Schiedam

For centuries, the city of Schiedam — which celebrated its 750th anniversary in 2025 — has been home to the creation of exceptional distilled products. It’s no coincidence that this city on the Nieuwe Maas is known as the Dutch Distillers District. You can still see traces of the age-old history of distilling spirits in the historic city centre. Magnificent windmills, the City Museum, the Jenever Museum, De Walvisch windmill museum and buildings such as malt houses and distilleries still reflect the vibrant and rich history of the jenever and spirits industry. And anyone who mentions Schiedam today is also talking about vodka and gin. Because spirits and cocktails go hand in hand. Nolet is proud to be part of this extraordinary city’s rich history.

Dutch Distillers District

Our city of origin, where we live and work, and which gives us the space to do business. The city that has also long since ceased to be made up of nothing but jenever distillers, but which supplies spirits like our Ketel One Vodka and NOLET’s Finest gins internationally. That is what has turned Schiedam from a jenever city into a Dutch Distillers District.

The municipality of Schiedam wants to strengthen the city’s identity and image by launching a massive city marketing campaign and increasing the visibility of spirits in various parts of the city centre through art works. In addition, numerous events are organized around the Dutch Distillers District, such as the International Dutch Distillers Festival (IDDF). In 2025, this festival was held on the grounds of the Nolet Family Distillery. By constructing mooring facilities at the distilleries this will enable visitors to reach and explore those distilleries from the river.

City marketing

The municipality of Schiedam wants to strengthen the city’s identity and image by launching a massive city marketing campaign, with a focus on spirits in various parts of in the city centre. This will take the form of art displays and information boards. Many other events, such as the International Dutch Distillers Festival (IDDF), will also be organised in and around the Distillers District. A point worth mentioning is that ingredients for the genever industry used to be transported by water. Nowadays, Schiedam mainly attracts water tourists, so mooring facilities will be constructed to enable them to visit the various distilleries.