Credit: This story first published on History.mk | Macedonia History
If an American searches on Google: Who produces the best Coca-Cola? He will mostly frown in astonishment. The search results don’t show California, Texas, New York, Los Angeles, Denver, or Seattle. No! But Skopje, in Macedonia!
It’s not just Americans who read this, but anyone who’s looking for who has the best Coca-Cola. But especially for an American, it must be a punch in the stomach. Ironically, THE American bestseller has the best taste abroad! And that in a “mini-country” like Macedonia. Every metropolis in the USA has felt as many inhabitants, or twice as many. Maybe even more.
It is definitely a prestigious award. Because the award is not given by just anyone, but by the Coca-Cola Company itself! They carry out quality controls. It’s like an in-house competition among breweries and beverage companies in nearly 180 countries.
Around 700 companies are now involved. And the brewery in Skopje, which brews the popular Skopsko beer, won several times.
“This is a huge achievement considering we have about 600 factories in 178 states.”
Tim Bret
That’s what Tim Bret, head of the company’s Alpine and Adriatic Europe division, told the media in Skopje in 2009. The Skopje Brewery recently received repeated special recognition directly from the Coca-Cola Company’s headquarters in Atlanta, USA.
He also explained at the time how this procedure works. The company tests all of its products all year round in its laboratory in Brussels. “The results of the Skopje brewery were excellent,” he emphasized at the time. Recognition for achieving the highest production standards in the world means Macedonians drink the tastiest Coca-Cola!
The brewery in Skopje has done a good job! Therefore, let’s take a quick look at the Skopska Pivara:
Pivara Skopje AD
The brewery in Skopje was founded in 1922, a 32,347 m² plot of land was purchased next to the Skopje – Niš railway line, two kilometers east of Skopje, and construction of the factory began. Today it is practically in the middle of the city, in the Avtokomanda district not far from the new East Gate Mall.
In the same year, the industrial enterprise Parna pivarnica was founded in Skopje. The founders were two Czechs, engineer Victor Zeiss and banker Karel Husnik. At that time they invested a sum of three million dinars, which was doubled the following year and in 1924 it was nine million dinars. In the period before the war, the annual production capacity of the brewery was: 35,000 hectoliters of beer, 720 tons of beer malt, 1,500 tons of ice.
The steam brewery in Skopje arose mainly because there were no breweries south of Jagodina (Serbia). At the same time, a brewery was opened in Niš, which was smaller and with a lower capacity than the one in Skopje.
The Second World War brought no losses to the company. On the contrary, during this period production grew and the company made greater profits. It was due to the presence of armies and their beer consumption.
After the victory over fascism, a new era began in the work of Pivara Skopje, corresponding to the overall political and economic changes. Then the time began when the expansion and modernization of the company were planned.
Until 1977, Pivara Skopje only produced beer and malt. Then the production of various types of soft drinks began.
Brewery Skopje and Coca-Cola
The initial phase of the privatization process of Pivara Skopje started in 1989 with the transfer of ownership in the field of distribution and transport vehicles. In the second phase, the distribution centers were redesigned. This complex process was successfully completed in 1995.
In 1991, Pivara Skopje began producing soft drinks for The Coca-Cola Company as an authorized bottling plant. Due to the high demand for soft drinks, a line for plastic bottles (PET) was introduced in 1995.
With this, the total capacity of Pivara Skopje in the production of non-alcoholic beverages reached 948,000 hectoliters per year.
Pivara Skopje marks a quarter of a century of uninterrupted high recognition from Monde Selection for the quality of its house brand Skopsko. Also from your side there are highest recognitions for the best quality index for Coca-Cola. As well as for the innovations of the portfolio by enriching new brands, flavors and packaging.
Skopska Pivara received multiple awards
You can let it melt on your tongue. We Macedonians drink the best Coca-Cola, if you drink soft drinks at all. And with the stamp and seal of Coca-Cola itself! The archives show that this is not a flash in the pan.
Macedonia has received the Best Quality Certificate from Coca-Cola several times from the highest management.
You can also research this on Google. If you enter the search “best coca-cola” in google. The first search result that appears is (translated to German:)
Founded in 1892, Coca-Cola is one of the largest companies in the world and the largest single beverage company in the world.