Schiedam

Schiedam distilled jenever - the Dutch juniper spirit that gin descends from - on an industrial scale from the eighteenth century, with several hundred distilleries at the peak and the town known as Black Nazareth for the smoke. The grain had to be milled, and the mills had a problem: the warehouses along the canals were tall, so the wind was blocked, and the answer was to build higher. Schiedam's windmills are the tallest in the world, reaching over forty metres, brick-based towers standing above the roofs, of which five survive from the original twenty. De Nolet, built in 2005, is a working wind turbine dressed as a mill. The Jenevermuseum occupies a former distillery with a working still and a tasting; several distilleries still operate. The town also has a good modern art museum in a former almshouse.

History

Schiedam was founded around 1230, when the river Schie was dammed to protect the polders from the sea, and the trade transshipped at the dam soon made it a town, which received town privileges in 1275 from Lady Adelaide of Holland. In 1575 the world's first known commercial distillery started here, and the 18th century, when jenever flourished, was the town's golden age (Wikipedia, Schiedam).

What to look for

• The tallest windmills in the world - over forty metres, built high to clear the warehouses.
• Five of twenty surviving - the brick towers standing above the canal roofs.
• A working distillery museum - jenever made and tasted in a former still house.
• A modern turbine as a mill - De Nolet of 2005, generating power in mill clothing.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Before you go

Mills open on limited days and only some can be climbed. The jenever museum tasting has age limits. Schiedam is a working town next to Rotterdam rather than a picture-postcard one.

Nearby

Rotterdam is five kilometres east; Delft is north.

Key facts