Mansion House

Herman Jansen is a family business from Schiedam, Netherlands, that has been producing spirits from as far back as 1777. The Dutch distillery from back then has now developed into a global company. It wasn’t Herman, but his great-grandfather Pieter who founded the company. In 1777, Pieter started a “malt wine” distillery in Schiedam. His Dutch Jenever sold well, and the foundations for the family business were laid.

Herman’s business sense quickly took him beyond the Dutch borders. In 1895, he shipped the first freights of aromatic schnapps – a Dutch Jenever derivative – to Africa, America and Asia. Herman was as enterprising as he was ingenious. Upon discovering that his glass supplier charged the competition a lower price, he built his own glass plant out of protest.

By 1900, there were around 400 “malt wine” distilleries in Schiedam alone. This heavy industry gave Schiedam its nickname “Black Nazareth” due to the black smoke that hung over the city. Sadly, the arrival of the column still coupled with two world wars led to the closure of most of Schiedam’s malt spirit distilleries.

The Herman Jansen of today is active on a global scale and offers a wide, modern range of spirits.

This “Extra Special Mansion House Fine Old Whisky” is not a Dutch-distilled whisky as such. It is a blended whisky bottled in the Netherlands, almost certainly for the Dutch domestic market, using imported Scotch whisky. The word “Scotch” was often omitted deliberately to keep duties lower.

We estimate this was likely bottled circa 1960’s

Please note minor wear to labels. Please also note no volume or ABV stated, but we estimate this to be a 75cl bottle.

Please examine all images of the lot, any packaging and labels carefully and satisfy yourself as to their condition before making a bid.