Zagreb has a wide range of restaurants and bars with delicious quality food, and drinks that go perfectly with every meal. Craft beers served in bars and pubs with a selected quality offer are frequent in Zagreb. What is less represented are zagrebian craft gins, but that is slowly changing. That is why today we are introducing you to something different — a zagrebian gin distillery that has a unique story.

Image credit: House of Spirits

What is gin, and how is it made?

Gin is usually made from a grain base, such as wheat or barley, which is first fermented and then distilled. Next, juniper berries and other herbs, plants and spices - known as aromatics, or botanicals - are added to the fermented grain mixture and water, until the required (or desired) alcohol level and flavour balance are reached.

Image credit: House of Spirits

House of Spirits

Here comes the story of Zagreb's craft distillery with a resounding and interesting name - House of Spirits. On their website, they tell their story in a simple, but charming way.

"Behind the House of Spirits distillery stand two passionate travellers and lovers of strong premium alcohol who came up with the idea of ​​creating the distillery on their journey through New Zealand, Canada and Scotland."

One statement changed everything for them. 'I have over 20 years of experience. The best advice I can give you is that when you make alcoholic beverages, the most important thing is to make it to your "taste" because even if you fail to sell it to anyone, at the end of the day, at least you will have something to enjoy.' Those are the words of an experienced master distiller, and they stayed with the founders of this distillery. They say their story began with this sentence, because an idea was created, which is now their reality.

Image credit: House of Spirits

Ivan and Hrvoje, the founders of House of Spirits distillery, first enrolled in a school for distillers in Croatia and a distillation program in the Netherlands, to perfect their knowledge. As it usually goes, the beginning wasn't easy, so they bought the equipment with their savings and started their adventure in one of their grandma's garages. The whole process, from raw material selection, distillation, product filling and labelling, is done by Ivan and Hrvoje. This makes them, in every sense of the word, an authentic small craft gin distillery.

How it all came together - from an idea to reality

While exploring different flavours and combinations, they quickly realised that Croatian pine and other spices are perfect for making top-quality gin. So after that, they set off looking for Dalmatian lemon, Lika's pine and elderberry from Medvednica. When they carefully combined the ingredients, they got a top Croatian craft drink - gin Agramero.

The search for the perfect balance is a process. Every strong alcoholic drink that comes out of a distillery is the product of a tried and tested old recipe based on many attempts and failures, until distillers get a sure feeling that they found exactly what they were looking for.

Image credit: House of Spirits

After reading the story about a process of making perfect gin, it's hard not to want to have a nice drink right now, isn't it? Even if you're not a fan of gin, maybe now you will change your mind. If you want to learn more about this zagrebian craft gin distillery, you can follow them on their social media Facebook and Instagram. Also, if you want to buy their fantastic gin, you can do that through their webshop which you can visit here. Cheers!

Header image credit: House of Spirits

Author: Ivona Kezić