WorldCity Business Magazine

Dutch Courage

by WC

A brewing company from the Netherlands has chosen South Florida as a base for an ambitious launch of a flavored vodka designed for U.S. tastes.

There are some who think might think of something pungent when the Netherlands and the word herb are used in the same breath.
Well, a storied Dutch brewery has brought a different botanical into the United States in the form of Vodka Herb, a beverage targeted to U.S. drinkers. The company is managing the launch from Doral.

Sonnema, doing business as UTO USA here, started brewing in 1777 and entered the bitters segment in 1860. Based in Schiedam, the parent controls half of the Dutch market and is second only to Bacardi in market share in the Netherlands.

Back home, Sonnema brews a range of beverages that include Mansion House whisky and Joseph Guy, the country’s favorite brandy which accounts for 40 percent of that market. Another hit in the Netherlands is the Herman Jansen line of kosher cordials which includes the likes of triple sec, cherry and apricot brandies or what Frank Behrens, vice president of sales and marketing here, whimsically describes as “the colors behind the bar.”

Though there are no plans to distribute those products here yet, Behrens believes that they would do well in this market.

“I imagine they would do well here,” he says, “among the large population of Orthodox Jews.”

For the time being, UTO USA will focus on the herbal vodka product here and Behrens stresses that the company has been doing its research.

“In the United States, the only growing market is the premium vodka market,” he says.

In November, UTO USA will test the waters with another of its products, Elusion, which is an alcoholic herbal drink which Behrens says has a taste unlike anything else on the U.S. market. Elusion is a competitor to Jagermeister, a 57-herb blend which moves three million cases a year in the United States.

Asked whether other beverages from Sonnema would follow, Behrens says, “eventually, yes.”

The Doral office is also looking at opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean. UTO USA will ship its whisky to Colombia which Behrens describes as “the most interesting market in the region.”

The company also expects to find a market for Vodka Herb in the Caribbean an opportunity inspired by both business and pleasure.

Firstly, imports of alcohol to the islands attract exorbitant taxes but not if the liquor is dispatched in concentrate form, something which the UTO?USA can accommodate.

“The Caribbean countries can circumnavigate the high import duties,” Behrens explains, “if we sell them the liquor undiluted. The brand should also work across the region because it is a fun product for people on vacation.”

Sonnema’s reach is expansive. The brewery has plants in Eastern Europe and Asia as well as an office in Singapore.

The growth has been considerable given the humble origins of the company’s signature drink. Founder Fedde Sonnema was determined to devise a herbal drink as appealing to bargemen as that of herbalist Hendrik Beerenburg who had sold packets of his blend which could be added to ginever or Dutch gin supposedly for “medicinal purposes.”

An alternative fusion of botanicals, Sonnema Berenburg Fedde Sonnema dropped the double ‘e’ in Beerenburg was born.

Last year, distant descendant Vodka Herb made the rounds at two tastings in Las Vegas and a third in Fort Lauderdale. WC