Felix from DOCK10 sent over a bottle. I poured it into a wine glass, because that’s how I taste here, and got going. The question I opened with: does Rotterdam actually do something distinct, or is the story stronger than the liquid?
A bottle from the Van Nelle Fabriek
DOCK10 is distilled in the Van Nelle Fabriek, the UNESCO World Heritage modernist factory built between 1925 and 1931 that once processed coffee, tea, and tobacco. Today it houses a third-generation Schiedam distiller working in small batches at the Maas docks. Schiedam was packed with over four hundred distilleries in the 18th century. That heritage carries through into this project.
Sea lavender from the salt marsh
The distinguishing botanical is lamsoor, Limonium vulgare, sea lavender in English. The plant grows on Dutch salt marshes, particularly where the Maas meets the North Sea. Lamsoor tolerates soil with up to 15 percent salinity, higher than seawater. It excretes excess salt through thousands of microscopic glands beneath its leaves. In sunlight you can sometimes see the salt crystals glistening.
DOCK10 hand-harvests the plant seasonally and distills it alongside juniper. Botanical vodka isn’t new. Using a specifically Dutch coastal plant is. The makers claim lamsoor lifts citrus, dampens bitterness, and adds a faint saline finish. Interesting in theory. Glass on the table.
Production
Column-distilled from grain, then cut with filtered water to 41.6% ABV and rested for six weeks. What’s missing here: which grain, and how many distillation passes. For a craft vodka at this price point, that’s a missed opportunity. No charcoal or precious-metal filtration, which preserves character but you also feel it in the finish.
Tasting
Crystal clear in the glass. The nose is quiet: grain, restrained juniper, a green cucumber-like freshness. No alcohol burn. It smells cleanly distilled.
On the palate, gentle citrus, mild herbs, and yes, a whisper of salinity around the mid-palate that reads like sea air. Silky mouthfeel, almost creamy.
Then the finish, and that’s my main objection. For 39.99 euros I want more length. The salinity the marketing leans on is there, but it disappears faster than I’d like. This is vodka with a botanical whisper, not a statement.
Where it works
DOCK10 performs better in cocktails than neat. The Espresso Martini recipe on their own site benefits from that gentle saline undertone. In a Rotterdam Mule or a vodka-soda with lime it works fine too. Neat it’s clean but lacks the complexity and length for an evening glass.
The bottle is 100% recycled glass, made in Europe. Available at Den Toom Kralingen, Wijnhandel La Gironde, Jan van Breda, and online through Slijterij de Helm.
Final verdict
Respect for the ambition. The Van Nelle as production location isn’t a marketing stunt, it’s a real link to Dutch distilling history. The lamsoor idea is clever. But the finish is too short and the saline character too subtle to carry the 39.99 euros against established premiums at 25 to 30.
Would I buy it again? For cocktails on a Rotterdam evening, yes. On the shelf next to my other vodkas, I’d hesitate. Support local distillers. Just calibrate your expectations to realistic, not revolutionary.
Thanks to Felix from DOCK10 Rotterdam for sending the bottle. The kind of project that earns attention, even if this isn’t yet a vodka that flips the category.
More information: https://www.dock10rotterdam.nl/
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