The Stillery is the result of Pascal Peeters’ (33) out-of-control extracurricular home distilling activities. 10 years in, Pascal and his partner in crime Robin Karels (34) have seen it all. From their humble start as “hobbyist home distillers” to their Willy Wonkaesque craft spirit distillery in the Amsterdam harbor that is The Stillery. The spirits made here are awarded prize upon prize for quality and taste in all the prestigious international drinks competitions. The duo is incredibly ambitious and only point their valuable time and expertise towards causes with a future. And along came L’OUI.
Crafting the future
The Stillery makes organic Vodka, Gin, and Genever from “grain to glass”. The brand uses locally sourced grain in addition to the usual blood, sweat and tears of course. This is the artisanal approach or in more modern terms “craft”. The Stillery combines the ancient art of craft distilling with an ambitious environmental agenda. The company has pledged to shorten supply lines to reduce their carbon footprint. On top of this, the organization plants a tree for every liter of The Stillery craft spirit produced. This is “The Original Craft Spirit”, in a nutshell.
The favourite drink of the makers?
When you ask Pascal about his favorite creation, he will tell you about his latest liquid lovechild: The Stillery’s Dutch North Sea Gin. This gin is inspired by the coast and exceptional Dutch dune landscape. Just like “The Stillery’s Most Floral Gin”, our North Sea Gin contains a botanical wealth of locally found flora. The perfect balance between blackberry leaf, sea buckthorn, thyme, rosehip and seaweeds like the Japanese wireweed (an invasive species) and the toothed wrack native to the North Sea, make that this gin took home a gold medal even before it was officially launched.
What do The Stillery’s activities for L’OUI entail?
The Stillery is more than just the spirit brand. If you are looking for recipe development, The Stillery is the place to be. For example, The Stillery Amsterdam is the driving force behind the flavor profiles of some 70 Dutch craft brands that have seen the light of day over the past 5 years. From an unprecedented diversity of limoncellos, to uniquely crafted gin and jenever recipes and, more recently a swath of RTD’s such as Gin tonics and hard seltzers, The Stillery cans and bottles it all.
The constant stream of recipe development has led The Stillery to establish a huge collection of distillates and tinctures. You’ll find this liquid library in The Stillery’s Laboratory where the 5-liter jars are stacked to the sealing. This is Pascal’s domain and it’s where the magic happens. It’s a mesmerizing experience to smell and taste all the different exciting flavors on shelve. From exotic fruits to worldly spices and local roots and herbs. This collection was the starting point for L’OUIs marvelous cocktails.
25 classic cocktails
For months, Pascal and L’OUI co-founder Edwin de Koeijer worked tirelessly in the lab to create 25 unique recipes. The worlds cocktail classics have been dissected reverse engineered and reimagined for the better. For example, let’s take a look at Triple Sec. It’s a common ingredient in many cocktails. The liqueur is a combination of bitter and sweet, warm and tardy orange-like flavors, that surprisingly don’t come from just one source. Oranges come in many varieties: some edible and some not. Moreover, an orange consists of several parts. There is the peel and the fruity body which both can either be used dried or fresh. When distilled, these choices are critical. By distilling the different parts and recombining them in favorable proportions, the right balance of full bodied bitter and sweet orange liqueur is made. This is one of the ways The Stillery has completely redefined the 25 classic cocktails L’OUIs machine produces.
Unlike a cocktail bar
The process of dissecting, extracting, distilling and blending flavors is simply not possible in your run of the mill cocktail bar. Yet the process is essential when it comes to creating a fool proof consistent cocktail experience. The Stillery shapes L’OUI’s cocktails layer by layer, carefully analyzing each layer in terms of what it does to the cocktail’s flavor, mouth feel, and looks. If a distillate or tincture doesn’t work, it’s back to the drawing board.
Come get a taste of our cocktails
Do you want to taste how The Stillery and L’OUI have reinvented the cocktail? There is only one way to find out! We would be happy to invite you for a demonstration. Get in touch with us via +31 (0)6 19184451 or send a mail to cheers@loui-cocktails.com for more information.
Mai Tai
