Since 2003 I’m with Rutte; for me the opportunity of a life time as I could put all this knowledge and fascination into action. The Rutte name stood for exceptional quality, while in the distillery time had truly stood still. I was lucky enough to spend time with the last generation, John Rutte, just before he died at the age of 72 and then it was up to me as general manager and master distiller to continue the Rutte legacy. As no modernization had entered the distillery, I refurbished, reorganised and modernised the company, but I didn’t touch the old recipes. The family had guarded the recipes from 7 generations, written on stacks of paper. It was my job to preserve them for the future. Most products of today still stem from the early years, such as the Old Simon Genever, whilst for the new products, I combine my knowledge with that of the Rutte family, using the old recipes as inspiration and still practicing the same craftsmanship as Simon Rutte did, almost 1,5 centuries ago; just using botanicals and fruits and nothing else.