PLANTIFAQ
v 1.4
WHAT?
What is the address of the UTO company?
What is the address of the Sonnema-Plantinga Distillery?
What are the main ingredients of Plantiac?
What are the bottle sizes in which Plantiac is available?
WHEN?
When was Plantiac first produced?
When did Klaas Plantinga live?
WHERE?
Where does the name Plantiac come from?
Where can I find recipes including Plantiac, or vieux in general?
WHY?
Why is Plantiac superior to other brands of Dutch brandy?
HOW?
Plantiac is a 35% proof alcoholic drink, deep brown of colour. It is a kind of Dutch brandy (in Dutch: "Vieux"). It can be drunk pure or as part of a mix.
Coliax is a mixture of Plantiac and Cola, mixed approximately 1:3 respectively.
What is the address of the UTO Company?
It is Postbus 14, 3100 AA Schiedam, Netherlands, phone ++(0)10-4731088, fax ++(0)10-4733142. Their web site is located at http://www.uto.nl, their email address is info@uto.nl.
What is the address of the Sonnema-Plantinga Distillery?
It is Stoombootkade 12, 8701 KA Bolsward, Netherlands, phone ++(0)515-572949.
What are the main ingredients of Plantiac?
The Vieux aromas used by the UTO company are purchased from Quest International and IFF. Although the exact ingredients are kept secret - they are what makes each Vieux unique - they include fusel oil, amyl alcohols, vanilline, esters, 'blokdrop' (which may translate to 'block liquorice') and prune extract.
What are the bottle sizes in which Plantiac is available?
Plantiac is available in 2 cc (2 cl), 0.2 litre ('hip flask'), half litre and whole litre (all metric sizes) bottles.
When was Plantiac first produced?
In Bolsward in 1870. Its inventor, Klaas Plantinga, first mixed its ingredients in a house in Bolsward next to the bakery where his wife Ytje worked. That house was the distillery for a long time to come.
When did Klaas Plantinga live?
Klaas Plantinga was born on 2 July 1846 and died on 17 July 1921.
Plantiac used to be made in the Plantinga Distillery in Bolsward, the Netherlands. Since 1972, it is being produced by the UTO company in Schiedam, the Netherlands. For the past decade or so, Plantiac is being bottled about once per month.
Where does the name Plantiac come from?
Plantiac originally used to be called "Plantinga Cognac" (Cognac is French brandy from the province of the same name). After the war, in the late '40s, a law was introduced that made it illegal to name a product 'cognac' unless it was actually made in that area. Klaas' greatgrandchild, Gerrit-Herman (Herman) Plantinga, thought up the name Plantiac with some student friends of his. It is a combination of the family name (Planti-) and 'cognac' (-ac).
This section will - hopefully - be extended in the near future. For now...
Gall & Gall, Zevenwouden 236, 3524 CX, Utrecht, Netherlands, phone 030-2805138 (this one is less than 100 metres from where your webmaster lives, so he's a happy camper indeed!)
Where can I find recipes involving Plantiac or Vieux in general?
Why is Plantiac superior to other brands of Dutch brandy?
It is smoother, softer and warmer, and yields a hangover less easily than any other brand of Dutch brandy.
Plantiac is not the most popular kind of 'vieux' in Holland. Vieux in general, though, made up about 7.9% of total liqour sales in 1997 (source: PGD).
Needless to say, there will be more answers to more questions, and several existing answers will be extended where possible. So visit the Plantiac Adoration Shrine again some day soon...