Did you know that the name of the Vizir brewery is associated with a mighty horse? When they started winemaking, they were called Mithraeum, the Latin name for the Temple of Mithras, which is hard to write and hard to read. “And when we presented ourselves at the wine festival in Ljubljana, it was a disaster,” explained Denis. When they decided to produce beer, they knew they needed a new, short and harmonious name, one without the special Slovene characters for the sake of potential international trade. During this period, they fell in love with horses and wanted to transfer their love for horses to their new brand. And so, they decided on the name Vizir.

Vizir was the name of Napoleon Bonaparte’s horse. It was a majestic horse and especially close to the heart of a mighty conqueror, so he rode it only on special occasions and in battles. They also had a foal at home, which they named Vizir, and he grew into a strong racehorse.

Maja and Denis also looked for inspiration among the names of horses. The first beers were named after their own horses, and later the names were taken from the literature (so they were named Calvados, Sultan, etc.). They were guided in their choice by the characteristics of beer and the horse that bore the same name. Over time, they also sought inspiration from everyday life, in the ingredients of beer and favourite songs (such as Gringo, Yellow Submarine, etc.).

At the very beginning, when they still had the original labels and were still a very young brewery, they chose Slovenian names for their beers, as they wanted to honour the Slovenian language. The beers were called Nori Franc (now Maximus), Stanko Kostanko (chestnut beer), Matevž (beer with potatoes and beans, etc.) The target group at the time did not appreciate this, which is why they moved to the more international (current) names when they switched labels.

Mr. Pride beer was created in 2016 and submitted for evaluation even before it was given a name. Thus, while filling in the application form, Maja asked Denis what name to write and suggested the name “Secret”, because its real name was still a secret.

They received a bronze medal at the evaluation, and later, when they offered it to their non-English-speaking guests and customers, they pronounced the English word “secret” as ‘sekret’ (Slovenian colloquial term for a toilet), which led to the name being changed. And because they were proud of the award the beer received, they named it Mr. Pride.