Magazine: Hungarian beer drinkers are sophisticated and like trying new products

Dóra Gulyás
secretary
Association of Hungarian
Brewers

According to a survey conducted by the Association of Hungarian Brewers, in 2018 beer sales were up 1.3 percent at 6.29 million hectolitres in Hungary. The top five brewers in the country are Borsodi Brewery Kft., Dreher Breweries Zrt., Heineken Hungária Breweries Zrt., Carlsberg Hungary Kft. and Pécsi Brewery Zrt. The association opines that the sales growth was the result of hot weather and beer lovers experimenting with new products. Dóra Gulyás, secretary of the Association of Hungarian Brewers told that consumers are happy to try beers other than lager.

Geert Swaanenburg
managing director
HEINEKEN Hungária

The experts of HEINEKEN Hungária Breweries Zrt. told that more and more shoppers are choosing beers with low alcohol content, e.g. radlers or alcohol-free beers. Managing director Geert Swaanenburg called our attention to the fact that HEINEKEN Hungary plays a pioneering role in this trend with Natur Zitrone, Soproni Radler and Heineken 0.0. András Putics, key account manager of Pécsi Brewery Zrt. reported that the Hungarian beer market is undergoing a major transformation, and this process is driven by the growing demand for premium products. In line with this trend, the brewery renewed and upgraded its full product portfolio in the last two years.

György Spiegel
senior brand manager
Borsodi Sörgyár

Last year Borsodi Brewery Kft. saw its sales increase above the market average. György Spiegel, senior brand manager of the company told our magazine: it was important that shoppers didn’t only buy more, but they also showed increased demand for quality core and premium brands. In 2018 the company came out with Borsodi Mester, which proved to be a very successful innovation. Mr Putics reckons that shoppers are often looking for premium products in stores, but they end up buying beers which are only communicated to be of premium quality. Mr Swaanenburg underlined that they continue their efforts to make beers from Hungarian ingredients. The Association of Hungarian Brewers does its best to popularise draught beer consumption – informed Ms Gulyás. In 2018 sales in this segment increased by 3.6 percent to 573,000 hectolitres. She revealed that besides liking to try new products, consumers also want a new kind of beer drinking experience; this means that many of them take part in beer dinners, they pair beers with food, etc.

Ibolya Szabó
corporate affairs director
Dreher Sörgyárak

In 2017 Dreher Breweries decided to implement a long-term strategy for establishing a premium beer portfolio. We learned from Ibolya Szabó, corporate affairs director of the company, that in January 2019 the Kozel svetly product had been replaced with Kozel Premium Lager in the Hungarian market. Dreher Classic is now made from a new recipe that doesn’t contain corn syrup and it is marketed under the Dreher Gold name. This year the brewery also put Dreher Red Ale on the market and started making cold hop product Dreher Hidegkomlós without corn syrup, too. In the remaining part of the year the brewery is going to focus on strengthening the more premium image of its Kozel and Dreher products. They will organise many tasting sessions for both the Kozel and the Dreher brands. In the summer Dreher will be present at many festivals – and they will do it in a creative way that gives festival-goers a real experience.

For Borsodi innovation work doesn’t end with launching new products: they also want to treat beer lovers to the best beer experience possible. Plus in 2018 they started a 3-year development programme, as part of which the bottling plant in Bőcs was modernised and a new can-filling line was installed this spring. The company is the distributor of Staropramen beers in Hungary, which is 150 years old this year, so there will be lots of marketing activities related to this anniversary.

In 2019 Carlsberg Hungary continues building the 1664 Blanc brand. László Pusztai, marketing manager of Carlsberg Hungary Kft. informed our magazine that 1664 Blanc is a light and refreshing unfiltered wheat beer, the special taste of which is the result of orange peel and coriander being added during the brewing process. First the bottled ‘hero’ version was launched, followed by the can variant last year, and this year will bring the debut of the draught version.

Pécsi Brewery was the first to launch a gluten-free beer in Hungary. They have also been brewing unfiltered wheat bear for a year now. A special product called Pécsi Spring beer will only be available in the Pécs region, for a limited period of time. The brewery is busy trying to make its quality products available in as many places around Hungary as possible. They will also launch a television campaign for promoting the Szalon and Pécsi Prémium beers.

This spring HEINEKEN Hungária adds the Soproni Meggy Ale product to the Soproni Óvatos Duhaj portfolio: this is a top-fermented beer made with sour cherry. In the autumn the company will enter the market with Óvatos Duhaj Porter, the winner of the First Soproni Beer Contest. They will soon start a campaign promoting the Soproni, Krusovice and Desperados products. //