More than 180 years ago Franz Geyer built the first brewery in Laško where stone beer (Ger. Steinbier) was brewed, which makes him a pioneer of the Slovenian brewing industry. After its bankruptcy in 1889 the brewery was revived by its new owner Simon Kukec who was dubbed the father of Laško beer. Pivovarna Laško becomes a symbol of Slovenian identity. Production resumed after World War II but faced many challenges in the years that followed. In the early 1970s, annual beer sales reached the 500,000 hl mark. Throughout the 1990s, the focus was on social responsibility. In 1994, a million hectolitres of beer were sold for the first time since Yugoslavia's disintegration. Nowadays the Pivovarna Laško Group annually produces over 5 million hectolitres of drinks, manages 30 leading beverage brands and its good business results make it one of the most successful Slovenian companies.

In 2002 the Union Brewery in Ljubljana was acquired. In 2016 Laško and Union were formally merged into Pivovarna Laško Union d.d. under the owner Heineken.