Obeliai Distillery, the only producer of Lithuanian alcohol owned by Vilniaus Degtinė that stands in cooperation with more than 250 farms in Lithuania, in 2016 bought over 20,000 tons of Lithuanian grain and has plans to increase its purchase volumes by another 80 per cent to 36,000 tons this year.
Working with 250 Lithuanian farms
According to Dovilė Tamoševičienė, CEO of Vilniaus Degtinė, the production of the plant is Lithuanian throughout, from the land to the grain that grows on it, and to the manufacturing process itself. The company works with more than 250 domestic farmers, their farms creating hundreds of direct and indirect jobs in the regions.
“Last year, our own Obeliai Distillery bought in more than 20,000 tons of Lithuanian grain. This year, the volume of grain purchases is due to increase by 80 per cent to 36,000 tons. We use the alcohol distilled from the grain to produce our drinks, and roughly 50 per cent of it is exported to Poland, Latvia, and Estonia,” noted Dovilė Tamoševičienė.
“Operational since 1907, the distillery owned by our company is one of the kind in Lithuania. On the level of the international concern Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits, it is a unique regional distillation unit, producing material for products – spirits – of exclusively Lithuanian origin,” D. Tamoševičienė highlighted.
Turning grain into cash and fertiliser
She stressed that thanks to the 10 million euro investment project that has been carried out at Obeliai Distillery, the company now stands out not only as one of the oldest distilleries in the Baltics, but also as a plant that buys grain from local farmers and uses renewable energy sources, which produce waste that farmers use as fertiliser.
Five years ago, Obeliai Distillery started making biogas from draff and is now capable of producing its own heat and electricity. The modernisation of the distillery benefits the farmers it cooperates with, since the manufacturing process turns the rye and wheat into alcohol and later into gas, and also produces draff, a by-product which can be used as a high-value fertiliser.
General Manager
Dovilė Tomaševičienė
8 5 233 0819