Astika is a brewery

Brewery

A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....

 making a blond pilsner with an alcohol

Alcohol

In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....

 content of 5% ABV in the city of Haskovo

Haskovo

Haskovo , is a city, an administrative centre of the homonymous Haskovo Province in southern Bulgaria, not far from the borders with Greece and Turkey. As of February 2011, it has a population of 74,843 inhabitants....

, in southern Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

. The brand has a leading position in the Bulgarian premium segment

Premium segment

In marketing and advertising, premium refers to a segment of a company's brands or products that carries tangible or imaginary surplus value in the upper mid- to high price range. The targeted high income customer group is also frequently referred to as "premium". Premium brands are designed to...

. The brewery draws on the best deep-lying water in Thrace

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

. Astika is characterized by a pale golden hue, a long-lasting white foam, and a taste which balances a slightly honey like flavor with a soft bitterness. It should be served cold at 5°C.

Astika, together with market leader Kamenitza

Kamenitza

Kamenitza is one of the top-selling Bulgarian beer companies, based in the city of Plovdiv. Established in 1881 and owned by StarBev, the brewery has a wide variety of lager and dark beers....

, was one of many Bulgarian breweries owned by InBev

InBev

InBev is a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. The company existed independently for several years - since the merger between Interbrew and AmBev and until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch. InBev has operations in over 30 countries and sales in over 130 countries...

. In mid October 2009, private equity fund CVC Capital Partners

CVC Capital Partners

CVC Capital Partners is one of the top five largest private equity firms globally with approximately US$46 billion in funds focused on management buyouts...

 bought all of Anheuser–Busch InBev

Anheuser–Busch InBev

Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. is a Belgian-Brazilian publicly-traded company, based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest global brewer with nearly 25% global market share and one of the world's top five consumer products companies by EBITA....

's holdings in Central Europe for €2.23 billion. They renamed the operations StarBev.