SINGAPORE, 19 June 2019 Old Duff Genever, founded by renowned bartending, spirits and cocktail educator Philip Duff, and Proof & Company have announced a distribution partnership to cover key markets in Asia Pacific, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, China, Australia and New Zealand. This launch is the first partnership of its kind for an independently-owned genever in the region.
Old Duff Genever will join Proof & Company’s new “Brands of Reference” initiative, which focuses on championing best-in-class offerings in the lesser known spirit categories that are nonetheless essential to the Second Golden Age of fine drinking.
“Genever, while a niche category today, is historically important and makes some cracking classics. In the modern cocktail realm, leading bars need at least one quality real Dutch genever in their arsenal,” notes Jason Williams, Creative Director at Proof & Company and Master of Gin at ATLAS in Singapore, “We really do believe Old Duff is the gold standard in the genever category today – and we always love being able to champion a brand founded by a dear friend and fellow bar professional.”
Old Duff Genever is a range of real Dutch genevers designed for the modern cocktail bartender, and cocktail civilian, as Philip likes to say. Genever is the parent of both whiskey and gin, and the spirit has a rich distilling tradition dating back to the 1500s in Holland, Belgium and parts of Germany and France. It is historically distilled from a whisky-like grain base – often including a good bit of rye – complemented with very small amounts of juniper and other botanicals.
During the First Golden Age of cocktails in mid-1800s America, genever was the best-selling imported spirit in the United States, with as many as 450 bottles of genever being imported for every 1 bottle of other imported spirits. Old Duff, which is entirely milled, mashed, fermented, distilled and bottled in Holland, brings to life this important chapter of spirits history that was on the verge of being lost.
“When I created Old Duff Genever in 2017, Asia Pacific was always a region that was on my mind; historically, because of the genever-drinking traditions of Asian countries where Dutch travellers established themselves from the 1600s on, and commercially, because the region represents the future of a large chunk of our industry, especially in the realm of craft spirits and cocktails,” reports Duff, “I’ve been teaching seminars on cocktails and spirits throughout Asia Pacific since 1998, and I’m beyond excited to return to launch Old Duff Genever. I couldn’t wish for a better partner on this journey than Proof & Company; they instinctively understand and champion founder-led craft spirits brands and have an unmatched expertise in the world of bars.”
As part of its Asia Pacific launch, Old Duff will be supporting a year-long genever education campaign in collaboration with JERRY, the online beverage learning platform. The goal? Simply to raise awareness of this unique and beautiful spirit, and its importance to cocktail culture in the First and Second Golden Ages of fine drinking. Old Duff and Proof & Company will also be continuing Old Duff’s tradition of donating USD 1 per bottle sold to bartender charities and bar community initiatives in the region.
About Old Duff Genever
Old Duff Genever is the world’s most legitimate and transparent real Dutch genever range, currently composed of the core Old Duff Genever, and the rare Old Duff Genever 100% Maltwine with the Seal of Schiedam (one of only three such genevers in existence). While most supposedly “Dutch” genevers buy in their maltwine from Belgian distillers, every drop of Old Duff is milled, mashed, fermented, distilled and bottled exclusively in Holland, at a family-owned distillery founded in 1777. The brand was created in 2017 by spirits expert Philip Duff, an Irishman and lifelong bartender who had spent 17 years living in Holland. Since its global launch in New York that year, Old Duff Genever has become the best-selling 100% maltwine genever in the USA (and the first such genever to be sold in the US in a century) and gained listings and menu cocktail placements in the Dead Rabbit, Eleven Madison Park, The NoMad hotel, Amor y Amargo, Existing Conditions, Katana Kitten and virtually every other significant cocktail bar in New York. After launching in the UK in October 2018, Old Duff cocktails can already be found on the menu at top venues such as The Savoy Hotel’s American Bar, Swift, Aqua, Demon Wise & Partners, and the brand is additionally available in its homeland Holland and onboard the Holland America cruise lines. For more information, visit: www.oldduffgenever.com