Farma Brezany near Žilina: hand-stretched cheese and a distillery

Cheese stretched by hand

Brezany is a village a few kilometres south of Žilina, on the edge of the Žilina basin and the foothills leading towards the Rajec valley and the Strážov Hills. In 2021 a small cheese dairy, Farma Brezany, opened here in the buildings of a former agricultural cooperative, and next to it a distillery for fruit brandies.

The cheesemakers’ main rule is quality, not quantity. Every day they process fresh cow’s milk (pasteurised), and all the steamed cheeses are stretched and braided entirely by hand, with no machines. That, the owners say, is why their cheese strings and korbáčiky are juicy and tender rather than dry and rubbery. Northern Slovakia is the home of such steamed cheeses: korbáčiky (thin cheese “whips”), strings and parenica (cheese rolled into a spiral) have long been made on salaš farms and in village households here.

Why go

• Buy fresh steamed cheese. The company shop on the premises sells freshly made strings, korbáčiky, parenica and cheese sticks — smoked and unsmoked, with garlic, chilli or “gyros” spices.
• Order a cheese platter. The farm assembles festive platters of different cheeses — for family celebrations or a picnic.
• Distil your own fruit. The distillery, opened in August 2021, has a modern 200-litre copper column still. People bring their own plums, pears or apricots: the farm helps pit the fruit, advises on fermenting the mash and distils it into a fragrant brandy.

What to taste and buy

From cow’s milk — cheese strings, korbáčiky, farmhouse parenica, whey ricotta, fresh cheese (including with four kinds of pepper or chilli), cheese sticks and cubes. From sheep’s milk — 100% sheep’s bryndza, fresh and smoked sheep’s lump cheese, and smoked steamed mini-oštiepky. The cheeses are also sold in a few shops in the region, but the freshest are at the farm.

The distillery belongs to the old Slovak tradition of “growers’ distilleries” (pestovateľská pálenica), where gardeners bring their own fruit. The farm offers the full cycle: pitting, advice on setting up the mash, fermentation in its own fermenting room, measuring sugar content and pH, firewood for the kettle and the distillation itself. Growers pay a reduced excise duty — half the rate for up to 43 litres of pure alcohol per household per season.

Practical information

Address: Brezany 204, 010 04 Brezany — the former cooperative site on the edge of the village. About 7 km by car from central Žilina; the area is flat, so it makes a handy stop on the way to Rajecké Teplice or the Malá Fatra.

Hours (as of October 2026): the shop is open Monday 9:00–12:30 and Tuesday to Friday 9:00–15:30, closed at weekends. Cheese orders by phone on +421 911 320 032 on weekdays until 17:00. Distillery: +421 904 549 375. Making one litre of 50% spirit costs €7.926 including taxes; the minimum volume of mash is 150 l.

The farm posts news on Facebook and Instagram (@farmabrezany); 2026 photos of the distillery have been added to its website.

Nearby

• Strečno Castle — a castle above the Váh 15 km from Žilina.
• Rajec valley — Rajecké Teplice with its thermal spa, and Rajecká Lesná.
• Žilina — an old town with the arcaded Mariánske námestie.

Official website: farmabrezany.sk

Photos: farmabrezany.sk.