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| Dutch liqueurs and Bols is a company with a local service area. | |
The oldest distillery brand in the world is Dutch.
Bols
Founded in Amsterdam in 1575, and still trading. The company sold liqueurs across Europe while the Dutch Republic was still being formed.
The spice trade
Amsterdam had access to nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and citrus peel that other cities could not get. Liqueur making followed naturally from the warehouses at the harbour.
Curaçao
The orange liqueur is named after the Caribbean island, then Dutch, where a bitter orange grew that was useless as fruit but excellent as peel.
The colours
Blue curaçao is the same drink with colouring. The blue was a twentieth-century marketing idea, not a recipe change.
Where to taste them
In a proeflokaal, a tasting house, where the range is poured by the glass.