Whiskey now Poland's fastest-growing alcohol export after sales rise fivefold since 2021

Whiskey is now Poland's fastest-growing alcohol export. Last year, 197 million zlotys (€46.3 million) worth of Polish whiskey was exported, up from 40 million zlotys in 2021, representing a fivefold increase.

However, vodka remains Poland's leading exported spirit, with foreign sales worth nearly PLN 900 million last year, according to a new report by the Polish Spirits Industry Employers' Association (ZPPPS)

The value of Polish spirits exports has grown by an average of 11% annually over the past decade, reaching 2.4 billion zlotys in 2024, exceeding the combined export value of milk, cream and yoghurt, ZPPPS notes. Key markets include France, the US, Hungary, the UK and Germany.

The association also points to the fact that Poland's spirits exports, long dominated by vodka, are becoming “increasingly varied and diversified”. Said in 2002 vodka made up around 80% of exported spirits, that has now fallen to around 38%. In 2024, whiskey made up 8.2% of exports.

One leading brand is Paprocky Whiskey, produced by Bartex Bartol, a family-owned company based in Tomyśl in western Poland. In 2023, its Paprocky Single Barrel received a silver medal in the world whiskey category at the International Spirits Challenge, a major global blind-tasting competition.

Another is Jakubiak Whiskey, made at the Ciechan brewery, part of a group founded by entrepreneur Marek Jakubiak, who is also a right-wing politician who has made two unsuccessful presidential bids .

According to ZPPPS's report, the spirits sector contributed nearly 26 billion zlotys to Poland's GDP in 2024. Around 82% of the industry's value added flows to the state budget through various taxes, including excise duty, VAT and income taxes.

“For the spirits industry, excise tax is by far the most significant, generating budget revenues of PLN 10.3 billion in 2024,” the report said. In the same year, beer brought in 3.7 billion zlotys in excise revenue, while wine contributed 600 million.

The government has recently floated the idea of ​​further excise duty increases as one option to help close the widening budget gap .