December the 16th, 2021 - Croatian gin is extremely popular, and one of the most beloved of all is Old Pilot's, which has now taken to the largest island in all of Europe - the United Kingdom. The expansion of this Croatian gin to the demanding British market marks an important step forward for the brand.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sergej Novosel Vuckovic writes, the much loved Old Pilot’s Croatian gin, which is produced in Jankomir in Zagreb, has put its feet firmly on the ground of Great Britain, the northern European nation which is very well known for its love of a tipple (or ten).

The founders and owners of the distillery which makes this Croatian gin, Hrvoje Busic and Tomislav Anadolac, both participated in the Boisdale Live Music Restaurants & Bars Cigar Awards, which is the world's most prestigious meeting of cigar lovers outside of the borders of Cuba.

Their gin was served at the dinner, and the duo also presented the Cigar Communicator of the Year award. The distillers are unsurprisingly very happy to have their products placed on this demanding market, and in London they found themselves at the ''Chairman’s Club'' at the wildly famous Reform Club.

"By entering into a business relationship with a new strategic partner, a significant increase in sales is planned through positioning in the premium segment of spirits," said Anadolac. This year the business results for the creators of this Croatian gin are good (revenues, according to earlier data, could be up to six million kuna), and they also launched a new product - vodka, and are working on the third - whiskey.

“We're recording sales growth of more than 30 percent, and we're proud to be able to open up to another new market in England and enter the most exclusive Boisdale restaurants. Our vodka was launched back in November and so far the sales results are higher than expected and the feedback from the market has truly been excellent. The whiskey is still in the aging phase and will be ready for the market in about two years or so,'' pointed out Anadolac.

However, next year should also be fruitful for them, given that the company received about 1.4 million kuna from EU non-refundable funds (a total of 3.8 million) for the digital and green transition project.

They will also invest in new technology and an environmentally friendly boiler (one without CO2 emissions) and thus be able to realise some very ambitious plans, one of which is to become one of the ten best manufacturers in the entire world in this particular segment. The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Tomislav Coric, also visited the Croatian gin plant yesterday, admitting that he was fascinated by what he saw at Jankomir.

“This successful entrepreneurial story starts from the moment when young people wanted to make a premium product and create the best giant of its kind in the world. It is really a great success to become number one in the world, especially with a product that has almost no tradition in Croatia. This success should serve as an inspiration to all future entrepreneurs,'' said the Minister.

"We plan to use EU funds to increase our production capacity, from the current 30,000 bottles per year to 500,000 over the next five years. We want to enter new markets and strengthen our position in existing markets. Of course, there are also new products involved in this story, but we'll talk about that when the time comes,'' Anadolac said.

It is known that he and Busic were trained as pilots at the Military Academy in Zadar, and realising that they share a passion for spirits, they founded a company with a distillery with a related name.

For more, check out Made in Croatia.

August the 9th, 2021 - Istrian products continue to wow the international community, and despite olive oil definitely being the most well known item from this beautiful region of Croatia, Istrian gin is gaining on it.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes, the Aura distillery and the products of the Sirotic family have been winning first places and prizes in almost all of the competitions in which they participate, and the last big recognition in a row came for Karbun gin at the world competition "World Spirits Award 2021", where this gorgeous Istrian gin took home gold.

In addition to this gold medal, the Istrian gin from this same family called ''Navy Strength'' won the Master Medal at ''The Spirits Business Gin Masters 2021'', the recognition that only one single product receives, which is rated by all of the judges in the competition for points to win the gold medal. Karbun Navy Strength also won a gold medal at the "World Spirits Trophy 2021" competition.

“It's a great success to be able to win such valuable prizes among international gins. I worked on our gin for a long time, learning and trying out different variants of production and combinations of spices, until I was completely satisfied with the results. This recognition is a confirmation that I've gone down the right path,'' pointed out Misel Sirotic, the owner and director of Aura.

The Aura distillery is not only excellent at producing Istrian gins, their Teranino also took home a gold medal at the World Spirits Trophy 2021.

According to Sirotic, the secret of his family distillery lies in the effort and skill they have worked on and nurtured for years, the whole family participates in the work, and all of their successes so far are the result of constant work, investment, training and creating original production methods that their appreciative audience recognises. Today, they offer 25 types of liqueurs and brandies and four types of Istrian gin, and they also produce jams.

You can find their products in specialised wine shops and in Aura's stores in Buzet, Novigrad, Porec, Motovun, Hum, Groznjan, Vrbnik, Rovinj, and outside of Istria in Split and Rijeka.

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