November the 4th, 2025 – The well known Croatian craft brand Old Pilot’s is turning its attention to whiskey production, with a new era, likely full of more glory, ahead of them.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, in the ever-evolving world of craft drinks, rarely do you really come across a story that combines passion, innovation and friendship like the one woven by Hrvoje and Tomislav, the creative minds behind the Croatian craft brand Old Pilot’s. From the very first bottle of gin that won prestigious international awards, to a new era of whiskey called Nebo (Sky), this story is about courage, patience and the genuine desire to bring a dose of inspiration and freedom to every sip enjoyed by the consumer.
Together, Hrvoje Bušić and Tomislav Anadolac started a distillery that not only raised the Croatian craft scene to a totally new level, but also created drinks that tell the story of flight, tradition and celestial heights with their flavours.
From the very beginning, the two men behind the Croatian craft brand Old Pilot’s knew that they wanted to create drinks of the highest quality. The initial challenge was financial – whiskey, as a drink that requires long-term ageing and specialised equipment, was too expensive and technically demanding for their distillery in its infancy. As such, they decided to produce gin, their “second love” – which quickly became a roaring global success.
Old Pilot’s London Dry Gin won gold at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in London, and Old Pilot’s Vodka excelled at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. These successes confirmed their innovative approach and attention to detail.
The production of whiskey began back in the midst of the pandemic-dominated year of 2020, when all catering and hospitality establishments had shut their doors for an indefinite period of time and the sale of gin almost died off completely. Instead of waiting for better days to finally arrive, Hrvoje and Tomislav took advantage of the free equipment and decided to invest all of their available financial resources from their business account in upgrading the plant, starting up their initial dream of engaging in whiskey production.
While others were pulling back financially and building up reserves for an increasingly uncertain time, they decided to embark on something that required patience, plenty of time, and even more vision. The challenge was great: for 100 litres of finished whiskey, it is necessary to process in excess of 2,000 litres of distillery beer and wait a minimum of three years, which is currently strictly prescribed by European Union regulations. Despite all of the difficulties of that bizarre period, this decision turned out to be the right one, because Nebo is without a doubt their most ambitious project to date.
A key lesson when it came to the brand turning its attention to producing whiskey was the production of their Old Pilot’s Barrel Aged Gin, which was aged in oak barrels. There, they learned how barrels affect the drink’s aromas and how to choose the best wood for their whiskey.
When it comes to Nebo whiskey, they have used a combination of old and new world techniques. They’re lucky that Croatian regulations are not as restrictive as those up in Scotland or across the pond in the USA, which allows them to be more creative in their approach. They have combined oak of both Croatian and American origin and used the highest quality grains, because, as they emphasised, “taste and aroma start with the raw material, not the barrel.”
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