Do it yourself Carlsberg Bulgaria relies on state-ofthe-art bottling technology

For the first time, Carlsberg Bulgaria is filling its own beer into beverage cans - relying on proven high-tech and comprehensive service from KHS.

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Beer production has a long tradition here: In 1882, brewer Franz Milde opened one of the country’s oldest breweries in the eastern Bulgarian town of Shumen. Nationalized in 1944, Shumensko Pivo, as the company was called, produced around 350,000 hectoliters of beer annually in the 1960s — partly with the help of a bottling plant imported from the former GDR. Reprivatized in 1999, Shumensko became part of the Carlsberg Group in 2002 together with Pirinsko Pivo, founded in 1967. Based in Blagoevgrad, near the border with North Macedonia and Greece, the company was already brewing around 400,000 hectoliters of beer by 1980.

More than the sum of its parts

Finally, in 2004, the two companies merged under the name Carlsberg Bulgaria, creating one of the country’s leading beverage companies. Today, the two plants together bottle well over 2 million hectoliters of beer. These include the two traditional local beers, Pirinsko - the market leader in the domestic market - and Shumensko, which ranks third. The international portfolio also includes the Danish premium brand Tuborg, Žatecký, brewed with Czech hops, as well as 1664 Blanc, Budweiser, Erdinger, and Grimbergen, which the company distributes. Somersby Cider and the beer mix Garage round out the diverse product range.

Market leader with potential