Nurzhan Distillery

The Nurzhan Distillery (Russian: Нуржанский ликёро-водочный завод, NLVZ) is a vodka distillery in Nurzhan. It was founded in 1949 as the Kobozev distillery, beside the railway, distilling spirit from Chu wheat, and was privatized to its workforce in 1995. Its owner since 2001 has been Nikolai Bondarenko, its former chief technologist, who bought out the other shareholders.^[1]

Brands

The distillery has about 240 staff and makes about 3 million liters of vodka a year, roughly half the vodka drunk in Irad; the rest is imported from Kazakhstan and Russia. Its brands are the everyday Nurzhanskaya, which keeps its Soviet label, the cheaper Chuyskaya and, since 2012, the premium Kobozev, named after the city's Soviet name; it also makes cherry and blackcurrant liqueurs. It does not make sygyndy, which remains a village spirit (see Alcohol in Irad).^[1]

References

1. ^ Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Irad (2026). Commercial Directory of the Irad Special Economic Zone, 2026 edition. Talas.