Further references to the distillery are given in the description of the Lubovna castle in the Hungarian-Austrian geographical dictionary from 1851. The base of the old distillery still stands below the castle. It is apparently the oldest preserved building of its kind in Slovakia! Clear evidence preserved from the 18th century documents that distilling is a centuries-old tradition in the region.
This was one of the key reasons why BGV s.r.o., which is located directly in the picturesque Spis village of Hniezdne, decided to revive the tradition of quality "palenka" (spirit) production in the region.
That makes this brick and mortar distillery more than 100 years older than the oldest registered distillery in the United States, where the world-famous Jack Daniels whiskey is produced (est. 1886).
A rare map and other documents describe in detail not only the historical context of the distillery, but also where and what ingredients were used to distil alcohol in Stara Lubovna around 250 years ago. Records as early as 1747 indicate that a part of the rye grown below the castle was given to the local "gorzelnik" to distil "gorzalka" (a general term for spirits from wheat and other grains from which, e.g., vodka is produced). It means that the real "goralka" was already being distilled in Stara Lubovna during the first half of the 18th century, which is earlier than previously thought. The alcohol was produced in the same way as whisky – by fermenting the mash from grain. It was stored in barrels - although not in oak barrels and not for a minimum of 3 years, requirements which were not introduced until after 1915.
