Millstone: Farm to Glass Distillery
The big dream of whiskey enthusiast and master distiller Patrick van Zuidam has always been to make his own whiskey. The result: the first Dutch whiskey: Millstone
Millstone: Farm to Glass Distillery
The big dream of whiskey enthusiast and master distiller Patrick van Zuidam has always been to make his own whiskey. The result: the first Dutch whiskey: Millstone
Opened in 1975 by Fred van Zuidam, Zuidam Distillery began its life making Gins, Jenevers (a juniper-flavoured spirit that was the precursor to the style of Gin we are familiar with today), and traditional Dutch liqueurs. With a priority on producing small, quality and exclusive products, they soon became known as one of the finest distilleries in the Netherlands. Business boomed and the distillery expanded to keep up with their success, but they continued to be a family company with Fred van Zuidam retiring and passing the distillery on to his sons Patrick and Gilbert who still produce spirit there today.
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More About Millstone
It was after this expansion in 1989 that they decided to lay down their first casks of whisky, both rye and single malt. Over a quarter of land in the Netherlands is used for agriculture, with Wheat, Barley and Rye being three of the most prominent crops grown there, so the Zuidam family looked to their local farmers to source the base for their single malt and 100% rye whisky expressions. In the last few years, they have started growing and cultivating their own barley and rye crops on nearby farmland with the potential in the future to create a paddock-to-bottle or single estate expression.
In addition to the locally sourced barley and rye, the distillery continues to utilize one of the most traditional and unusual methods of milling their grains, Windmills. Grain is carted to one of the seven windmill owners they work with and is gravity fed through a stone which crushes it to the required level, preparing it for mashing and fermenting. This process is used for all the grain that comes through the distillery, whether is becomes whisky or gin.
Named for the stone used in the traditional windmill process of milling grains, Millstone Whisky made its debut on the whisky scene in 2007 with a 5 year old expression.
Since then, they have gone on to produce a wide range of single malt bottlings using both peated and unpeated malt, as well as an incredible array of quality first fill casks, from the classic American oak to PX and even Moscatel. One of their most well know and popular whiskies is the 100 Rye, named for being 100% Dutch rye grain that has been 100% pot distilled, aged for 100 months and bottled at 100 proof.
This expression showcases the skill the Zuidam family has at distilling, given the tendency of rye whisky to thicken up and become glue-like as it ferments. In November 2019 they released their oldest expression to date, a 23 year old Oloroso single cask whisky, giving an exciting glimpse of some of the earliest barrels from this distillery.
Production
MILLSTONE Dutch Single Malt Whisky is hand crafted in the traditional distillery that is owned and operated by the Zuidam Family. More than 50 years of experience in distilling of exclusive spirits and a constant search for perfection has led to the birth of this exquisite Millstone whisky.
WINDMILLS mill the malted barley that is used to produce this Malt Whisky. In using windmills for milling their malted barley the distillery helps preserve the important Dutch heritage of the world famous windmills. Even more importantly the traditional millstones of the windmills slowly grind the malted barley into flour. This traditional way of milling causes almost no increase in the temperature of the grain and thus helps preserve the wonderful aroma’s.
MASHING the grain is done by adding hot water to the malted barley. The hot water triggers the enzymes to convert the starch from the grain into sugars. The process takes about 5 hours per batch. The resulting Mash is cooled to 20 ° Celsius and pumped to the fermentation tank. The fermentation is done in small batches at a very low temperature to give this whisky its fruity flavors. The fermentation takes about 5 days. This is much longer than is customary but is essential to allow for the delicate flavors to form.
DISTILLATION, Millstone Whisky is double distilled in handcrafted copper pot stills. The small stills have an extraordinary large copper surface if you compare them to the large stills used elsewhere. The extra contact between the alcohol vapors and the copper helps to eliminate any unwanted substances and also stimulates the formation of the complex and fruity esters. The small stills thus produce a very delicate and fruity new spirit.
AGING After the careful distillation the whisky is aged in small barrels. We use new barrels of American white oak as well as barrels that have previously held Bourbon and Olorosso Sherry. Because we use new or barrels that have been used only 1 time and we store the barrels in a warm and dry warehouse the whisky ages rather quickly. The downside is that the evaporation losses are rather high. Typically the “Angels Share” is between 4% and 5% per year.
Millstone Highlights
Interview - Patrick van Zuidam
The Whisky List talks to Patrick van Zuidam - Managing director & distiller at Zuidam distillery, Millstone whisky