Efes Pilsen

Which beer is Turkey's default? There is only one answer: Efes Pilsen, a soft golden pilsner poured in nearly every meyhane and beach bar from Istanbul to the Aegean coast.

It launched in Istanbul in 1969 and took its name from Ephesus — Efes in Turkish — the ancient ruined city down the coast that draws more visitors than any bar ever will. The beer built Anadolu Efes into a brewing group with unusual reach: as markets opened across Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the 1990s, Efes went with them, and it remains a fixture from the Balkans to the steppe.

Anadolu Efes brewed about 19 million hectoliters in 2025, a figure that swings with the fate of its Russian operations — a corporate headache that says something about how far a Turkish pilsner has wandered. At home, nothing needs deciding: order "bir bira," one beer, and an Efes generally arrives unasked.

Bright gold with a quick white head and a soft, faintly sweet middle — honeyed grain and corn-silk rather than the sharp Czech pilsner template. Rice in the grist keeps the body light, and bitterness stays a polite whisper at the finish. Serve it very cold beside grilled fish and a crowded table of meze.