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Idle Dutch condemned genever as “forgotten spirit”, claims Bols CEO
Lucas Bols’ CEO has condemned the Dutch for doing “ a lousy job” of promoting their national spirit genever, which he describes as “the forgotten spirit”.
Lucas Bols CEO Huub van Doorne has blamed the Dutch for a limited performance of its Genever
Huub van Doorne, whose Amsterdam-based company has been producing Bols Genever – a malt-based gin – since October 2008, claims the category has been stagnant despite having a history dating back to the 19th century.
The reason, he claims, is that the Dutch have failed to do enough to promote their national spirit around the world.
“On one hand you see vodka growing up but genever has not done anything,” he told The Spirits Business. “For many years the people in Holland and the owners of the brands have done nothing to promote genever. When you are sitting still for 20 years you cannot expect much.”
While Lucas Bols concentrates largely on its extensive range of liqueurs and bartender training initiatives, van Doorne admits genever is proving something of a problem for the company.
“Genever is the big challenge and the big battle for us. It’s what we call the forgotten spirit. The Dutch have done a very lousy job to put it mildly, in defending our own spirit across the globe. For us Bols Genever is an important investment, and we really need to believe in it. As a company you need to get people to stick with it. It has been tried in the past but only for one or two years – you shift a few cases and nothing happens and people give up.”
According to van Doorne, Bols Genever is the only international brand and is leading the market despite its “small base” which he claims is doubling every year.
With knowledge of genever still low amongst consumers, Bols has been targeting the on-trade in the US, UK, Holland, Germany and Russia over the past five years as the first part of a two-stage strategy.
“Now it’s time to get one layer below and get consumers to start recognising it and seeing it and interact with how they are drinking it. That should happen over the next five years.”
To aid recognition of genever around the world, Lucas Bols is working alongside the Dutch government to establish an appellation controllee in the EU, which is still expected to take around five years before it is passed.