The only whiskey made in Slovakia
Slovakia is famous for many things, including the beautiful castles or ice hockey, but not long ago people also started to talk about the first and also only Slovak whiskey, being made in the east of Slovakia. We had the pleasure to visit the distillery which offers much more than just whiskey.
There are many things close by one can enjoy, like the castle Stará Ľubovňa and when you are looking for something else the Nestville Distillery is perfect as well. Even more so for families with children. Let’s start right away with the practical stuff.
Accessibility
In terms of getting there, it’s pretty easy. It’s conveniently located on road number 77, no matter whether you are coming from Stará Ľubovňa or Poprad, it’s right next to the road.
Now, be aware to take the right entrance. There are two gates and it might be confusing at first. We ourselves almost took the wrong one.
Parking is available for free, but it can be more crowded during the peak of the season.
Practical Information
OPENING HOURS
MAY – SEPTEMBER
MO – SUN: 10:00am – 6:00pm
(last entry at 6:00pm)
OCTOBER – APRIL
MO: CLOSED
TUE – SUN: 10:00am – 4:00pm
(last entry at 4:00pm)
ADMISSION
You can buy the tickets online (which I recommend), but also right there at the place. The lady selling them knows English also very well and was very helpful.
As for the tickets themselves, there are four options you can choose from.
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- Adults: 8€
- Kids/Juniors: 4€
- Seniors: 6€
- Penguins: free entry
There is also a possibility for a family package (2 adults and 2 juniors) for the price of 20€.
Buy tickets here – link.
A little bit of history
- The name Nestville Park was created by combining two wordsNEST (meaning nest) and VILLE (abbreviation of the English word village).
- The distillery is located only 5 km (3.10 miles) east of Stará Ľubovňa in the village called Hniezdne.
- In the area of Upper Spis there were many written documents of spirits production.
- The archive documents show that the oldest preserved Slovakian distillery from the latter half of the 18th century is situated in Stara Lubovna and the company decided to renew this legacy.
- This was one of the key reasons why BGV s.r.o., which is located directly in the picturesque Spis village of Hniezdne, decided to revive the tradition of quality “palenka” (spirit) production in the region.
- Records as early as 1747 indicate that a part of the rye grown below the castle was given to the local “gorzelnik” to distill “gorzalka” (a general term for spirits from wheat and other grains from which, e.g., vodka is produced).
- The alcohol was produced in the same way as whisky.
- The Morgenbesser family from Stara Lubovna later drew from the old distilling tradition. The Nestville Distillery continues in the production of high-quality spirits.
Read more about the castle Stará Ľubovňa
Impressions
What we really liked was that the overall exhibition is divided into three parts:
- the historical one – an exhibition of folk crafts.
- the modern one – one of the most modern refineries in central Europe.
- the traditional one – the Carving Hall with the largest wooden picture in Europe.
The exhibition starts at the “Zvonica” where the guide sounds the bells out loud.
Also, there is time to take pictures in groups or alone, the guide takes pictures themselves which you will receive at the end of the tour.
Then you continue on to the historical part of the exhibition where you will learn how whiskey is made basically from scratch, and what methods were used in the past. It’s very pleasant to follow and there are parts where you can step into the exhibition yourself and make for example a coin to keep as a souvenir.
And, believe me it is harder to make the coin than it looks, but in the end, it’s a lot of fun.
Thanks to the exhibition you can imagine the past pretty well.
After the historical route you get to know a little bit more from the present and how it works. The guide takes you to some of the production lines or the silo and talks more about how much is produced and how much stays, which surprised us. The majority of the alcohol created here is exported.
One thing I have to note is when you enter where the yeast is made, be prepared for the smell to hit you hard. Although the smell is strong, it’s magnificent to see so much yeast in one place.
After that, the tour pretty much ends in the Nestville Tavern, where if you paid extra you can get your own whiskey tasting, but there is one activity making it even more fun.
The activity I am talking about is pouring your own bottle of whiskey. Also paid extra (about 16€).
But it’s fun as you first pour the whiskey into the bottle, but also have to seal it and then put the sticker on it.
And it’s harder to do than you first think. We messed up the sticker part.
There is also a possibility to buy your own barrel and let it sit there for safekeeping.
The overall impression of the distillery was pleasant. It is fairly new, but you can learn much and there are other things to entertain yourself with as well.
And then my favorite part – the chocolate shop. Which is also a restaurant, but for us, it was all about buying chocolate and drinking it and eating it. We bought also some for a home for later.
Be prepared though it is sweet, especially the white chocolate. And while you enjoy the chocolate your kids can play at the playground where an enormous stork stands in the middle. Here we have to give a minus point as you have to pay for the playground extra and it’s only a limited time you get.
Apart from this the Nestville Park offers as well a market, to shop is, an ice rink during winter and you can even rent an apartment if you wish to stay longer in the area and explore it. Next to the apartments are even horses.
There is much to see here and you can find it a nice half a day spent here.
Visit their site here for more information – link.