First let me apologise for the tardiness of this post. I have had it all written out and ready to blog since Wednesday, but unfortunately Wordpress went a little crazy and i’ve not been able to sort it out until now. So, to avoid further time being wasted, let’s get on with things.

The town of Schiedam lies about an hour south of Amsterdam. It was, and still is to a lesser extent, the Genever capital of the world. Perfectly situated as an easily accessible shipping port, Schiedam was once home to around three-hundred and fifty different Genever distilleries; there are now just three.

One of them is owned by the Nolet family, famous for ten generations of distilling lineage dating back to 1691. In 1989 the family launched a new product, Ketel One Vodka. The product aimed to provide a super-premium vodka for a steadily growing market. Today 18 million litres of the liquid are consumed every year and it widely considered to be one of the best vodkas in the world.

We were lucky enough to go there.

The first thing of note is the gigantic windmill. The Dutch love their windmills, but this one is unique in that it generates 25-30% of the power needed to run the distillery. The second great thing about it is that it’s the largest windmill in the world, even housing a small (but not that small) cinema! We were able to watch a short film commissioned by the Nolet family that plays out the history of the family, focussing on each generation contributing something new to the Nolet’s product, building layers of quality as they went.

The name Ketel One comes from the original copper pot still that has been in use for centuries in the distillery, Keteldistileer No. 1. It is unique in both it’s brick jacketed appearance and it’s coal fuelled furnace. There are now eleven different stills used to create Ketel One, but every single bottle contains some liquid crafted by the original pot. In addition to this every single batch of Ketel One vodka is tasted by a member of the Nolet family.

The same set of stills are also used to make the Ketel 1 Grandgenever and Ketel One Citron, which is blended with 99% Sicilian lemon zest and 1% lime zest. One of the things that stuck out about the distillery for us, was the harmonious implementation of age-old practices and modern techniques. A lot of money has been spent at the distillery in the last five years, much of it going towards a huge underground tunnel that runs beneath the canal to the packaging plant. One minute you are witnessing robots stack crates and the next you are shoveling coal into the Ketel No. 1 still or enjoying a drink in the contemporary bar with Bob Nolet, 11th generation Nolet.

A picture paints a thousand words, but an experience does so much more. The last few days have taught us a lot about vodka and especially the lengths at which producers are prepared to go. No marketing budget can buy an insight into the passion, knowledge and skill that we have witnessed in Holland and France.

This vodka trip has been brought to you by Daryl Haldane, Joey Medrington, Alex Kratena, Thomas Higham and myself.

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