And by “What We Ate” I mean: “What We Drank.”
I scheduled a distillery tour and tasting at Wynand Fockink for Severin and I. We paid 17.50 euros per person and we were supposed to get 2 genever tastings, 2 liqueurs, 1 brandy, and 1 bitter. However, we ended up being the only people on the tour and I think we got nine or ten tastings in total– we’ll see how many I can remember!
- Orange Liqueur (basically Curacao without the fake coloring)
- Half & Half (orange liqueur mixed with herbal bitters, a delicious mistake)
- Chocolate Liqueur
- Hans in the Cellar Liqueur
- Orange Liqueur (which is Dutch is called “Chinese Apple”)
- Cherry Liqueur
- old and young genevers
- a bitter, I don’t remember which kind.
One of the more unique drinks we tried was “Hansje in de Kelder,” or “Hansel in the Cellar.” Apparently back in the olden days Dutch people were a little squeamish about talking about women being pregnant. So instead of mentioning the unmentionable, they’d invite their friends over and share a glass of this, and everyone would be duly informed the lady of the house was not just getting fat. In some cases, the family would even have a special silver cup that, when filled with liquor, would cause a small baby to float to the surface to really drive home the message (here’s a photo of one below, from the Rijksmuseum, which had a whole room called “Drinking Games”!) Wynand Fockink also had a version to give as a gift on wedding day called “Bride’s Tears” which had gold and silver leaf in it, a sort-of alcoholic snow globe.
The Hans in the Cellar was unlike anything I’ve ever tasted– it was vaguely sweet but also herbal. I’ll be honest, my palate was not able to discern all the distinct flavors (or really any, for that matter– I think my reaction upon first sip was “What IS this?”) It’s complicated, too, because depending on what part of your tongue different flavors really come through, so it was a lot of everything at the same time. It is made with apricot juice, orange, bergamot, and lemon– quite the combo.
The genevers– I can’t remember if I liked the young or old better. They are served in the tulip shaped glass you see behind the bottles below. The glass is filled to the very tip-top (to the point where it looks like it will overflow, but the surface tension stops it). Since it’s too full to pick up, you take your first sip by bending over and slurping it. All of this just to make sure the bartender doesn’t given you a milliliter less than what you are owed!
Wynand Fockink is a small craft distillery, and all of their tinctures could fit in this single room. They had three copper stills, but the two larger-size stills belonged to Bols (which apparently bought out Wynand Fockink) because Bols needed to make some of their product in Amsterdam proper in order to call themselves an Amsterdam distillery.
