“Arodeo; a chocolate factory; a rare-breeds farm and a music festival,” read the email: certainly not the usual list of things one would expect to find in an invitation to a distillery. But this is how they roll at Nestville: a multi-purpose site — nay, remarkable tourist attraction — situated in the picturesque village of Hniezdne in Slovakia, in the ominous yet beautiful shadow of the Tatra mountains.
Taking the two-hour drive from Krakow in Poland over the Slovakian border is the easiest and most enjoyable way to arrive at Nestville Park, which is an experience for the first-time visitor. A sprawling mix of vast, modern-looking grain hoppers and column still plumbing is interwoven with traditional Slovak-influenced wooden farmhouse architecture, a contrast that gives it a sort of ‘distilling theme park’ feel.
However, Nestville Park isn’t just a groundbreaking local attraction. It has takendistillery, giving it a blank slate to work from, but its distilling roots run deep into the local agricultural legacy. Only a few miles away lies Stará Ľubovňa Castle, a 13th-century medieval complex where records dating back to 1747 detail the production of gorzalka, a multi-grain eau-de-vie which was distilled in the castle cellars using a primitive copper pot still. At the time, this potent yet flavoursome spirit was said to be matured in casks for a short period, perhaps hinting at what would be a firmly established practice some 260 years later.
