Borsodi Brewery or Brewery of Borsod (Borsodi Sörgyár Rt.) is a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

located in the village of Bőcs, near

Miskolc Miskolc ( , ; ; Czech language, Czech and ; ; ; ) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 as of 1 January 2014, Miskolc is the List of cities and towns in Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, ...

, the capital of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county in northeastern

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

History

Construction of a 22,000 m² brewery began in 1969 in the village of Bőcs,

. The brewery began producing beer in 1973 with initial production of 874,000 hl. In 1991 after the fall of communism, the brewery was privatized and in 1993 it was purchased by the Belgian

Interbrew Interbrew is subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV is based in Breda, Netherlands. It has one subsidiary, Ambev S.A. of São Paulo, Brazil. Brands Interbrew brands have historically included Budweiser, Stella Artois, Boddingtons Brewery, Boddi ...

(now

InBev InBev () was a brewing company that resulted from the merger between Belgium-based company Interbrew and Brazilian brewer AmBev which took place in 2004. It existed independently until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in 2008, which formed Anheu ...

). The purchase of the brewery led to significant improvements in several aspects of brewing including higher quality, use of improved technology, and better product development. Although the company has been under foreign ownership since 1993, it still produces a line of Hungarian beers in addition to some foreign beers brewed under license. At the Borsodi Sörgyár Rt. plant in Bőcs,

northern Hungary Northern Hungary (, ) is a region in Hungary. As a statistical region it includes the counties Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Heves and Nógrád, but in colloquial speech it usually also refers to Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county. The region is in the ...

, another brewery with a capacity of 370 million liters per year for Ft 1.5 billion was put into operation in March 2005. The plant produces about 33% more beer than the old one. The huge boilers and vats imported from

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

are able to manage 28 tons of raw material at once. The process consumes 10% less energy. In mid October 2009, private equity fund

CVC Capital Partners CVC Capital Partners plc is a Jersey-based private equity and investment advisory firm with approximately €186 billion of assets under management and approximately €157 billion in secured commitments since inception across American, European, ...

bought all of Anheuser–Busch InBev's holdings in

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

(including Borsod) for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

2.23 billion. They renamed the operations StarBev. In 2012, the StarBev Group was taken over by

Molson Coors Brewing Company Molson Coors Beverage Company is a Canadian-American multinational drink and brewing company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Molson Coors was formed in 2005 through the merger of Molson of Canada, and Coors of the United States. In 2016, ...

, an American-Canadian brewing company which is the fifth biggest brewer in the world. Borsodi is a market leader in Hungary. During the socialist period, all breweries in Hungary had defined regions, where they operated. There was no competition between the breweries for local markets. Borsodi was in charge of the eastern part of Hungary and supplied this market. After the

privatization Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

process in the early 1990s, all breweries became competitors as they fought for the largest possible share of the Hungarian market. Borsodi managed to remain competitive and strengthened its position on the Hungarian beer market by offering beer drinkers a wide range of brands. The brewery's main brand is “Borsodi Sör”. In order to maintain and improve the market position, the company is using marketing communication activities: The brewery regularly participates in the organization and sponsorship of various sports and music events. Borsodi collaborates with the university of Miskloc for market research projects. The university also has a post-graduate program in which Borsodi's staff is trained. The brewery is also collaborating with the Food and Agricultural University (Kertészeti Egyetem) located in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, which trains food engineers.

Beers

As of October 2005, ''Borsodi Sörgyár'' produces 5 kinds of Hungarian beer. The beers are well known throughout Hungary. *Borsodi Sör (4.6% alcohol, pale lager) – The flagship of the brewery and best-selling beer brand in

is a traditional golden-colored light beer. *Borsodi Bivaly (6.5% alcohol, Hungarian lager) – Introduced in 2004 as a stronger (both in taste and alcohol content) light-colored beer. *Borsodi Barna (6.7% alcohol, dark German style) *Borsodi Póló (0.5% alcohol, non-alcoholic beer) – A light, non-alcoholic beer introduced in 1996. *Borostyán (5.2% alcohol, amber) – A premium beer introduced in 2003 using a unique roasted malt which gives it an amber color, and a mildly bitter taste. *Borsodi Super Dry (4% alcohol) ''Borsodi Sörgyár'' also produces Beck's and

Stella Artois Stella Artois ( , ) is a pilsner beer, first brewed in 1926 by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven, Belgium. In its original form, the beer is 5.2 per cent Alcohol by volume, ABV, the country's standard for pilsners. The beer is sold in many EU countrie ...

under license. In addition to the beers it brews on site, ''Borsodi Sörgyár'' sells and distributes

Belle-vue Kriek Belle-Vue Brewery is a brewery founded in 1913 in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Molenbeek, Brussels by Philémon Vandenstock from nearby Itterbeek, which lies in a region known for its lambic type of beer. A variety of Belle-Vue lambic and fruit beers a ...

Hoegaarden Hoegaarden () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, one of the three Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium. The municipality comprises the villages of Hoegaar ...

, Leffe, and Staropramen in

External links

Official website

Brewery website

References

{{Reflist

- Magyar Sörgyártók Szövetsége (Federation of Hungarian Breweries)
InBev – Local brands
– Borsodi sör
InBev – Local brands
– Borostyán

Molson Coors brands Breweries in Hungary Beer brands of Hungary Beer in Hungary Hungarian brands Food and drink companies of Hungary Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County CVC Capital Partners companies