The Ciguena Collection

At ROW Spirits, we exclusively offer you the complete series of very old vintage rums from the private collection of the A. Van Wees (AvW) family. New to AvW? Stay tuned, we'll tell you everything :)

A story spanning over a century

A true island located in the heart of the city of Amsterdam, the A. Van Wees family business has endured for decades without ever compromising the quality of its products, whose raw materials have always been 100% natural. In 1922 Grandfather Adriaan van Wees (AvW) bought a winetrading and distillery company dating from 1883 and settled in « de Driehoekstraat ». A few years after his death in 1955, his wife Riek took part in Distillery « De Ooievaar », founded in 1782 which is an institution. Her son Cees finished the takeover early sixties and meanwhile took over several firms in Amsterdam amongst others Meijer, Baggers & Citroen: Arac – Rhum & Esprit. The family saga continuous by the succession of Fenny in 2004, joined since 2015 by her daughters Nikki and Marlous.

Today, AvW remains the one and only surviving craft distillery in Amsterdam, continuing to distill, age, and bottle its own creations. Since 2016, it has even been listed as an intangible cultural heritage site, the ultimate recognition of its unwavering expertise.

From genever (a grain brandy distilled with juniper berries and botanicals, the ancestor of modern gin) to liqueurs, AvW has always refused the transition to industrial production, continuing to do things well and, as is often the case to get there, to do it themselves. As true gluttons for new flavours, Fenny and her daughter Nikki now distill almost everything possible and imaginable, striving to immortalize the quintessence of as many fruits as cereals, flowers, aromatic herbs, plants and roots, following precepts passed down from generation to generation, and always in small quantities (small batch). 

A visit to their distillery and warehouses is a true journey through time, and never has a place so exuded the ghosts of the past: stills, demijohns, barrels and woodwork, art objects and containers from all eras and trends, every square centimeter exudes authenticity in what feels more like a museum than a working establishment. In the end, little has really changed, and the van Wees family still distill with the same fervor.

A Past Focused on Spirits, But Not Only

It was in the late 1970s that Fenny's father, Cees Van Wees, decided to focus the family business on distilling, completely abandoning the distribution of wines, beers, lemonade and spirits. While this business is no longer in operation, AvW has also distributed many products throughout its history: the company was the leading importer of certain whiskey brands (Bell’s and Old Parr), cognacs (Croizet, Boutelleau), as well as Abel Lepitre champagne and several wines, in addition to the famous Stella Artois beer brand and Spa mineral water.

These are products that Cees imported himself, except for rum, the only spirit he purchased from the local company Scheer.

Until the sixties, their products were exclusively sold and delivered in barrels and demijohns to bars and restaurants throughout the Netherlands. They later began selling their own products in stoneware and glass bottles, to keep up with the times and changes in consumption, but with the firm intention of preserving a whole part of Dutch cultural heritage.

And this is no small feat considering how much we owe to the Dutch in the world of spirits: the originators of gin and many cognac houses, they were able to develop distillation techniques that have been copied many times before anyone else (notably the distillation of sugar cane for the production of rum) and ship a wide range of alcoholic beverages—wine, port, sherry and Madeira—around the world.

Today, AvW distills no fewer than 160 different spirits for more than 60 liqueurs and 22 types of genever/gin, while maintaining distillation traditions dating back to the 16th century. In addition to these products, they regularly launch new spirits and offer a staggering 400 different varieties...From Rescue to Posterity: The Ciguena Collection

Today, ROW Spirits is reviving a whole chapter of history by offering enthusiasts the chance to discover the rums that AvW carefully preserved in the family cellar. These are true treasures that have never been officially released.

We owe these treasures to Cees Van Wees, who recovered them somewhat by chance in the 1980s. Let's go back in time a bit, if you don't mind: at the time, the Scheer trading company was expanding and had to move outside the city, transferring many tuns into small barrels for easier transport.

The Cooper who was responsible for maintaining and dismantling the tuns asked Cees for help transporting the barrels to his cooperage. Fenny's brother and nephew were also involved. As they began dismantling the big barrels, they quickly realized that they weren't completely empty and that there were still a few liters of rum inside. Without further ado, our companions decided to empty them and, at Cees Van Wees's suggestion, store the rums in demijohns. He then took great care to label each glass demijohn with the information found on the barrels: country of origin, vintage, alcohol content. 

Like a great gentleman, the cooper offered almost the entire discovery (he would still keep a little for himself) to Cees Van Wees as compensation for helping him transport the barrels. Shortly after (in 1984), Cees began bottling his finds using very old blown glass bottles of various capacities (35, 37.5, and 75cl) and colors (brown, green, and even a superb blue), and created labels for the occasion on which he hand-wrote the usual information. The "CIGUENA" collection was born...

He thus built up a personal cellar, occasionally bringing out a few bottles for family and close friends, but without ever thinking of selling them one day.

The Ciguena collection comprises only a few hundred bottles and remains today one of the rare—if not the only—maps of the trade of the time. Four countries and more than fifteen vintages retrace no less than five decades of history…

Below, we offer you the complete list of available vintages: eight Jamaican rums, three Barbados rums, four Martinique rums, and three Demerara rums…

List of Jamaican rums:

Jamaica 1934 (39%) = more or less 20 35cl bottles
Jamaica 1939 (36,0%) = +/- 30 37,5cl bottles
Jamaica 1949 (38,5%) = +/- 20 75cl bottles
Jamaica 1952 (40%) = +/- 40 37,5cl bottles
Jamaica 1955 (42%) = +/- 20 75cl bottles
Jamaica 1961 (41,5%) = +/- 20 37,5cl bottles
Jamaica 1961  (41,5%) = +/- 20 75cl bottles
Jamaica 1967 (42,5%) = +/- 10 37,5cl bottles
Jamaica 1967 (42,5%) = +/- 10 75cl bottles
Jamaica 1977 (41,5%) = +/- 50 75cl bottles

List of Barbados rums :

Barbados 1946 (43%) = +/- 20 75cl bottles
Barbados 1949 (43,8%) = +/- 30 37,5cl bottles
Barbados 1949 (43,8%) = +/- 20 75cl bottles
Barbados 1973 (44,7%) = +/- 40 37,5cl bottles

List of rums from Martinique :

Martinique 1950 (38%) = +/- 10 75cl bottles
Martinique 1956 (38%) = +/- 10 75cl bottles
Martinique 1958 (37,5%) = +/- 30 75cl bottles
Martinique 1965 (38%) = +/- 20 70cl bottles
Martinique 1965 (38%) = +/- 10 75cl bottles

List of rums from Guyana :

Demerara 1966 (43,5%) = +/- 10 75cl bottles and 20 37,5cl bottles
Demerara 1966 (43,5%) = +/- 20 75cl bottles
Demerara 1969 (43,5%) = +/-  40 37,5cl bottles
Demerara 1974 (37%) = +/- 30 75cl bottles

The Ciguena Collection is on sale exclusively on our website, individually or in thematic lots :)

Finally, we would like to warmly thank Fenny van Wees for sharing her story with us, without whom the collection would never have seen the light of day. Thank you Fenny !