Carl Nolet Jr.
For 326 years, the Nolet family has been making their premium Ketel One vodka from their distillery in Schiedam, Holland.
Since arriving in the U.S. in 1983, Carl Nolet engaged and worked with local bartenders in each market to help raise awareness for their vodka, allowing them to act as trusted gatekeepers for the brand. It’s one of the many reasons Ketel One Vodka is still the most recommended vodka by bartenders in the world because of this personal relationship.
Recently, Carl Nolet, Jr., 11th generation of the family of distillers behind the premium vodka, came to Nashville for a special event at Kayne Prime celebrating our elite community of bartenders and distributors.
What makes Ketel One different from other vodka brands available? Their rich family heritage of making vodka has been passed down through 11 generations of fathers and sons enabling them to really know the process of making vodka with a very hands on approach. They go to the Meditaranian, Carribean, Brazil, and Florida to find the best growers, making sure it’s the best fruit they can grow for their products. They use their own family recipe that after 326 years has been thoroughly time-tested rather than buy the alcohol like a lot of other brands from a rectifier. The family painstakenly takes care of every detail that goes into making their vodka with the full distillation process done completely under their roof. The result is an unsurpassed product made with pride from rich family tradition with a distinctively smoothe flavor compared to other vodka brands.
Orange mule served at celebration in a kettle.
If you want to see the process for yourself, you can take a virtual reality tour by going to: vr.ketelone.com
Ketel One has always worked with people in the trade. As Nolet describes, his grandfather and his father both said they “wore out their shoes” as they pounded the pavement making those personal connections with the trade industry. They have formed very close ties to the United States Bartenders Guild with branches in each city, Nashville being no different. Jonathan Howard, one of our locals, who is going to be opening a Kimpton Hotel in Nashville soon, was just in California where Nolet lives now, and Ketel One is working closely with him through World Class that hosts yearly competitions to find the best bartenders in the world.
Ketel One just launched their special Arnold Palmer collector’s edition bottle to honor the golf legend due to their close friendship through the years and to help continue his legacy by donating $100,000 to Arnie’s Army Charitable Foundation, hosting charitable golf tournaments, working with country clubs where their innitiative is to put a day together to remember Palmer raising money for the late golf legend’s foundation, and featuring a bottle for sale with Arnold Palmer’s signature available now through his birthday on September 8th, 2017.
With Father’s Day today, how does Carl Nolet, Jr. plan to celebrate? As the father of 7 kids ranging in ages from 8-22, you can probably envision a big celebration underway, but he plans to celebrate it very lowkey as he flies back to his home in California to be with his family enjoying a couple of kettles in the sand and let the day be about simply relaxing.
For much more information about Ketel One’s history and drink recipes, be sure to visit their site at: www.ketelone.com.
Don’t forget to include Ketel One vodka in your Father’s Day plans and in celebrations for National Martini day tomorrow. As always, drink responsibily. Cheers!
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