Visit to Hovdenak Distillery
Hovdenak Distillery was founded in 2018, but its history is much longer. The brewery is one of the most advanced in the country.
“There are two of us here, me and my wife Brynja, and we do everything. There’s nothing we don’t do,” says Hákon Freyr Hovdenak when asked about the early years and operations of Hovdenak Distillery. “We create the recipes for our products. We design the look of the bottles and packaging. We create all our advertising material ourselves.”
Hovdenak Distillery was launched in 2018, and the first year was dedicated to development. The distillery is among the most advanced in the country, but the design, construction of equipment, and installation of the interior were all handled by the owners with the help of good friends.
The adventure, however, began much earlier, 12 years prior in a garage in Hafnarfjörður where Hákon distilled and brewed for himself. It was during this time that the first product was created, which today is called Stuðlaberg Gin and is multi-award-winning.
The production and distillation process at Hovdenak Distillery differs from what is common at many distilleries, as the distillation takes place in a vacuum and at a much lower temperature than is typical. “That’s where the smoothness that is a defining characteristic of all our products comes from,” says Hákon.
