Rutte Distillery: Dutch Craftsmanship, Local Heritage & a World-Class Spirit Portfolio

Apr 14

Tasting moment at Rutte Distillery with Master Distiller Myriam Hendrickx and Dutch Courage Owner Timo Janse holding a rare Rutte Vieux. This space used to be the living room of the Rutte family above the shop.

Heritage and creativity
Few distilleries in the Netherlands embody the blend of craft heritage, botanical expertise, and modern creativity as vividly as Rutte,

the iconic Dordrecht-based spirit house. Founded in 1872, the distillery continues to produce gins, genevers, liqueurs, and specialty spirits in the same historic building where the Rutte family began more than 150 years ago. Today, with a renewed global presence.
Its master distiller is Myriam Hendrickx, the 8th master distiller for the brand.

In through Royal De Kuyper, Rutte has solidified its reputation as one of Europe’s most authentic and innovative distilleries. It was acquired by De Kuyper in 2011, and quickly established itself as the beacon of genever, vodka gin and speciality liqueurs for the entire portfolio.

An unusual road to Master Distiller
Myriam has an unusual background for a master distiller. She studied food technology, and theatre. She was first appointed as apprentice to John Rutte (the 7th master distiller and Rutte family member), but as he passed away already a month after she started her role Myriam had to learn the craft fast.
Aided by an inquisitive mind and acute palate she additionally followed a course in perfume in Grasse. Nevertheless, each product is bench marked to the core values and traditions of the Rutte brand, one that was already known to push the boundaries when it comes to unique ingredients and botanicals.

A GEO Focus: Dordrecht – The Home of Rutte
Rooted in the charming city of Dordrecht, one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands, Rutte’s philosophy embraces locality, Dutch

botanicals, and small-batch craftsmanship. The distillery still operates with traditional copper stills, vintage tools, and handwritten

botanical recipes. They give workshops as well, plus some of its most unique and rare products are available ONLY at the Dordrecht shop.
There is a decent sized active pot still present; however, this is used primarily as a test tool for Myriam to see how the flavors behave, and later to be produced in larger scale by de Kuyper.

There are three stills located at the Rutte shop. All three are called “Vulkaan”, Dutch for Volcano. Why this is, is unknown. Perhaps as the still explodes in a volcano of flavors?

Many infusions and elixers are present as well, serving as an entire encyclopedia of flavours at Myriam’s disposal. Some of these wind up as one of their limited editions genevers or gins.

The history of Rutte.

Rutte Family:
Sijmon Rutte (1st generation) born in 1749.
And subsequentially

Simon Rutte (2nd generation) born in 1779.
These came from Brabant to Rotterdam and established their craft as distillers.

Antonius Rutte (3d generation) was born in 1806.
In 1830 he settles in Dordrecht. Here is an abundance of spices, botanicals, grain and wine.
He starts working in oe of the three genever distilleries already present.

Simon Rutte (4th Generation),
His image is also featured on the bottle “Old Simon”.
Simon buys a bar in 1872 and starts a distillery in the back of the house. Later on, het turns this bar into a shop, and the main business becomes selling wine and his own creations. This is still the same to this very day.
The wine arrives in barrels, and those barrels are used for aging and storing liqueurs and genevers. He also builds the art-deco entrance, still visible now.

Anton Rutte (5th Generation) born in 1972.
His image is featured on the bottle of Old Tom Genever. He created many of the recipes used today dating from 1918, such as the (Celery) gin.

Jan Rutte (6th Generation) becomes master distiller once his father Anton dies in 1921.
He guides the business through rough times during WWII.

John Rutte (7th generation) was born in 1959. Although he wanted to become an artist, he still ends up in the family business. Known to be very creative in distilling and remaining true to high quality ingredients. He expands the business far beyond Dordrecht until he sells it to a group of investors in 1992, and remains working in the distillery until his death in 2003.

The Complete Rutte Portfolio

1. Rutte Dutch Dry Gin (Flagship)
Rutte Dutch Dry Gin is the modern evolution of the distillery’s historical gin tradition—first introduced in 1918 as an Old Tom gin, but already using the signature botanical: celery. Relaunched in 2021, first as Celery gin, this award-winning spirit highlights a delicate balance of six organic botanicals. After being embraced by Joerg Meyer as the gin of choice for his legendary Gin Basil Smash, Celery Gin replaced the Rutte Dry gin as the only dry gin produced by the company.

2. Rutte Sloe Gin
Rutte Sloe Gin is rich, ruby-colored, and built on macerated sloe berries blended with Rutte’s classic botanicals. At Dutch Courage Cocktail Bar, it transforms into elegant, vibrant cocktails.

3. Rutte Genevers
Rutte continues to craft traditional genever, maintaining its malty complexity and botanical depth.

Rutte Jonge
A very approachable young style genever aimed at the local market. Has a lot of fans in the local community. With 15% malt wine, it is one of the richest and highest quality brands on the market by far. And with three botanicals besides the necessary Juniper it also boasts plenty of aroma.

Rutte Oude
Replaced the Oude 5 en Oude 12 as one “old style” genever. Together with the “Jonge” they form a duo stylistically to appeal to the older generations and to be served neat. Rutte prefers it to be served at room temperature instead of the more traditional frozen way.
Maltwine is 40%, a LOT more than is required.

Rutte Old Tom Genever
A unique blend of genever and Old Tom Style gin after a recipe found in 1918. Aimed to be a marriage of old style gin and genever. With only 7% maltwine, it is the lighters of all Rutte genevers.

Barrel Aged Genever 5 years
100% Maltwine, and originally created in 1940 as one of the first aged genevers.
Price/Quality that is very, very hard to beat.

Koornwyn genever
Although Koornwyn does not technically need to be a genever anymore, those at Rutte still are, meaning juniper and other botanicals are used. The maltwine % in this is 55%, a step up from the minimum 50%

Koornwyn XO
This bottling together with the “regular” Koornwyn form a set stylistically and marketing wise. They are both meant to be enjoyed with herring, or after a nice meal in a restaurant.

Single Oat
The only genever on the market that uses only oats. This is for a reason as it is a very difficult grain to work with in terms of yield and cleaning. But the resulting taste is absolutely unique.

Oude Simon
Uses some unique botanicals in the world of genever in the form of Walnuts and hazelnuts, but also mace and carob.

Paradyswijn
Named after the “Paradis”: the aging cellar word also used in Cognac. 100% matwine, aged in French oak and others. Aged for 4-10 years and using unique botanicals including apple and cherry.

4. Rare Genevers and products
Over the years, Rutte has shown itself to be quite the artisanal and creative producer. Here are most of them from the past 15 years.
-Rutte PX Sherry Aged #1 of 4
Was aged 5 years in PX barrel. 1100 bottles were produced.
-Fino Sherry Barrel Aged #2 of 4
Was aged for 6 years in Fino Barrel. 1100 bottles were produced.
-Oloroso Sherry Barrel Aged #
Was Aged for 7 years in Oloroso Barrel. 1100 bottles were produced.
-Cream Sherry Barrel Aged #4 of 4
Was aged for 8 years in Cream Sherry Barrel. 1100 bottles were produced.
Dutch Courage Cocktailbar has one of these.

-Rutte Cask Strength Genever
in 2022 whisky connoisseur Michiel Wigman selected together with Myriam
A special 14 year old distillate made by Myriam’s predecessor. 20% was used in the bottling, with the rest made up of Single oat (40%) and Singe Malt Genever (40%). Then it was split in two sets, one with carob, fenugriek and juniper botanicals added. The other? Lemon, cardamom and black current. Only 55 sets were made, and Dutch Courage Cocktailbar has one of each.

-Rutte Old Simon Jubilee
To celebrate the 150 anniversary of the Rutte distillery; this product based on the Old Simon recipe was barrel aged for four years, and contains additional Hazelnuts distilled beside the walnuts.

-Rutte Single Malt Genever
To showcase the diversity of genever this product was made with only a malted barley pot distillate as a base. After aging in barrel for four years this makes it identical to Whisky with one difference. The botanicals used. In this case these were juniper berry, angelica root and iris root plus coriander. The barrels were virgin oak, but still the liquid shines through.

-Rutte Kaffir Lime Gin
Enamored by fresh-grown organic locally sourced Kaffir lime leaves, Myriam created this limited edition in 2023.

-Rutte Orange Rose
After the success of the 2023 limited edition, this next edition was launched in 2024.
Myriam discovered that rose paired very well with the citrus in the Rutte gin, and so combined with using extra orange peels and fennel, this edition came about containing 8 botanicals in total.

Rutte Oude 5 and Oude 12
These two products are no longer made, being replaced by “Oude” and “Oude Simon”. But bottles can still be found. Please note the “5” and “12” do NOT refer to years aged.

5. Rutte Liqueurs
Rutte produces small-batch liqueurs beloved by bartenders for their natural flavor extraction. Because of their use of only fresh, organic products they are a rare find indeed.

6. Rutte Vieux
Rutte Vieux highlights warm, aged character and an approachable sweetness. Because De Kuyper already has a vieux, this product is only available at the Rutte shop.

Craftsmanship & Aging: Behind the Scenes at De Kuyper
Rutte spirits age in carefully selected oak casks at De Kuyper’s barrel warehouse. Each barrel is marked and numbered, reflecting decades of Dutch spirit artistry.

Conclusion

Rutte represents the ultimate blend of history, craftsmanship, and modern innovation. Whether sipping a cocktail featuring Rutte Sloe Gin, exploring the barrel rooms at De Kuyper, or diving into the botanicals of the Dutch Dry Gin, every element reflects a dedication to quality that has kept Rutte celebrated for more than a century.

Try them at Dutch Courage Cocktailbar and ask about our rare bottlings we have of them!