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Botanical distillers since 1872
SINDS 1872
About Rutte
In 1872, Simon Rutte founded his own distillery in Dordrecht. He had been working in one of the city's distilleries for quite some time, just like the generations before him did. When he started his own business, he was able to put his creativity into new recipes.
Today, Rutte's gins and genevers are sold throughout the Netherlands. The original distillery and shop in Dordrecht have remained unchanged. Also the way of working is still the same. Small batch and 100% natural.
Dordrecht was a good city for office: Due to its location on the water, spices were available, grain, as well as wine. Dordrecht used to be an important trading and wine city. Rutte therefore traded in wine. He bought the wine in barrels; after the sale, the empty barrels were filled with genever. Wood-ripened genever is not something new to Rutte, but has been in the genes since the beginning.
Genevers, gins and liqueurs
Genevers, gins and liqueurs
When people think of genevers, many still think of their grandfather. But wood-aged genever is very similar to whiskey, so it has been made at Rutte since its inception. In addition, Rutte has a nice assortment of gins and liqueurs. Characteristic is the frequent use of natural products. Each product contains several botanicals, creating a beautiful, complex taste.
100% Natural
100% Natural
Whereas many companies were modernized in the last century, this did not happen at Rutte. Fortunately; because of this, old recipes and craftsmanship have been preserved. No flavoring or coloring agents are used. All taste is, still as then, derived from nature. Rutte is a true botanical distiller; this means that Rutte extracts flavor from everything nature produces; herbs, spices, but also fresh fruit, peels, nuts, roots and even flowers. Anything that smells and tastes good is welcome at the distillery.
Our Production
Rutte stills follows the same unique distilling process as ancestor Simon did in his days in the small distillery in Dordrecht, with love for craft. Rutte never uses added aromas or colorants to make it look or taste better. In the products one can taste the flavour of nature: real fruit, herbs and spices. Rutte chooses the most wonderful raw materials nature has to offer. We don’t buy oils or fruit extracts, but use the fruit itself: fresh oranges, aromatic juniper berries and real cinnamon from Sri Lanka for example. The natural flavours are taken out of the ingredients by two traditional methods, distilling and extraction.
Distilling
A distiller can do a lot of magic with a still. The copper potstill is filled with alcohol, herbs or fruit and is then heated up. The alcohol evaporates, together with the volatile elements of the herbs or the fruit. These are mainly ethereal oils, the beautiful aromas nature has to offer, which determine the flavour.
The vapours are discharged and cooled down, causing them to condense and form a colourless distillate that ‘captures’ the flavour of the herbs and fruit.
Extraction
It is also possible to ‘retrieve’ the flavour from fruit or herbs by extraction. Herbs and/or fruits are infused in a mixture of alcohol and water. Extracts achieve their maximum flavour after a couple of weeks or even many months. Examples of natural products that Rutte turns into extracts include blackcurrants, cherries, orange peel and a range of aromatic herbs such as real vanilla and the root of galangal. An extract is coloured by the natural fruits or herbs.
The Casks
The Rutte family has been maturing genevers in casks from the very beginning, when it wasn’t customary to do so. In earlier centuries, Dordrecht became a city of high importance for the wine trade thanks to its riverside location. That’s why Rutte traded in wine; it was sold in their own shop and used in its products. The empty wine casks were then filled with genever. This resulted in a colourful collection of all kinds of casks, including Bordeaux, sherry and port casks.
Recipes
Rutte’s recipes are highly complex; it isn’t at all rare for dozens of different herbs and fruits to end up in a single product. They may be ingredients you expect such as juniper berry in genever but also unusual ones such as St John’s bread or angelica. Every generation has honoured Simon’s creativity and has added to it. Nowadays we still use special botanicals and unusual combinations, like celery leaf in Dutch Dry Gin for example.
Knowing which flavours can be combined successfully; how to make a product that little bit more refreshing, fuller, more beautiful; that’s magic and craft rolled into one, combined with a lot of experience.
Distilling
A distiller can do a lot of magic with a still. The copper potstill is filled with alcohol, herbs or fruit and is then heated up. The alcohol evaporates, together with the volatile elements of the herbs or the fruit. These are mainly ethereal oils, the beautiful aromas nature has to offer, which determine the flavour.
The vapours are discharged and cooled down, causing them to condense and form a colourless distillate that ‘captures’ the flavour of the herbs and fruit.
Extraction
It is also possible to ‘retrieve’ the flavour from fruit or herbs by extraction. Herbs and/or fruits are infused in a mixture of alcohol and water. Extracts achieve their maximum flavour after a couple of weeks or even many months. Examples of natural products that Rutte turns into extracts include blackcurrants, cherries, orange peel and a range of aromatic herbs such as real vanilla and the root of galangal. An extract is coloured by the natural fruits or herbs.
The Casks
The Rutte family has been maturing genevers in casks from the very beginning, when it wasn’t customary to do so. In earlier centuries, Dordrecht became a city of high importance for the wine trade thanks to its riverside location. That’s why Rutte traded in wine; it was sold in their own shop and used in its products. The empty wine casks were then filled with genever. This resulted in a colourful collection of all kinds of casks, including Bordeaux, sherry and port casks.
Recipes
Rutte’s recipes are highly complex; it isn’t at all rare for dozens of different herbs and fruits to end up in a single product. They may be ingredients you expect such as juniper berry in genever but also unusual ones such as St John’s bread or angelica. Every generation has honoured Simon’s creativity and has added to it. Nowadays we still use special botanicals and unusual combinations, like celery leaf in Dutch Dry Gin for example.
Knowing which flavours can be combined successfully; how to make a product that little bit more refreshing, fuller, more beautiful; that’s magic and craft rolled into one, combined with a lot of experience.
The Rutte family is still with us
Rutte’s team is still building on the heritage of the various generations. Their knowledge of nature and the craft have resulted in many new recipes during past centuries. Rutte still uses the old books of recipes for the development of new products. The result: new drinks using the knowledge of past Rutte generations; a wonderful posthumous collaboration.
Signature: Simon Rutte (4th generation)
Ontdek de distilleerderij en proefkamer
Op de eerste verdieping bevindt zich de Proefkamer. Hier worden per jaar duizenden mensen ontvangen voor een proeverij en een rondleiding door de distilleerderij.
Tijdens een bezoek aan de Proefkamer maakt u kennis met de rijke geschiedenis van de distilleerderij. U krijgt uitgebreid uitleg over hoe de bijzondere dranken geproduceerd worden, over welke kruiden en/of vruchten daarvoor gebruikt worden én u kunt een blik werpen op de ketels in de distilleerderijen de eikenhouten vaten in de rijpingsruimte.
The Rutte family has its origins in the province of Brabant. In the 18th century, they moved to Rotterdam, where they joined the profession of distillation. Sijmon Rutte was born in 1749, his son Simon was born in 1779. We don’t know a lot about these first ‘Ruttes’, apart from the fact that they formed the basis of today’s distillery and all the knowledge that was gathered throughout the centuries!
1830
3rd generation, Antonius Rutte
Antonius Rutte is born in Rotterdam in 1806. Around 1830, the distiller’s assistant moves from Rotterdam to Dordrecht to offer his services to one of the three local distilleries. In the meantime, he carries out his own experiments with new distillates. Antonius Rutte marries Johanna Vogel and they have four children, one of whom, Simon Antonius, chooses the same profession.
1872
4th generation, Simon Rutte
Simon Rutte is born in 1844. He marries Maria and they have five children. He too starts out as a distiller’s assistant. In 1872, Simon byes a café in the Vriesestraat and sets up his own distillery behind the drinking room. The churchgoers often drop by after mass to enjoy a drink in Simon’s café. It wasn’t before long that he lets them taste his own creations. And successfully so, because this is the start of the five generations Rutte. The café is turned into shop and in 1905, Simon installs a special façade against the building in Art Nouveau style. The original pot still, Vulkaan 1, can still be admired in the distillery.
1905
5th generation, Anton Rutte
Antonius Rutte is born in 1872. In 1905, he succeeds his father as a partner in S.A. Rutte & Zn. He dies at the age of 47, leaving his wife Margaretha to continue the business with her family, until her son Jan takes over. Jan learns most of the distilling craft from grandfather, Simon! Over the years, we’ve heard many stories about ‘Nan Rutte’, illustrated by photos we found in the attic.
1921
6th generation, Jan Rutte
In 1921, Jan Rutte joins the company alongside his mother. Jan steers the company through WWII, a time during which it’s hard to get your hands on ingredients. For some time, business is so bad that Jan has to fire his own brother. There’s a story that the family’s riches were hidden in the old distillery. Unfortunately, the Rutte treasure was never found. In Jan’s era, sons worked in the distillery, daughters in the shop. Luckily, women are allowed to distill these days.
1959
7th generation, John Rutte
John Rutte wants to become an artist but, in the end, he chooses to be a distiller. With his creative mind he develops many new recipes. Whereas others in the previous century started using modern options such as cheaper alcohol, colourants and flavourings, John turnes his back on those novelties. And that’s a good thing because all the old recipes remained unchanged. In John’s days, the name and reputation of the small distillery reaches far beyond Dordrecht and Rutte secured a spot in the top of Dutch distilleries. In 1992, John sells the distillery to a group of shareholders who loved the product. However, John continues to work for the company until his death in 2003. Rutte owes a lot to the legendary seventh generation.
Today
8th generation, Myriam Hendrickx
Myriam Hendrickx joines the company in 2003. Unfortunately, John dies a month after. Myriam reorganises the distillery and invests a lot of time in researching the company’s history and preserves the old handwritten recipes. New recipes are developed regularly, but the principles of herpredecessors, are cherished and continued. Myriam starts to invite guests to the Tastingroom, the former living quarters of the Rutte family. These days, many thousands of visitors flock to the distillery for tastings and workshops every year.
“I get to apply the knowledge accumulated over many generations of Rutte's and use the craftsmanship to create the most wonderful distillates for you to enjoy today. That's not just my job, that's a broad smile on my face every day!”
— Myriam HendrickxMaster Distiller since 2003
Visit our shop
In addition to the Distillery and the Tasting Room, our historic building in the old town of Dordrecht also houses the original shop where nothing has changed since the start of last century. All our gins, genevers and liqueurs are for sale here, including special Rutte spirits that you won’t find anywhere else. Our colleagues are ready to give you more information about Rutte and to answer all your questions.
The shop at the distillery is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm.
