Pálenka fest – the first year of the largest domestic craft spirits festival – Prague
Lihovárek.cz, the largest seller of domestic craft spirits, is organizing the first year of the schnapps festival in the Czech Republic. Pálenka fest, a unique event supporting the Czech distillery industry, will take place on October 8 in the Prague Market in Holešovice. Visitors will have the opportunity to taste the best products produced by us in one place, including several newspapers. In addition to classic fruit schnapps, there will be, for example, rybízovice, oskerušovice or raspberry spirit, as well as exotic fruit spirits. In addition, the tasting will be accompanied by the distillers themselves, such as Kamil Kutina, Martin Žufánek or Robert “Bob” Urbanek. One of the main points of the festival program will be the announcement of the results of the Pálenka of the Year competition. Jakub Gottwald and Zdeněk Linc, the owners of the online store Lihovárek.cz, which is exclusively focused on the sale of domestic craft spirits, are dedicated to the mission of supporting local distilleries and improving the reputation of distilleries in Czech society in addition to distribution. This year, they decided to extend this to the republic through the largest distillate-focused event in the Czech Republic – Pálenka Fest. “Pálenka fest is one of the ways we set out to support Czech distilleries, to educate about the importance of the quality of alcohol consumed and the positive perception of Czech spirits in our society. They were happy to show the visitors that high-quality products can be created in the country and helped dispel the myths that foreign rum or whiskey is a better choice than schnapps,” Jakub Gottwald, who is also a member of the board of the Union of Distillers, presents the idea of the festival. Pálenka fest will be primarily about connecting suppliers of the highest quality Czech spirits and liqueurs with customers and getting to know the culture of the Czech distillery. It will be attended by 30 exhibitors, among which there will be both large and well-known brands and smaller ones, such as Zámecké sady Chrámce, Baron Hildprandt, Pálenice Zubří or Garage22.
Pálenka fest will be unique compared to other festivals of a similar type in that visitors will come into contact with the distillers themselves, who will guide them through a controlled tasting. Miroslav Motyčka, representing Rudolf Jelínek, will present his fruit distillates, Martin Žufánek will perform an absinthe ritual, Lukáš Andrlík from Destilérka Svach will do a successful Old Well whiskey tasting, and Robert Urbanek, founder of Little Urban Distillery, will focus on the presentation of quality gins. Exhibitors at the Pálenka fest will present more than 300 domestic products, the main representation of which will be fruit brandies.
“Among the most unique things that will be available for tasting at the festival are definitely brandies made from exotic crops such as pineapple, banana and mango. These are burned by the fruit suppliers themselves, mostly from pieces that cannot be sold to retail chains. This is what a circular economy looks like in the best practice,” says Jakub Gottwald. In addition to fruit spirits, there will also be Czech craft gins, whiskey and the very first agricole rum produced in the Czech Republic. An important part of the festival is also the first year of the Pálenka of the Year competition. In the category of fruit spirits, for example, plum, pear and apricot wines, as well as beer wines, compete with each other. Gin is a separate competition group. The whiskey rating will be divided into the subcategories of finished whiskey and new make spirit. The best distillates on the Czech market will be estimated the day before the event by a jury of dozens of experts. The winners will be announced at the festival.
In addition to tastings, the Pálenka fest will be accompanied by popular educational lectures. Visitors will learn about the production of distillates, raw materials and the sustainability of fruit growing and production at seminars with leading Czech experts. The festival will take place on October 8 from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Prague Market in Holešovice. Tickets can be purchased in advance at www.palenkafest.cz. The Pálenka fest will occupy an area of 2000 m2 and will be thematically divided into two halls, which will separate a zone with several gastro stands and a music stage. Payment will be made in a special festival currency, which guests can purchase on the spot using a payment card or cash. About the company Lihovárek.cz, s.r.o. The online alcohol store Lihovárek.cz, s.r.o. was founded in 2017.
In reality, the project under the baton of Zdenek Linca and Jakub Gottwald began to operate in mid-2019, when the company’s turnover of hundreds of thousands rose to 5 million crowns. The following year, it rose to 15 million, and in the year it amounted to 20 million crowns. Lihovarek.cz helps local distilleries not only with product sales, but also with brand promotion thanks to its experience from the online world. Link to photos that can be used: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1orjZphyYMo0O23gpor_AT4L5n7OaCxhL
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