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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Whisky is now Poland’s fastest-growing alcohol export. Last year, 197 million zloty (€46.3 million) worth of Polish whisky was exported, up from 40 million zloty in 2021, representing a fivefold increase.
However, vodka remains Poland’s leading exported spirit, with foreign sales worth nearly 900 million zloty last year, according to a new report by the Polish Spirits Industry Employers’ Association (ZPPPS)
The value of Polish spirits exports has grown by an average of 11% annually over the past decade, reaching 2.4 billion zloty in 2024, exceeding the combined export value of milk, cream and yoghurt, notes ZPPPS. Key markets include France, the US, Hungary, the UK and Germany.
The association also points to the fact that Poland’s spirits exports, long dominated by vodka, are becoming “increasingly varied and diversified”. Whereas in 2002 vodka made up around 80% of exported spirits, that has now fallen to around 38%. In 2024, whisky made up 8.2% of exports.
One leading brand is Paprocky Whisky, produced by Bartex Bartol, a family-owned company based in Tomyśl in western Poland. In 2023, its Paprocky Single Barrel received a silver medal in the world whisky category at the International Spirits Challenge, a major global blind-tasting competition.
Another is Jakubiak Whisky, made at the Ciechan brewery, part of a group founded by entrepreneur Marek Jakubiak, who is also a right-wing politician who has made two unsuccessful presidential bids.
According to ZPPPS’s report, the spirits sector contributed nearly 26 billion zloty to Poland’s GDP in 2024. Around 82% of the industry’s value added flows to the state budget through various taxes, including excise duty, VAT and income taxes.
“For the spirits industry, excise tax is by far the most significant, generating budget revenues of 10.3 billion zloty in 2024,” the report said. In the same year, beer brought in 3.7 billion zloty in excise revenue, while wine contributed 600 million.
The government has recently floated the idea of further excise duty increases as one option to help close the widening budget gap.
Poles are drinking less vodka this year following a new tax that increased the price of small bottles of the spirit, sales of which fell 30%.
Sales of sweet drinks – also hit by the tax designed to promote healthy consumer choices – have likewise declined https://t.co/pxKRLcj9FO
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 19, 2021
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
