KLM Huisje 88

AMSTELVEEN, 8 October 2007 – A new KLM Delft Blue house is being issued to mark our 88th anniversary on October 7. The building selected to be the 88th KLM House is ‘t Lootsje on the Rozengracht in Amsterdam. The Delft Blue miniature houses are all replicas of historical Dutch buildings and are filled with Bols Jonge Jenever. The first “House 88†will be presented by Bart Vos, EVP Inflight Services, to Mr. Huub van Doorne, CEO Lucas Bols. From 1575, ‘t Lootsje on the Rozengracht, Amsterdam, was the home of the Bols liqueur and jenever distillery and tasting room. Bols is the oldest Dutch company still operating and the world’s oldest distillery brand. The Delft Blue houses have been presented by KLM to our World Business Class passengers on intercontinental flights since the 1950s. Since 1994, the number of houses in the collection has matched the age of KLM. Every year a new house is added to the collection and they have become popular collectables both at home and abroad. History of ‘t Lootsje Lucas Bols headed the Bols company between 1678 and 1719 and turned it into an internationally renowned brand. As a major shareholder in the Dutch East India Company (VOC) he had first choice of exotic herbs and spices which he used to make almost 300 different liqueurs and jenevers. The drinks became so popular that the company had to keep expanding, buying the buildings on either side. In 1892 a canopy appeared above the entrance to the tasting room ‘t Lootsje and the neck gable became a stepped gable. A decade later Eduard Cuypers designed a long facade for all the Bols buildings. The front of the tasting room at No. 99 remains unchanged to the present day.