Liviko is an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

, Baltic distributor and one of the largest alcohol companies in the

Baltics The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

. Liviko was established in

1898 Events January * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queen ...

. Liviko has its production and head office in Estonia along with distribution offices in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, and

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. Liviko exports its own products to 60 markets. The company's most well-known brands are Viru Valge

vodka Vodka ( ; is a clear distilled beverage, distilled alcoholic beverage. Its varieties originated in Poland and Russia. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impurities and flavourings. Traditionally, it is ...

, Vana Tallinn

liqueur A liqueur ( , ; ) is an alcoholic drink composed of Liquor, spirits (often rectified spirit) and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-age ...

, Crafter’s London Dry

Gin Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink flavoured with juniper berries and other botanical ingredients. Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe. The modern gin was modified in Flanders and the Netherlands ...

and Crafter's Aromatic Flower Gin. Liviko produces more than 70 alcoholic and non-alcoholic

beverage A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothie ...

s. Liviko represents a number of producers in its home markets, including Brown-Forman,

Rémy Cointreau Rémy Cointreau is a French, family-owned business group specialized in the production and distribution of alcoholic beverages. The group's products include cognac (Rémy Martin, Louis XIII), triple sec ( Cointreau), the Greek spirit Metaxa, rum ...

, Bacardi,

Fentimans Fentimans is a botanical brewery based in Hexham, Northumberland, England. History Thomas Fentiman, an iron puddler from Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, acquired a recipe for botanically brewed ginger beer in 1905 when a fellow tradesman appr ...

and a number of well-known

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

brands such as Hardy's, Louis Jadot, Marques de Caceres, Saint Clair, Rocca delle Macie, Carmen, Marani and Canti. The company's turnover in 2019 was 137 million €. The Liviko group employs more than 270 people. Approximately one-third of Liviko's production is marketed on export markets worldwide. Liviko's 100%

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

is NG Investeeringud OÜ, an Estonian investment company. NG Investeeringud has major ownership in several companies in the fields of industry, retail trade and real estate management.

Distillery tour

To mark its 120th anniversary, Liviko launched excursions around its production facilities for visitors who register in advance. Each tour comprises three parts: a walk around the production facilities to see the production from selecting the raw ingredients to bottling the finished products; a visit to the interactive museum; and the chance to take part in a tasting or drinks lesson in Estonia's most modern bartender training class, LAB (the Liviko Academy of Beverages).

Vana Tallinn Baltic Sommelier Grand Prix

Sommelier A ''sommelier'' ( , , ), ''chef de vin'' or wine steward, is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, normally working in fine restaurants, who specializes in all aspects of wine service as well as wine and food pairing. The role of the ''s ...

competition Vana Tallinn Baltic Sommelier Grand Prix has been organized since 2006 AS Liviko in cooperation with the Sommelier Associations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The competition for the best sommelier in the Baltics was named after Liviko’s Vana Tallinn liqueur. The competition has a mixture of theoretical and practical examinations.

History

On 25 September 1898, the cornerstone was laid for the state vodka warehouse Kroonu Viinaladu No. 1, which marked the beginning of the history of Liviko. The main building of the company, which houses Liviko's production facility to this day, was constructed in 1898–1900. The architect was Rudolf Otto von Knüpffer. It was built from

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

and decorated with neo-Romanesque elements. The oldest drink in Liviko's product portfolio is the crystal liqueur Kännu Kukk, which has been manufactured using a heated bottling process since 1900. *1960 – Liviko started to produce Vana Tallinn liqueur that became one of Estonia's hallmark products immediately after its creation. *1995 – Liviko became a public limited company, and a year later, a joint stock company, AS Liviko. *1998 – Liviko was the first company in the Estonian food industry to be awarded the

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

9001 quality certification. *2000 – Liviko was acquired by NG Investeeringud. *2008 – Liviko acquired

subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

in Latvia and Lithuania. *2015 – Liviko launched Crafter's London Dry Gin and in 2017, launched Crafter's Aromatic Flower Gin. *2018 – Liviko launched excursions around its production facilities for visitors who register in advance. *2019 – Liviko launched Re-crafted Crafter's drink series according to the zero waste principle, and established a new category in the global beverage industry: Junibeer, which is a juniper berry beer. *2019 – Liviko launched Bellingshausen Vodka dedicated to Admiral Bellingshausen and his extraordinary story of discovering the Antarctica. The vodka was released to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the discovery of the continent of Antarctica by Admiral Bellingshausen.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Distilleries Food and drink companies of Estonia Alcohol in Estonia Food and drink companies established in 1898 1890s establishments in Estonia 1898 establishments in the Russian Empire