Vergina Weiss

Vergina Weiss is a Hefeweizen wheat beer produced by Macedonian Thrace Brewery, an independent Greek brewery founded in 1996 by Demetri Politopoulos and based in Komotini, in the Thrace region of northern Greece. It is part of the Vergina Beer family, a range that began with Vergina Premium Lager in 1998 and grew into one of Greece's best-known independent beer brands. Vergina Weiss is the brewery's top-fermented wheat offering, positioned as a 100% Greek beer made from Greek raw materials. The beer is a cloudy, light amber Hefeweizen with 5.4% alcohol by volume and an energy value of 45 kcal per 100 ml. Its recipe uses Thracian malt wheat, blonde and specialty caramelized barley malts, H. Magnum and T. Tettnanger hops, top-fermenting yeast and water. The top-fermenting yeast gives the beer its distinctive hazy appearance and a rich, fruity aroma dominated by clove and banana. It is packaged in 0.5-litre bottles and 20-litre kegs, with a stated shelf life of nine months in bottle and four months in keg. The brewery recommends serving it at 4–6°C in a bespoke Vergina Weiss glass, first pouring about 80% of the beer and then swirling and adding the yeast sediment from the bottle. Vergina Weiss has earned international recognition in the Hefeweizen category. According to the brewery, it has won numerous awards and distinctions, including Germany's Beer Star and England's International Brewing Award, as well as medals at the Concours International de Lyon: a gold medal in 2021 and silver medals in 2022 and 2023. This award record supports its positioning as one of the world's best-recognized Hefeweizen-style beers and as a flagship export product for Greek brewing. The brand sits within the wider Vergina Beer portfolio, which is produced by Macedonian Thrace Brewery. The brewery was established in Komotini because of the high-quality water flowing from the Rhodope mountain range and the region's strategic proximity to European and Asian markets. The company describes its mission as listening to market needs, creating innovative high-quality products from Greek raw materials, and adding value to Greek agriculture. Vergina Weiss therefore represents both a specific product — a Greek Hefeweizen — and the broader ambition of a Greek independent brewery to build a genuine Greek beer identity with international appeal.

Vergina Weiss is a product of Macedonian Thrace Brewery, a Greek independent brewery established in 1996 by Demetri Politopoulos. The brewery's origin story is closely tied to its founder's ambition to create a genuinely Greek beer. Politopoulos, born in Athens, studied Chemical Engineering and earned an MBA from the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, USA, before specializing in brewing with a Brewing Technology Diploma from the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago. He returned to Greece with the goal of producing, bottling and marketing top-quality beer made from Greek malting barley and carrying a Greek label. He chose Komotini, in the Thrace region of northern Greece, as the brewery's home. The location was selected for the high-quality water flowing from the Rhodope mountain range — according to tradition, the place where the first Greek beer was produced in ancient times — and for its strategic proximity to the markets of the rest of Europe and Asia. Macedonian Thrace Brewery was thus founded in 1996, and in 1998 it brewed Vergina Premium Lager, marking the beginning of what the company describes as the journey of the first 100% authentic Greek beer and a Greek beer revolution. Vergina Weiss emerged as the brewery's Hefeweizen wheat beer within the expanding Vergina Beer range. It is a top-fermented wheat beer made with Thracian malt wheat, blonde and specialty caramelized barley malts, H. Magnum and T. Tettnanger hops, top-fermenting yeast and water. The use of a special top-fermenting yeast gives the beer its hazy appearance and its characteristic fruity aroma with notes of clove and banana. It is brewed to 5.4% alcohol by volume and packaged in 0.5-litre bottles and 20-litre kegs. Over time, Vergina Weiss gained international recognition in the Hefeweizen category. The brewery states that the beer has brought home numerous international awards and distinctions, including Germany's Beer Star and England's International Brewing Award. Its award record also includes medals at the Concours International de Lyon: a gold medal in 2021 and silver medals in 2022 and 2023. These accolades helped position Vergina Weiss as one of the world's very best in the Hefeweizen category, according to the brewery, and as a flagship Greek export beer. The brand remains active as part of Macedonian Thrace Brewery's portfolio. The company continues to emphasize its values of listening to market needs, creating innovative high-quality products from Greek raw materials, and adding value to Greece's agricultural production. Vergina Weiss therefore represents both a specific award-winning wheat beer and the broader project of building a Greek beer identity rooted in local ingredients and brewing tradition.

• 2022

  Vergina Weiss wins a Silver Medal at the Concours International de Lyon.

• 2021

  Vergina Weiss wins a Gold Medal at the Concours International de Lyon.

• 1998

  Vergina Premium Lager is brewed, beginning the Vergina Beer range.

• 1996

  Macedonian Thrace Brewery is established in Komotini, Greece, by Demetri Politopoulos.

Award-winning Greek Hefeweizen made from Greek raw materials, positioned as a 100% authentic Greek beer with international recognition.

• Vergina Weiss Hefeweizen

  Top-fermented wheat beer, 5.4% ABV, cloudy light amber, clove and banana aroma, 0.5L bottle and 20L keg.

• Vergina Premium Lager

  The brewery's first beer, brewed in 1998.

1. 1VERGINA Weiss - Vergina Beerverginabeer.com
2. 2History - Vergina Beerverginabeer.com
3. 3Vergina Weiss - Wikidatawikidata.org