After a year of break, Gin & Brin festival returns!

After a year of hiatus, the Association Na Placu is proud to announce that preparation for next edition of the event we are most proud of is well under way! Gin & Brin festival is back, and it will for the eighth time spice up the summer season in the Karst region on Saturday, July 5th, 2025, gathering in one place the best Slovenian gin and distillers in Dutovlje!

For those who don’t know it yet: the Gin & Brin festival is a tribute to the diversity of flavors that gin offers, and the traditional juniper spirit brinjevec from the Karst region. Once a year, it brings a number of interesting distillers from all over Slovenia and some from neighboring countries to Dutovlje. In a pleasant atmosphere in the shade of pine trees, you can meet them, taste their masterpieces and learn about the cultural enjoyment, quality and diversity of these drinks.

This year, the festival will take place for only one day, on Saturday, July 5, at a well-known location, in a pine forest near the sports field in Dutovlje. The evening’s events will be enriched by Ansambl Ikebana (for the uninitiated, their name is not related to folk music, but to the art of arranging musical notes) with unique covers of rock’n’roll hits, which will extend the night until the morning hours.

In mid-June, Gin & Brin Awards, professional rating of gins and juniper spirits including brinjevec will be also held again. Everyone can submit their samples – including distillers who will not be present at the festival. More information about sample submissions will be published soon. The award recipients will be announced on the day of the festival.

Last but not least, it should be noted that the Gin & Brin festival is organized exclusively through the voluntary work of enthusiasts, who are united both in appreciation of the knowledge, history and tradition of these drinks, as well as in our desire to upgrade the entertainment and cultural events in the Karst region.

!!! Dear DISTILLERS: if you are interested in presenting your products at our festival, please contact us at ginbrinfestival@gmail.com. Please note that for participation you would need to have a Slovenian VAT number and be registered for sales to end customers in Slovenia.

For all up-to-date information about this year’s event please follow our website and social media. There will be quite a few news in the coming weeks.

Gin & Brin Awards 2023: apply now

Dear distillers!

ŠKRD Na placu will once again organize the Gin & Brin Awards for rating of gin and brinjevec (juniper spirit) as part of this year’s Gin & Brin festival. This will be a closed event. Our judging panel consists of various Slovenian experts in spirits and distillation, sommeliers, barmans and others. You will be informed about your results latest by 25th June 2023.

The registration of samples is open to every distiller and is not limited to distillers who are presenting their products on the festival. However, it is definitely desirable that you visit our festival, as the awards ceremony for the highest-rated spirits is a part of Friday’s event (June 30, 2023).

The registration opens on 16th May 2023. Samples can be registered no later than 5th June 2023. You may participate in the following categories: London Dry Gin, Cold Blended Gin, Distilled Gin, Fruit Gin, Juniper, Gin-based Liqueur, Spirit with juniper aroma (new category from 2023). Spirit samples are rated according to a 100-point system.

More details are available on the following links. You will be informed about your results latest by 25th June 2023.

VABILO k prijavi vzorcev na 4. ocenjevanje ginov in brinjevcev – Gin & Brin festival 2023

INVITATION to register samples for 4th Gin & Brin Awards – Gin & Brin festival 2023

Povezava do PRIJAVNICE / Link to REGISTRATION FORM

The purpose of Gin & Brin Awards at the Gin & Brin Festival is primarily to promote the production of quality products and generally improve their quality, so we kindly invite you to participate.

Gin & Brin Festival 2023 – The Date Is Set!

This year’s Gin & Brin festival will take place on Friday, 30 June, and Saturday, 1 July 2023.

This year, too, we will gather under the pine trees in Dutovlje (Karst Region, Slovenia), more precisely by the sports field, and have a good time late into the night with excellent products from many distillers. Let us whisper to you that some fresh distilleries will also be with us this year.

!!! DISTILLERS: if you want to join us and present your products at our festival, you are welcome to contact us at ginbrinfestival@gmail.com.

Two of the highlights will be acoustic concerts, as this year we will be joined by more prominent names from the Slovenian music scene – we will reveal more very soon!

We will also prepare several workshops and another accompanying program, which will be an upgrade of last year’s. The most ardent gin lovers will be delighted by the news that this year it will also be possible to camp next to the venue and thus experience the festival in its entirety without having to worry about driving. 🙂

Already in the middle of June, the expert team of judges will gather to rate this year’s gins and ‘brinjevec’ (juniper spirits) for Gin & Brin Awards. Everyone can apply their samples – even distillers who do not present themselves at the festival. We will announce more about this in the middle of May.

For all current information about what is happening, we recommend that you follow our website and social networks. There will be quite a bit of news in the coming weeks.

Welcome to our new webpage!

Gin & Brin festival team is working on optimizing this website. It is still under construction, so we’re asking you for patience. For all information about the upcoming festival please follow us on Facebook on this link.