Destico M&M – Distillery from Ljubovija Produces Fruit Brandy from Old Indigenous Varieties and Invests in Tourism

In Ljubovija, a combination of the tradition and modern technologies can be found in a glass of fruit brandy, produced with great care since 2016 by the Destico M&M distillery. Plums, apples, apricots, quinces, pears and raspberries are their first choice, and they’re also announcing fruit brandies made of blackberries, sour cherries and wild pears.

– Plum and apple brandies are rested in oak barrels, and all the others are clear fruit brandies, which are matured and kept in chrome barrels (apricot, pear, quince, raspberry) – Jovana Vasic says for eKapija.

The plum brandy is the strongest (43 vol %), followed by the brandies made of pear, quince, apricot and apple (42 vol %) and raspberry (40 vol %).

– The production of the fruit brandy is done the traditional way, combined with a modern technology and a modern approach to production. Mostly old indigenous varieties of organic fruit, not treated with pesticides, are used. Pit fruits are ground, whereas, with pomes, the core is extracted from the fruit. We plan to start separating the apricot skin from the fruit – Vasic explains.

The distillery owns smaller quantities of fruit (plums and quinces) and buys most of it from the Azbukovica area, but also from other parts of Serbia, from, as they emphasize, producers whose quality is proven.



– As for the plum, Pozegaca is the best variety, but since there’s very little of it in Serbia (due to the “sharka” disease), old indigenous varieties are used. Of the new cultivated varieties, the Cacak variety has proven to be the best. When it comes to apples, combined with new cultivated varieties, we use old apple varieties. As for the pear, the Williams pear is the most used variety – Jovana Vasic says.

The distillery also plans to expand the production and introduce new kinds of fruit brandy, liqueurs, mead and so on.

They also offer apartments meant for tourists.

– The distillery has a pool, an outlook, that is, a tower of around 20 meters, a sauna, a pantry house, a fish pond and a museum with a degustation hall. We plan to have a steam bath and another two bungalows built – our interviewee says.

Aleksandra Kekic

DESTICO M&M

Destico MM Ljubovija

Destico M and M

Destico

Destico distillery

Jovana Vasić

fruit brandies

production of fruit brandies

plum

apple

apricot

quince

pear

raspberry

plum brandy

apple brandy

apricot brandy

quince brandy

pear brandy

raspberry brand

blackberry brandy

sour cherry brandy

wild pear brandy

oak barrels

clear fruit brandies

chrome barrels

old indigenous fruit varieties

pit fruits

pomes

Požegača

sharka

Cacak variety

Williams variety

production of liqueurs

mead

apartments

pool

outlook

tower

sauna

pantry house

fish pond

museum

degustation hall

steam bath

bungalows