Top 10 Distilleries in Slovenia
Slovenia is a small country with an outsized relationship to quality. Its wines have achieved international recognition well beyond the country's scale. Its cuisine draws on alpine, Central European, and Mediterranean traditions simultaneously. And its spirits — long overshadowed by more prominent neighbours — are produced with a care and craft that deserves far greater attention than they currently receive. The dominant tradition is schnapps: fruit brandy made from plums, pears, apples, and quinces grown in the agricultural lowlands of the Drava and Sava river valleys, and distilled in copper pot stills by small family operations that have been doing the same work for generations.
The Williams Christ pear — whose spirit, Williamsbirne or viljamovka, is Slovenia's most internationally recognisable exported spirit — grows particularly well in the Goriška Brda region of western Slovenia, where the Soča river valley's mild climate and well-drained soils allow the pear to develop extraordinary aromatic intensity. Alongside these traditional productions, a younger generation of Slovenian distillers has begun producing gin, whisky, and botanical spirits that draw on the country's remarkable biodiversity — Slovenia has one of the highest proportions of forested land in Europe, and its forests and alpine meadows are rich in edible and aromatic plants. Find these producers using the distillery map.
1. Roškar Distillery, Goriška Brda
In the Goriška Brda wine region of western Slovenia — a landscape of gentle hills, vineyards, and cherry orchards just across the border from Collio in northeast Italy — the Roškar family has been producing fruit spirits for several generations. The distillery's Williams pear brandy, made from the aromatic Williams Christ variety grown on the estate, is widely regarded as one of the finest expressions of this style produced anywhere. The pears are harvested at precise ripeness, fermented slowly in stainless-steel tanks, and distilled in a traditional copper pot still. The resulting spirit has an intensely floral, almost parfum-like pear aroma and a clean, long finish. Roškar has won recognition at international spirits competitions and distributes to specialty spirits shops across Europe.
2. Kmetija Štekar, Vipava Valley
The Vipava Valley in southwestern Slovenia is one of the country's premier wine regions, and the Štekar farm estate produces both wine and fruit brandy using traditional Vipava methods. The distillery's plum brandy (slivovka) uses local Wangenheim plums fermented naturally without added sugar, while the apple brandy draws on old-variety Vipava apples — varieties that have been grown in the valley for centuries and whose concentrated, complex character cannot be replicated by modern commercial varieties. The bora wind that sweeps down the Karst plateau into the Vipava Valley is a defining characteristic of this landscape, and its drying influence on the orchards and vineyards shapes the character of both fruit and spirit.
3. Destilarna Jagodič, Prekmurje
Prekmurje is Slovenia's easternmost region, separated from the rest of the country by the Mura river and sharing its culture with the adjacent Hungarian Őrség. The Jagodič family distillery in Prekmurje produces traditional schnapps from local orchard fruit — plums, apples, pears — using methods that reflect the Hungarian-influenced tradition of the region. Prekmurje's continental climate, with cold winters and warm summers, produces stone fruit with high sugar content and firm structure, ideal for distillation. The Jagodič expressions are known for their directness and intensity, with no concession to sweetness or smoothness: these are honest, uncompromising spirits in the Central European tradition.
4. Gorenjka Distillery, Radovljica
The Radovljica area in the Gorenjska region at the foot of the Julian Alps is home to a cluster of distillers who work with alpine fruit and wild-gathered botanicals. Gorenjka Distillery focuses on pear and quince brandy made from the old-variety trees that grow in the orchard gardens of traditional Gorenjska farmsteads — trees that are often decades or even centuries old, with highly individualised character. The distillery also produces a botanically complex alpine schnapps using wild juniper, gentian, and mountain herbs gathered from the surrounding Karavanke and Julian Alps ranges. The Julian Alps provide a dramatic backdrop to production and are visible from the distillery's courtyard.
5. Gin Brin, Kranj
Gin Brin is Slovenia's most acclaimed craft gin producer, founded in Kranj in the Gorenjska region. The gin is made using Slovenian botanicals including hops from the Savinja Valley — Slovenia is a significant European hop-producing region — alongside juniper, coriander, angelica, and citrus. The hop component gives Gin Brin an unusual character: the resinous, floral quality of Savinja hops (varieties like Styrian Goldings, produced just across the border in Slovenia's portion of the historic Styrian hop region) translates into the gin as a herbal, almost beer-adjacent note that distinguishes it from most European craft gins. Gin Brin has won international awards and is distributed in several European markets.
6. Perutnina Ptuj / Old Pepovnik Distillery, Ptuj
Ptuj, Slovenia's oldest documented town — Roman Poetovio — sits in the wine and fruit-growing region of Štajerska (Slovenian Styria), in the northeast of the country. The Pepovnik family distillery near Ptuj has been producing fruit spirits for generations, working primarily with local plums and pears grown in the Drava valley below the Pohorje massif. The continental Styrian climate — with its clearly defined seasons and significant temperature variation — produces fruit with concentrated flavour, and the distillery processes the harvest using traditional copper pot stills of a design unchanged since the inter-war period. Ptuj's wine tourism infrastructure makes the surrounding region an accessible destination for spirits visitors arriving from Austria or Hungary.
7. Metlika Winery and Distillery, Bela Krajina
In the remote Bela Krajina region of southern Slovenia — a forested landscape along the Kolpa river that forms the border with Croatia — the Metlika Winery produces both wine and spirit from local grapes and fruit. The region's specialty is a Cviček wine (a light red blend indigenous to Dolenjska and Bela Krajina), and the distillery produces brandy from this wine alongside lozovica — pomace brandy made from the pressed grape skins. Bela Krajina's warm, sheltered valleys produce grapes with good sugar levels, and the pomace spirit has more body than the lighter northern Slovenian fruit brandies. The isolation of the Bela Krajina region has preserved production methods that have changed little over a century.
8. Kooperativa Zagradec, Dolenjska
The Dolenjska wine region of southeastern Slovenia is known for its Cviček and Modra Frankinja (Blaufränkisch) wines, and several cooperative wineries in the region also distill spirits from local production. The Zagradec cooperative processes members' grape pomace and fruit into spirit for redistribution to members and for limited commercial sale. Dolenjska schnapps — plum brandy and lozovica in particular — have a loyal following among Slovenians who value the direct connection between regional agricultural production and finished spirit. The cooperative model reflects the agricultural traditions of postwar Yugoslavia, when collective production was the norm, and Zagradec maintains that cooperative ethos while operating in a contemporary market.
9. Hiša Franko Spirits, Soča Valley
Hiša Franko is one of Slovenia's most celebrated restaurants — chef Ana Roš won the World's Best Female Chef award in 2017 — and the operation in Kobarid in the upper Soča Valley also produces fruit spirits from estate-grown and locally sourced fruit. The brandies are produced primarily for restaurant use, accompanying the tasting menu as digestifs, but limited quantities are sold commercially. The Soča Valley's dramatic alpine scenery, with the brilliant turquoise river cutting through limestone gorges, provides a spectacular context for the fruit orchards that supply the distillery. The spirits program reflects Ana Roš's philosophy of expressing Slovenian terroir at the highest level of quality.
10. Murn Distillery, Koroška
The Koroška (Carinthia) region of northern Slovenia — the Slovenian portion of the historic Carinthian duchy — has a distilling tradition shared with Austrian Carinthia across the border. The Murn family distillery in this region produces schnapps from plums, pears, and mountain herbs using traditional alpine methods: double distillation in copper pot stills, short resting periods in glass or ceramic containers to allow the young spirit to settle, and natural filtration. The proximity to Austria — the Mur river valley connects the two countries — means that Koroška schnapps traditions are closely related to those of Styria and Carinthia, making this one of the most clearly cross-cultural areas in Slovenian distilling.