Beer in Slovenia is dominated by the pale lager market. The most commonly known brands of Slovenian beer, now united under the same parent company, are Laà ¡ko and Union, although a number of smaller breweries exist.
There were several minor breweries in Slovenia before the 19th century. The first lager brewery, the Laà ¡ko Brewery, was in 1825 in Laà ¡ko.
Today, two major beers dominate the market and both breweries are currently owned by Laà ¡ko Brewery (Pivovarna Laà ¡ko) after buying Union brewery with the Interbrew. Both breweries offer a variety of beers, but the most popular are plain lagers, Union beer and Laà ¡ko/Zlatorog beer. The main beer is lager, drunk in over 95% of the cases.
Since both are lagers, the beers are similar. Laà ¡ko is a bit more bitter. Union is the beer of the capital city, Ljubljana and Laà ¡ko is mostly drunk elsewhere. Estimates give Laà ¡ko beer a 60% market share.
Together with the two main breweries, there are around 127 breweries in the country.