The island of Texel now has a distillery. The potatoes from the "Hoeve Nieuw Breda" ranch will help make vodka as well as gin. The distillery, called "Stokerij Texel", is founded by Jaco Spek en Kees Groenewoud. Only three months ago they proposed their plans to the owners of the ranch, the Langeveld family. "Let's do that!" was their spontaneous answer. Since then, work on the distillery has begun. Kees: "It has been quite hectic. The building and refurbishing ... we want to be up and running as soon as possible!" Groenewoud en Spek handed the first "Certificate of Participation" to the Langevelds. These certificates can be bought for EUR 100,- and help finance setting-up the distillery. Participants get a return in the shape of one bottle of premium distilled spirits every Christmass for five years. Participants also get to join Stokerij Texel's tasting pannel. When I asked Jaco about the "why" behind his distillery, this is the answer I got: "Since several years now, the interest in regionally produced food has increased dramaticaly. Not just food, also locally produced drinks are in high demand. We want to be part of that movement and provide premium distilled spirits that follow the cradle-to-cradle principle." The island of Texel produces a variety of grains and potatoes. Stokerij Texel uses these resources to make great drinks. Kees: "A century ago, every big farm had a distillery to process excess rest and by products and turn them into viable, marketable product. The distilled spirits not only generated farmers additional income, it also helped them through the cold winter months. Stokerij Texel is an old tradition re-enacted in a modern way."

http://www.stokerijtexel.nl/