Nolet Distillery

was founded by Joannes Nolet (1638–1702) in 1691 in Schiedam, just west of Rotterdam in South Holland. In its eleventh generation steered by the same family, the distillery is now owned by Carolus Nolet (1941–), who developed Ketel One vodka. Released in 1983, the winter wheat vodka is named after the oldest coal-fired copper pot still at the distillery (Distilleerketel no. 1). Consistently one of the top-selling vodkas in the United States, Ketel One combines column-distilled wheat spirit with wheat spirit redistilled in ten copper pot stills, including the old ketel no. 1. Ketel One was not the firm’s first foray into North America; from 1902 until Prohibition forced its closure in 1920, Nolet operated a distillery in Baltimore to produce spirits for the American market.In addition to orange- and lemon-and-lime-flavored Ketel One variants, the firm produces two gins: Nolet’s Silver Dry (47.6 percent ABV) flavored with Turkish rose, white peach, and fresh raspberry, and Nolet’s Reserve (52.3 percent), a limited annual edition. It also distills two juniper-flavored genevers for the Dutch domestic market: clear Originele Ketel 1 Jonge Ambachtelijke Graanjenever (35 percent) and the straw-colored, oak-aged Ketel 1 Matuur (38.4 percent). Harlem Kruiden Liqueur, named after the Dutch city Haarlem, is a 40 percent ABV herbal cordial (“kruiden” is Dutch for “herbs”). It is the Nolet family’s stronger, slightly sweeter, and less bitter answer to Jägermeister.

See also: genever; herbal liqueur; still, pot;, vodka.

Elliott, Stuart. “Bond’s Martini Will Be Shaken with a Different Vodka.” New York Times, December 15, 2014.

Ketel One website. https://ketelone.com (accessed March 4, 2021).

Ketel1 website (Netherlands). https://ketel1.nl (accessed March 4, 2021).

By: Matthew Rowley