Bob Nolet’s early youth in the 1970s was filled with aromatic botanicals, malt wine, and distilled spirits. He and his older brother Carl used to play between pallets, roving Nolet Distillery in the small Dutch city of Schiedam, while their father Carolus worked around the clock upstairs. He was tasked with developing new recipes and products to save the family business that had been around since 1691. “My father never burdened us with his worries, but there’s was no escaping he worked tirelessly,” says Bob.
The Dutch spirits landscape at that time was awash with cheaply made lower-quality products. Everybody produced everything, from liqueurs to brandy and from bitters to genever. Brands were even selling below cost price to compete, sometimes without any plan of action –
