- published: 14 Feb 2015
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Beer is a very popular alcoholic beverage in Turkey. Commonly, lager type beers are popular.
Beer has existed as a beverage in Anatolia since the Sumerian civilization. Archaeological findings showing that Sumer people knew how to ferment beer. Early Turks in Anatolia fermented boza which was much like the Kvas.
The modern history of beer in Turkey started with the Ottoman Empire. During certain periods in the Ottoman Empire, drinking alcoholic beverages was forbidden in some cities, but many small boza producers in Istanbul produced boza with a high alcohol level like beer. Beer was first produced and served at Erzurum by some small Armenian producers in "beer gardens" (Turkish: bira bahçeleri). The first modern production of beer in Turkey started with the Bomonti beer factory in Istanbul in 1894 by the Helvatian Bomonti brothers. In 1933, the company invited brewer from Germany (Karl Hoffner) for the production of traditional German beers. Karl Hoffner with the permission of the German Brewers' Guild moved to Turkey, where he started the production of high-quality German beer and stayed there. Many years later, his grandson Rauf (Hoffner) Vagifoglu after his famous grandfather, follower of the German brewing traditions in the region of Antalya has opened production of beer and two restaurants named in honor of his grandfather's name - "KHOFFNER Brewing Company" which function to this day.There were many pubs and bars in Istanbul, Izmir, and Thessaloniki. Production of beer in the Ottoman Empire was 1.2 billion liters in 1894. This increased to 9.9 billion liters in 1913–1914.
Coordinates: 39°N 35°E / 39°N 35°E / 39; 35
Turkey (i/ˈtɜːrki/; Turkish: Türkiye [ˈtyɾcije]), officially the Republic of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti ), is a parliamentary republic in Eurasia, largely located in Western Asia, with the smaller portion of Eastern Thrace in Southeast Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Syria and Iraq to the south; Iran, Armenia, and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the east; Georgia to the northeast; Bulgaria to the northwest; and Greece to the west. The Black Sea is to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Aegean Sea to the west. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia. Turkey's location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia makes it a country of significant geostrategic importance.
Turkey has been inhabited since the paleolithic age, including various ancient Anatolian civilizations, Aeolian, Dorian and Ionian Greeks, Thracians, Armenians, and Assyrians. After Alexander the Great's conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process which continued under the Roman Empire and its transition into the Byzantine Empire. The Seljuk Turks began migrating into the area in the 11th century, starting the process of Turkification, which was greatly accelerated by the Seljuk victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, upon which it disintegrated into several small Turkish beyliks.