Just Drinks Excellence Awards 2023: De Kuyper Royal Distillers

Godelief van Erve: Being among the world’s leading liqueur distilleries, curiosity and passion for the distilled product as center piece of great tasting cocktails are the constant driving force behind De Kuyper Royal Distillers. 

The De Kuyper brand is the world’s largest premium cocktail liqueur brand. In addition to many trophies and awards for its spirits, liqueurs and premixed cocktails De Kuyper received the prestigious “Liqueur Producer of the Year” award from the internationally leading ISC in 2023 for the fifth time in a row.

Godelief van Erve: Bringing in more than 325 years of expertise in creating high quality liqueurs, the family business consistently pursues its vision to “Own the Cocktail”. We aim to enable everyone to enjoy great cocktails on every occasion.

Godelief van Erve: Next to our heritage we emphasize our position as one of the main innovation drivers in the industry. What we bring to the table? The power of a family business that hands on their experience in developing, creating and producing premium spirits and premixed cocktails as well as their passion to constantly drive and innovate the market. We will keep doing this to serve the best cocktails for every taste.

Godelief van Erve: I am currently immersed in a project that has me buzzing with anticipation: the further roll out of our Ready to Serve cocktails. This venture encapsulates innovation and main trends in the spirits industry. Our Ready to Serve cocktails are set to redefine the at-home cocktail experience, offering exceptional taste and unparalleled convenience. It's an exciting journey, and we can't wait to share more details on who to appreciate perfect cocktails made effortlessly. 

Godelief van Erve: We closely monitor trends in the liqueur category and align our portfolio to strong trends. As you can see from our innovations like the De Kuyper Batched Cocktails or De Kuyper Zero, main trends are convenience and drinks with no or low alcohol. Consumers are searching for special taste experiences as well as craft ingredients. Generally said, people drink less, but with more attention to high quality.   

Spritzes and Fizzies are often a focus on the menu. These drinks resonate perfectly with the low alcohol consumer trend. The society wide trend towards healthier lifestyles with increasing drink moderation – particularly in more metropolitan areas – is expected on long term to grow the share of NoLo within the cocktail category up to 30%.

Godelief van Erve: Since 1695 De Kuyper Royal Distillers has been handed over from one generation to another. We want to continue in this tradition for the generations to come. That is why it’s important to take our responsibility for people and planet. Going forward, we encourage an active sustainability mindset and implement a structured sustainability management in our company with the main goal of becoming a climate neutral spirits company of the Netherlands. 

One good example is our cooperation with ecoSPIRITS. De Kuyper Royal Distillers is the first Licensed Operator for ecoSPIRITS in Benelux, initially bringing closed loop spirits to the Netherlands market. ecoSPIRITS’ circular packaging technology allows spirits and wine to be transported in bulk to local markets where they are processed into a reusable ecoTOTE format for delivery to bars. The ecoTOTE is a fully-reusable 4.5L packaging format, which replaces a standard six-bottle case of spirits, offering venues an average of 95% less physical glass and cardboard waste.

Godelief van Erve: We are proud to be awarded by Just Drinks for our innovations, which proofs that a long heritage and craftmanship can go hand in hand with a modern spirit. We appreciate that our efforts to bring new and relevant cocktail solutions to both our customers and consumers received this valuable recognition.

Godelief van Erve: My thanks go above all to the great team at De Kuyper! All the colleagues that work with passion, drive and an entrepreneurial mindset on developing the cocktail category and on building our remarkable brands. 

Furthermore, I want to thank our partners from suppliers to our commercial partners, that support us in our mission to bring delicious cocktail experiences to consumers around the world.