from Europe ahead of the brewery opening.
Adami expects the new brewery to open between July and September but has four international premium brands -- Grolsch, Pilsner Urquell, Peroni and Miller Genuine Draft -- to compete with Heineken, as well as three local premiums and four mainstream brands.
SABMiller adds it will use the R350-million of savings and a little more to invest an extra R364-million into marketing to revitalise its beer brands and look to push up overall per capita beer consumption above the 55 to 60 litres a year range it has seen for a number of years in South Africa. -- Reuters www.mg.co.za |
| Velke Popovice brewery manager moves to Slovakia - Pilsen, Jiri Marecek - 03. 01. 2008 - Press release
Jozef Spirko (46), a production manager of Velke Popovice brewery was promoted to a new position of brewery manager in Topolcany as of January 1. Topolcany brewery in Slovakia is a part of the SABMiller group.Jozef Spirko graduated from the Institute of Chemical Technology and he has been active in brewing for more then 20 years. In 1986-1996 Spirko worked at Vychodoceske pivovary brewing company, then at Radegast brewery. Later within the then-merged Plzensky Prazdroj, he has been working as a production manager of Velke Popovice brewery.
Now Spirko accepts the opportunity to move within the SABMiller group to Slovakia, his father country. His new task is to manage the brewery in Topolcany, which has been integrated with Saris brewery into Pivovary Topvar, a.s., as of January 1, 2007.
As well as Plzensky Prazdroj, Pivovary Topvar, a.s., is a member of SABMiller, one of the world's largest brewing groups. International career programmes are designed to drive SABMillers employees personal development and to share experiences within the group.
Jozef Spirko is married, has two children; he speaks Czech, Slovak, English and Russian. His interests include family, sports (football, tennis) and cooking.
Contact:
Jiří Marecek
Spokesman
Plzensky Prazdroj
+420 724 617 219
x x x
With its overall sales exceeding 10.7 million hectolitres in the calendar year of 2006 (including licensed production abroad) and with exports to more than 50 countries of the whole world Plzensky Prazdroj, a. s. is a major beer producer in the region and the largest export of the Czech beer.
Plzensky Prazdroj, a. s., is a member of the SABMiller plc global group. Pilsner Urquell is the international flagship of the SABMiller brand portfolio.
SABMiller, plc, is one of the worlds largest brewers with brewing interests or distribution agreements in over 60 countries across six continents. The SABMiller brand portfolio consists of international brands such as Miller Genuine Draft, Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Pilsner Urquell, as well as of almost 200 other successful regional and national brands.
Topvar Breweries a.s. is a member the SABMiller Group. The companys portfolio includes the Slovak brands ari, Topvar, Smädny mních (Thirsty Monk).
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Address : Euro-Brew Ltd., Hlboká 22, 917 01 Trnava, Slovakia
Tel. : +421 33 53 418 53, Fax : +421 33 53 418 52, E-mail : info@eurobrew.sk |
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