Czech Whisky, round 2: What I missed before my 2025 visit

Last year, I had an article published in Whisky Magazine laying out the shape of the Czech whisky world: who's making it, the history, what you can expect in terms of flavour, etc.

While I'm proud of that summary - of telling the story of a growing national whisky industry - I've since realised that there is a lot I was missing, or had yet to learn! Though the article was submitted to editors in July last year, I actually took a week-long trip to Czechia in August. I was able to see, taste, and learn a lot more then, showing that I had missed some sides of the Czech whisky story and simply overlooked some others.

Though I still have more distilleries to visit there in future, I feel that it's worth taking the time to add more thoughts and details to what I wrote about in Whisky Magazine. You can also read the three distillery visit blogs I published following the August trip:

1. A Plum Job: Making Gold Cock Whisky at Czechia's Historic R. Jelinek Distillery
2. ‘Absolutely local’ Moravian Whisky at TOSH Distillery (& a Visit to the Black Stuff, Olomouc)
3. Hot Chocolate: A Summer Visit with Unique Flavours at Radlík Distillery

1. There is an appetite for a Czech Whisky GI - but not with universal approval

Czechia is very well placed to start consolidating a 'Czech Whisky' GI or other similar legal status/protection. The subject came up with multiple distillers I spoke to, but I think some of the smaller producers best hit the nail on the head. While most of them are keen to cultivate a distinct style and pursue legal protection for their products, the two largest such producers are not so interested. Green Tree focuses on quantity more than anything craft, using column stills as part of an enormous industrial distillery (see more on them below). Jelínek are also reported to be uninterested, which is a shame - throwing their weight behind a Czech Whisky GI would make such a thing far more likely to happen!

Many of the country's distillers focus on local materials, sourcing all their malt, oak, and even peat from within Czechia. This is such a great way to cultivate a distinct terroir, encourage sustainability, and make 'Czech Whisky' something worth protecting as distinct! However, this is not universal. For example, Old Well Whisky is a great example of Czech craft, but it deliberately uses imported Scottish malt to make a much more Scotch-style whisky. It works well considering their interesting use of good casks and the fact that no other Czech distillery is doing this, but they would likely have to change their way of working if a GI label stipulated that only Czech materials can be used to make Czech whisky. 

What I would like to see is 'Czech Whisky' protected on the same level as Scotch or Irish whisky. As Czech distillers have shown, it is practical to only use Czech materials and get good results. If it forces some distillers to change their way a little, it would be worth it for ensuring the distinctive qualities of these whiskies. This could also encourage the use of local wine casks, and promote local economies for farms, maltings, and coopers across Czechia. 

2. Age is not the only thing Green Tree might be misrepresenting when it comes to Old Hunter

As mentioned in my article, Green Tree Distillery (makers of Old Hunter / Stará Myslivecká) claims to be the oldest in Europe, dating back to 1518. I explained how that wasn't really a realistic starting date for whisky production there, though in reality, there likely was some kind of unaged rye whisky being produced in Prostějov as early as 1610, the same date Bushmills touts on its bottles (which there refers to a permit for distilling, not evidence of it happening or the modern Bushmills company...).

So Old Hunter fudges the numbers a bit, but for such long-distant founding dates, that is far from a unique sin, or really that harmful. What matters, really, is what they put in their bottles - how it's made, and where it comes from. Rye distilling is historic in the area, so it certainly seems appropriate. Is everything in order there?

Old Hunter has always stood out from other Czech brands. It's column distilled, very cheap, and very light. One of their expressions isn't actually a whisky, but rather an infusion using dried plums - this is the Reserve, which you might notice below does not have the word whisky anywhere on the bottle.

So they're not breaking any laws, but it is misleading to make this product look almost identical to your actual whiskies - and there's no need, as I know from personal experience that it tastes good! It's light, sweet, cheap, nothing wrong with that - but it needs to be more clearly labelled with a design that distinguishes it from their whiskies.

If you saw some of my first EuroWhisky tastings, you'll know some of them included Old Hunter bottles. I checked myself, and their bottle labelling doesn't break the rules. You can see that the Selection is a seven year old rye whisky (albeit confusingly labelled as 4+3 to reference its recasking). In contrast, the Bourbon Cask Reserve (confusingly labelled no. 4, not to be confused with the non-whisky 'Reserve' with a big '4' on it) is supposed to be an even simpler, four year old bourbon-cask aged rye. Of course, this is leaving aside the issue of anything being labelled 'Rye Whisky' in the EU at present - I don't know if Old Hunter have made any changes to their labelling since the enforcement of this EU/Canada agreement on 01/04/2025.

What does all that mean? Old Hunter aren't breaking the whisky rules, at least as far as I can tell, but their branding has a strong potential to mislead. More than that, I found out when discussing Green Tree with other Czech distillers that they are not popular. More's the point, they claim that Old Hunter is not distilled in Czechia. Instead, they claim that rye distillate is sourced from Switzerland before ageing in Czechia and being sold as a Czech whisky. There is nothing illegal about that under the current rules - it's just dishonest, especially when your marketing leans on having a presence in Czechia for over 500 years!

None of this affects the taste - again, it's light, simple, and enjoyable. While I expected it to only serve as a light opener for whisky tastings, I found it was extremely popular with many, particularly at tastings with more novice drinkers. It's easy to like, but that makes the issues with Old Hunter only more important: they can specifically mislead new drinkers who don't know any better. 

3. Trebitsch is not a genuine whisky distillery

There are, it turns out, 9 distilleries currently making whisky in Czechia, not 10. You see, Trebitsch used to be on that list, but I couldn't confirm exactly what they were doing online. I left them out of the article aside from the overall count (and they were counted in Bohemia, not Moravia, so my point about the balance of distilleries/populations still holds up). You can see below that their bottles still appear on ALKOHOL.cz.

Supposedly their whisky won awards in the 2010s, and the branding was sufficiently convincing that I assumed they were a legit company. Even good producers are often poor about providing details online - that's why I visit distilleries in person! They are also charging very reasonable amounts, about €40 equivalent per bottle. Although, if you think about it, that's a bit too good for a microdistillery making something six years old...

You can see on Whiskybase that the reviews for Trebitsch are not flattering. Speaking to other distillers in Moravia, I learned that this distillery was full of fraud from the start. These low prices for regular bottles online hide the fact they pushed really expensive 'investment' casks onto the market (where else have we heard that?). No-one is sure where this whisky comes from, but no-one in Czechia believes it is distilled consistently in the town of Třebíč.

4. The overall amount of Czech whisky being produced is lower than I realised, but...

Most Czech whisky distilleries only produce relatively small quantities. If they're not outright microdistilleries, you might be looking at 50,000 LPA. If Jelinek was only producing whisky, they would have something near 3 million LPA, much more like a large Scottish distillery - but Gold Cock is only a relatively small proportion of their total portfolio. I still don't know how much Pradlo is producing, but the overall picture of the country doesn't change much either way.

5. ...the quality of older Czech whisky is even *higher* than I realised!

I managed to buy a bottle of Gold Cock 20 Year Old before the last bottles went out of stock. This is the last of the pre-closure Gold Cock stock; the pre-Jelinek stuff, pre-Velvet Revolution. Also made with Czech barley and oak... and its fantastic! Simple but rich, with old, polished edges reminiscent of an older Scotch whisky. That moderate, nutty Czech oak aroma is stamped all over this dram: it's wonderful!

6. There are multiple types of Czech peat

In my article, I only wrote about Czech peat sourced from Hora Svatého Šebestián, which Jelinek use for their peated malts. However, I learned more at TOSH - Czech peat can also come from southern Bohemia, quite close to Svachovka in fact. This, according to distiller Jiri, has large chunks of wood in it. He also described to me the different layers which could be used from different depths. For example, TOSH uses 'black' peat from around four to five metres down, sourced in NW Bohemia (the area I mentioned in my article). This supposedly gives more sweetness to the smoke; I get a real musty soil smell from a sample he shows me. The material nearer the surface there is called 'white' peat by contrast. Jelinek's peat presents a more straightforward woodsmoke aroma by contrast (though I'm still very much a fan of that!).

PS. An extra Old Well tasting...

To cap off all the new stuff I learned last year, I tried another Old Well dram at Svachovka during their 2025 summer festival. Their latest core range bottling is Pineau de Charentes, a 52% ABV unpeated 5 year olf single malt. I have since presented this at a tasting in Edinburgh, and I love its amazing finish. Tangy, a little spicy, rich... it shows what Pineau casks can do, we need more whiskies aged in these! Lukas Andrlik chose this cask due to inspiration from his favourite distillery, Bruichladdich.