Beer in Hungary has been brewed for well over a thousand years and the country has a significant history of commercial beer production.

Etymology

The Hungarian word for beer is ''sör''. The word itself is of Oghuric origin. The word was most probably borrowed by the Hungarians in the era before the

conquest of Hungary Hungary in its modern (post-1946) borders roughly corresponds to the Great Hungarian Plain (the Pannonian Basin). During the Iron Age, it was located at the crossroads between the cultural spheres of the Celtic tribes (such as the Scordisci, Boii ...

History

The first commercial brewery in Hungary was established in Buda in 1845 by Peter Schmidt. During the heyday of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the

Kőbánya Kőbánya (literally: Quarry, ) is the 10th district of Budapest () and one of the largest by territory. It is located in southeast Pest, easily accessible from the downtown by Metro 3, whose terminus is named '' Kőbánya-Kispest''. It ...

district of Budapest became the centre of Hungary's brewing industry. The Dreher brewery is named after

Anton Dreher Anton Dreher (7 May 1810 in Schwechat near Vienna – 27 December 1863 in Schwechat) was an Austrian brewer, business magnate, philanthropist of Danube Swabian ancestry, the founder of the Dreher Breweries who was an important figure in the deve ...

, the creator of the

Vienna lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storag ...

style. He created the brewery in Budapest in 1862 and it came to dominate the Hungarian market before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Breweries

Today, Hungary has four large commercial brewers which produce mainly light

lagers Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storage ...

( hu, világos) and German-style dark beers ( bocks, hu, barna). }) ,

Bőcs Bőcs is a village in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Hungary famous for the Borsod Brewery Borsodi Brewery or Brewery of Borsod (Borsodi Sörgyár Rt.) is a brewery located in the village of Bőcs, near Miskolc, the capital of Borsod-Abaúj- ...

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén ( hu, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén megye, ; sk, Boršodsko-abovsko-zemplínska) is an administrative county ( comitatus or ''megye)'' in north-eastern Hungary (commonly called "Northern Hungary"), on the border with Slovakia ( K ...

, - , Heineken Hungária
(''Heineken Magyarország'') ,

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 Feb ...

Julius Lenck Julius Lenck ( hu, Gyula Lenck, 1845, ? – 14 October 1901, Sopron, Austria-Hungary Sopron Sopron (; german: Ödenburg, ; sl, Šopron) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century When the area that is today Western Hungary was a province of the Roman Empire, a ...

,
Győr-Moson-Sopron

, - ,

Pécs Brewery Pécs Brewery or Brewery of Pécs ( hu, Pécsi Sörfőzde) is of the four big breweries in Hungary and the biggest in the Southern Transdanubia located in Pécs, the capital of Baranya County in southwestern Hungary. History The brewery was ...

(''Pécsi Sörfőzde'') , Szemerey family ,

Leopold Hirschfeld Leopold Hirschfeld ( hu, Lipót Hirschfeld, 1798, Bonyhád – 1893, Pécs), was Hungarian Jewish brewer in Pécs, Hungary, Habsburg Empire. He founded in 1848 the Pécsi Sörfőzde. Life Leopold Hirschfeld was born in Bonyhád, Hungary whe ...

(1848) , Pécsi Szalon
Szalon Barna
Tavaszi Sör ( en, Spring Beer)
Három Király ( en, Three Kings) ,

Pécs Pécs ( , ; hr, Pečuh; german: Fünfkirchen, ; also known by other #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the countr ...

Baranya Baranya or Baranja may refer to: * Baranya (region) or Baranja, a region in Hungary and Croatia * Baranya County, a county in modern Hungary * Baranya County (former), a county in the historic Kingdom of Hungary * Baranya, Hungarian name of villag ...

Lately, some microbreweries have also set up in Hungary, such as Fóti, Legenda, Monyó, Csupor or Mad Scientist. In the 2010s, a lively craft beer scene evolved, with numerous local breweries, festivals and bottleshops.

Economy

In the 1980s, beer consumption was roughly 100 litres per person, but since then it has declined to nearer seventy.

Pale lager Pale lager is a very pale-to- golden-colored lager beer with a well- attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. The brewing process for this beer developed in the mid-19th century, when Gabriel Sedlmayr took pale ale brew ...

has about 90% of sales.

Culture

In Hungary, people traditionally do not clink their glasses or mugs when drinking beer. There is an urban legend in Hungarian culture that Austrian generals clinked their beer glasses to celebrate the execution of

the 13 Martyrs of Arad The Thirteen Martyrs of Arad ( hu, aradi vértanúk) were the thirteen Hungarian rebel generals who were executed by the Austrian Empire on 6 October 1849 in the city of Arad, then part of the Kingdom of Hungary (now in Romania), after the H ...

in 1849. Many people still follow the tradition, although younger people often disavow it, citing that the vow was only meant to last 150 years.

References

External links

{{Hungary articles

Beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...