Včelovina meadery, Smolenice: mead and honey beer

Mead from the land where Slovak beekeeping was born

Smolenice lies on the eastern slopes of the Little Carpathians, below the romantic Smolenice Castle. The area has long been tied to bees: in neighbouring Naháč the priest and writer Juraj Fándly wrote two founding books of Slovak beekeeping. This is where the Včelovina meadery works — “a small production with a big heart”, as its founders put it. The company is built around three beekeepers who for years made mead at home in demijohns, until they realised their drink tasted better than anything sold in shops.

Their first mead, Včelovina Original, came after long experiments blending three kinds of honey. The principles are simple: only honey, water and craftsmanship, with no chemical preservatives, flavourings or stabilisers. The mead ferments at a low temperature of about 17 °C to better preserve the nuances of the honey. Awards confirm the quality: at the world beekeeping congress Apimondia 2025 in Copenhagen, Včelovina Špeciál won silver among traditional sweet meads, while the fruity Bee in Love and the spiced Včelovina Original took bronze.

Why go

• Production tour. A guide shows where the mead and farmhouse honey beer are made and matured, takes you briefly through the beekeepers’ garden and ends with a tasting of three meads (three honeys for children). It lasts 30–45 minutes.
• A honey café with a castle view. Coffee from a small Slovak roastery, honey lemonades, honey cider, the house beer and homemade cakes — on a terrace right below Smolenice Castle.
• The beekeepers’ garden. Thousands of flowers, plants and herbs, with works by Slovak artists and craftspeople that tell the story of the invisible life of pollinators.

What to taste and buy

The company shop sells Včelovina Original and Špeciál, the single-honey Honeycraft collection (for example Amorosa), the fruity Bee in Love, honey frizzantino, honey cider and honey. A special pride is Medobeer: a craft honey beer bottle-conditioned like Belgian specialities. The honey is added before fermentation, so the beer is not sweet — only the honey aroma remains. The idea came in 2008, when the beekeepers, returning from their first world mead competition in the USA, happened to taste a local mead-maker’s honey beer; the drink’s roots go back to the ancient braggot, something between mead and beer.

Through the year the meadery holds festivities: the Spring and Night Medokvas with tastings and music, and in November–December the Christmas weekends “Svetlo Noci Vianočnej” (Light of Christmas Night).

Practical information

Address: Továrenská 10A, 919 04 Smolenice. About 20 km from Trnava and roughly 60 km from Bratislava. Parking is in the meadow next to the complex (coming from Trstín), with a few spaces inside (coming from Modra). The site is flat and suits families with children.

Hours and prices (as of October 2026): shop Mon–Fri 9:00–17:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–18:00; café Mon–Fri 10:00–17:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–18:00. Tour with tasting €6 per adult, on set Saturdays at 16:00; places are limited, book on +421 915 507 686 or [email protected]. General phone +421 949 305 315.

Nearby

• Medolandia in Dolná Krupá — another meadery with tours.
• Magula Winery — biodynamic wines in Suchá nad Parnou.
• Smolenice Castle and Driny Cave — above the village, on Little Carpathian trails.

Official website: vcelovina.sk

Photos: vcelovina.sk.