Nikšićko pivo

A brewery at the foot of Trebjesa

Nikšić, one of Montenegro’s main industrial towns, lies at the foot of Trebjesa hill, the name the brewery shares. Wikipedia’s article on the city lists the brewery among its major industries, alongside a steel mill and a bauxite mine.

According to Wikipedia, Montenegrin brewing began in 1896, when Vuko Krivokapić built the Onogošt brewery in Nikšić with the support of Prince Nicholas. In 1908 a group of Nikšić entrepreneurs decided to build a second brewery, named Trebjesa, which produced its first beer in 1911. Molson Coors, the brewery’s owner today, dates the founding of Trebjesa to 1896 and describes it as the first and only brewery in Montenegro.

From Interbrew to Molson Coors

The brewing group Interbrew bought a majority stake in Trebjesa in 1997; the Serbian-language Wikipedia puts the price at 25 million German marks. In 2009 the investment firm CVC Capital Partners bought Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Central European breweries, Trebjesa among them, and renamed the group StarBev. Molson Coors acquired StarBev in 2012.

The brewery produces a small range of beers under the Nik name, and also bottles several international brands for the Montenegrin market.

The beers

The main beer, Nikšićko pivo, is a light lager. Molson Coors describes it as a light beer. The wider family includes Nikšićko Tamno, a dark beer of 6.2% alcohol made with aromatic malt; Nikšićko Nefiltrirano, an unfiltered lager of 5.4%; Nikšićko Gold, at 5.2%; and Nikšićko Cool Grapefruit, a 2% drink sold only in Montenegro. Both Tamno and Nefiltrirano are meant to be served at 3–5 °C.

Montenegro’s everyday beer

Wikipedia calls Trebjesa’s beer by far the most popular and most consumed in Montenegro. It is also sold in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and smaller quantities go to France, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and England. Molson Coors lists the core beer in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Poland, and Nikšićko Tamno also in Serbia.

Writing for Roads & Kingdoms in 2016, Jake Romm described it as the national beer of Montenegro, poured for guests the moment they arrived at a party in the mountains above Kotor, with a platter of ham and cheese close behind.

In Emblem World, Nikšićko pivo sits in the Montenegro drink collection, where people discover and rate local food, drink and music.