Our Story

Expertise of more than a quarter of a century

The history of Szent András Brewery dates back more than a quarter of a century. It was then, around 1991, that the privatization of large domestic breweries began, which, in addition to acquiring the domestic beer market, would have been intended to eliminate the previous permanent shortage of beer. The situation cried out for a solution, so hundreds of small-scale breweries were soon established across the country. The former founders of our brewery, József Simkó and Csongor Rozsán, started up brewing guided by a sudden idea, even though they had not previously studied the craft – they had worked in civil and agricultural engineering. The first beer of the Szent András Brewery was released after a ten-day training, based on a popular recipe, which at that time was called Jäger, bearing the name of the German equipment manufacturer. This beer was a light Bavarian lager that we brew today to commemorate this occasion in 1993.

From the second half of the 1990s, as multinational corporations took over formerly state-owned enterprises, they began to brew beer more cheaply but with better quality than before. On the other hand, the prestige of Hungarian products was very low, so domestic brands were either squeezed out from the market or put on the lower shelves, and even the excise laws of the time – essentially ruled by the multinationals – did not come in favour of small-scale breweries. A dark era began, where Hungarian small-scale manufactures were destroyed – not only in the beer industry.

This situation needed reactions, and these were embodied in the development of our own recipes and the rise of new beers. Success also determined the future of the brewery. Once again, a small-scale Hungarian manufacture put something on the table that no one expected: Black Rose was the first premium-category, high-alcohol black beer in Hungary that was unanimously appreciated by the entire profession. It was a double-bock that was last cooked in Hungary by Antal Dreher in 1913. Riding these waves of success, the experiments continued. As there had never been an example of making beer from real fruit in Hungary, the time had come for someone to take up the task. The first Meggyes Beer was not made in vain after almost sixteen months of experiments, as it earned unanimous success. Then came a series of requests for the production of various fruity beers.

In this competitive situation, it had to be recognized that one of the pillars to stay standing and keep on moving forward lies in the bottling. This had never been seen before in small-scale manufactures in the country – mostly on the market of locally sold draft beers – so above all, the issue of adequate warranty had to be solved in terms to both technology and packaging. Since bottling and the production of quality beers had the appropriate results, Szent András Brewery showed the direction for domestic small-scale/craft beer production. Years later, the small-scale beer profession received support from the Ministry of Rural Development (in 2010), so giving birth to the first craft beer festival ‘Főzdefeszt’. From this date, the revolution of craft beers started, in which beers of Szent András played a significant role. In 2011, our brewery was announced the ‘Brewery of the Year’. In 2012, as in other EU member states, an excise law more favourable for small businesses came into effect.

The modernization of Szent András Brewery began in 2014, when local brothers Béla Bukovinszky and László Bukovinszky took over the management of the brewery. New designs, new ideas, and plenty of exciting beers arrived, all made with respect to tradition, perfecting recipes for the well-known types, and experimenting with new trends. By the end of the decade, the beers of Szent András Brewery had already won more awards than the number of years behind the brewery: this is indicated by more than thirty prizes, be it national or international awards, the Country Beer Award, design awards or the title ‘Brewery of the Year’. Today, the brewery's portfolio includes nearly twenty types of beer, complemented by seasonal specialities brewed all through the year. These include ‘Esthajnal’ (Christmas Dawn), ‘Nyúlon Innen, Nyúlon Túl’ (Here From The Rabbit, Beyond The Rabbit), and some other unique beer and small-batch series of experimental beers – in the project ‘TesztAndrás’ (TestAndras). At the beginning of 2021, the events accelerated at Szent András Brewery, one of the pioneers of Hungarian small-scale breweries. Under COVID lockdown, it was much about improvements and exploiting new opportunities. In the first phase of this period, we launched a completely new project, which is also the dream of every brewer: a playground designed for this purpose, where everything is possible. According to our brewers, “there is no impossible beer, only uncooked beer”. In the TestAndras workflow, limited edition small-batch series of only a few thousand bottles are made, which, sometimes, come from playing with raw materials, a re-thought beer, pushing the boundaries of the brewers’ imagination, (and sometimes the technical) limits of the tools. The legend of Szent András Brewery dates back more than a quarter of a century, but the story is just beginning...