Kamenitza () is one of the top-selling

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

companies based in the city of

Haskovo Haskovo ( ) is a city in the region of Northern Thrace in southern Bulgaria and the administrative centre of the Haskovo Province, not far from the borders with Greece and Turkey. According to Operative Program Regional Development of Bulgaria ...

. It was established in 1881 and is currently owned by the multinational

Molson Coors Molson Coors Beverage Company is a Canadian-American Multinational corporation, multinational Drink industry, drink and brewing company, brewing company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Molson Coors was formed in 2005 through the merger of Mo ...

. The brewery has a wide variety of lager and dark beers. Its slogan is "Mazhete znayat zashto" which translates to "Men know why." Kamenitza had an 18% share of the Bulgarian beer market in 2005 according to data from

ACNielsen NIQ (also known as NielsenIQ, formerly known as ACNielsen or AC Nielsen) is a global marketing research firm, with worldwide headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The company has approximately 30,000 employees and operates in more ...

. The company is a sponsor of the

Bulgaria national football team The Bulgaria national football team () represents Bulgaria in men's international Association football, football, and is administered by the Bulgarian Football Union, a member association of UEFA. Bulgaria's best achievements are reaching the ...

. Kamenitza currently has six brands: Light (4.4% ABV), Dark (6% ABV),

non-alcoholic An alcohol-free or non-alcoholic drink, also known as a temperance drink, is a version of an alcoholic drink made without alcohol, or with the alcohol removed or reduced to almost zero. These may take the form of a non-alcoholic mixed drink or non ...

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

and Fresh (lemon- and grapefruit-flavoured, 2.1% ABV).Kamenitza brands
Kamenitza.bg. Retrieved Mar 2013.

History

In 1881 three

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

entrepreneurs built a brewery in

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

on a hill called

Kamenitza Kamenitza () is one of the top-selling Bulgarian beer companies based in the city of Haskovo. It was established in 1881 and is currently owned by the multinational Molson Coors. The brewery has a wide variety of lager and dark beers. Its slogan ...

and used the name as their brand. The drink of choice for most Bulgarians at the time was

lager Lager (; ) is a Type of beer, style of beer brewed and Brewing#Conditioning, conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be Pale lager, pale, Amber lager, amber, or Dark lager, dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially availab ...

, but Kamenitza broke new ground by producing the first dark beer for the market. By the 1890s they won awards at international exhibitions, including

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

regime nationalised Kamenitza: first, in 1947, as part of the state-owned ''Alcoholic Beverages'', then in 1952 as part of '' Vinprom''. The Belgian multinational company

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 ...

bought the Bulgarian breweries Kamenitza, Astika and

Burgasko Pivo Astika is a brewery making a blond pilsner with an alcohol content of 5% ABV in the city of Haskovo, in southern Bulgaria. Overview The brand has a leading position in the Bulgarian premium segment. The brewery draws on the best deep-lying wat ...

in 1995 and added Plevensko Pivo in 1997. During 1997 to 2005, InBev invested 86.3 million leva in Bulgaria, and in 2005 Kamenitza sold 800,000 hectoliters, making it the best-selling domestic beer. 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 Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian multinational drink and brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest brewer in the world, and in 2023, was ranked 72nd in the ''Forbes'' Global 2000. Additio ...

's holdings in Central Europe 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. Since the early 2010s, Kamenitza bottles have pull-off caps.

Gallery

Image:kamenitza-can-new-logo.jpg, 500 ml Kamenitza can, 2000s logo File:Kamenitza logo.jpg, Kamenitza 2010s logo File:Kamenitza beers.1.JPG, Kamenitza brands, 2010s

References

External links

kamenitza.bg
– official website Beer in Bulgaria Economy of Plovdiv Bulgarian companies established in 1881 Molson Coors brands Bulgarian brands 1881 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Organizations based in Plovdiv CVC Capital Partners companies {{Bulgaria-stub