History of the Brewery in Ternopil
Do you know how real live beer tastes? In any case, you should definitely try “Opillia” – a drink that has been brewed in Ternopil region for over 2 centuries.
The founding and first years of the brewery
The history of the “Opillia” brewery dates back to the end of the 19th century, when its owner was Samson Goldberg and then his daughter, Amalia Goldberg, whose name was one of the main elements on the beer label at the time. It was the first large brewery with a steam engine in Ternopil and the only one that still operates. You could buy the cheapest beer in town at this brewery and immediately bring the empty bottles back for reuse. That is why “Provalykha” (named after the area where it was located) has become one of the most popular places to hang out for young people and others.
The other five Ternopil breweries were small and served few, and sometimes only one tavern. For comparison: beer from “Provalykha” was poured in 19 restaurants and in numerous pubs in Ternopil.
Almost all beer until the middle of the 20th century was brewed, fermented and stored in wooden barrels.
Julium Boar became the next owner of the brewery and since then begins the production of such brands of beer as Bock (mostly dark), Marzen (from March), and Lezak. Some of this beer was exported to Europe
Post-war period and nationalization of the plant
The war did not hinder the development of the brewery. If in 1925 the number of workers was five, then in 1932 – it was seven. The owners of the brewery changed the same year – they became Lezar Kirchner and Marek Blumenfeld. For the first time during their rule, the brewery brewed 68 decaliters of beer a year!
Nationalization had a positive effect on production. Until the 1950s, such processes as cooling beer, washing containers, pouring and transportation of finished products were performed manually at the plant. After the brewery officially changed its name to “Ternopil Brewery No.1”, the former “Provalykha” was modernized. This is how the first stage of the plant's reconstruction took place. Wooden vats were replaced by metal ones, beer was cooled by artificial cold, and beer bottling processes were mechanized. All this allowed increasing the capacity of the plant to 350 thousand dal/year.
The glass bottling line appeared in the late '60s along with the completion of the lager department during the second phase of the plant's reconstruction. The capacity of “Ternopil Brewery No.1" has tripled. And after another stage of reconstruction, beer production has already reached the mark of one million decaliters per year.
Like most businesses, the brewery experienced some losses during the difficult times in the country. This was reflected in both sales and production: sales fell significantly and the product range decreased. An additional and unpleasant issue was the fact that the brewery operated in the form of a rental enterprise. In the end, the management of the plant decided to privatize it and change its form of ownership to an open joint-stock company.
Arrival of a new team of managers
A new management team came to the plant in 2011, including Yaroslav Dzhodzhyk, the current Honorary Chairman of “Opillia”.
A new stage in the history of the revival of “Opillia” begins. At the heart of his strategy is a return to brewing “live beer” according to ancient Ukrainian traditions.
Thanks to investors, the plant was modernized and automated. A new brewhouse with much more power and an automated washing system for cooking equipment was put into operation. Work has begun on the start-up of new fermentation and proofing cellars. The refrigeration equipment was reconstructed, as a result of which the company completely abandoned ammonia refrigeration systems.
Moreover, during January-May of 2011, we managed to almost double the volume of main production. In addition to traditional beers, we now have kvass obtained through natural fermentation. Opillia Brewery has resumed production of well-known Zhyhulivske and Kniazhe beers.
Since 2012, the production of Opillia Corporation has been growing by 50% every year. The company's products appear on the markets of Odesa, Dnipro, and Kherson regions. Sales in Lviv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr and Volyn regions have significantly expanded.
Opillia becomes the largest taxpayer in Ternopil region.
A new stage of modernization
The next stage of production facilities modernization started in 2013.
- A brewhouse with a capacity of 2.2 thousand hL/day was launched. A glass bottling line with a capacity of 24,000 bottles was put into operation. 0.5 l. bottles per hour, PET line with a capacity of 9,000 of 1 liter bottles per hour. The total capacity of KEG lines has been increased to 180 keg/h.
- More than 24,000 hL of storage cellars were built, 17.5 thous hL of basic fermentation capacity, a silo facility with a capacity of 300 cubic meters was launched, as well as a filtration section with a capacity of up to 300 hL/h, a yeast department and clean yeast culture department, water treatment complex with a total capacity of 400 hL/h.
- In total, about 10 thousand m2 of production facilities and an administrative building with an area of over 1.2 thousand m2 have been built. The total capacity of the enterprise has increased five times since the beginning of modernization. The growth rate is about 1.5 thousand m2 of production capacity per year, up to 3 thousand meters of pipelines and about 1.5 thousand cubic meters of new capacities each year.
Despite the continuing decline of the beer market in Ukraine during 2016-2018, “Opillia” has been one of the few companies that developed and showed positive growth dynamics.
- In 2017, the Ternopil brand was listed in the TOP-100 most expensive brands in Ukraine by ranking 88th.
- According to experts from MPP Consulting and Novoe Vremya magazine, the value of the Opillia brand was $ 6.2 million.
- Opillia has become one of the most promising players in the non-alcoholic beer industry.
Modern years 2020 - 2021 at the brewery:
- New administrative and production facilities have been built and work has begun there.
- A new automated yeast department was launched, a 9-storage cellar was built, modern grain preparation and a wet crushing mill were installed, and transformer substations were modernized.
The management makes maximum efforts by skillfully combining the introduction of the most modern technologies and preserving the true taste of “Opillia”.
Today, “Opillia” is more than ten unique varieties of real live beer. This is the traditional taste of the drink, made according to original recipes from natural, high quality and environmentally friendly raw materials from Podillya.