Holland America Line has been going out of its way to premiumize its beverage offerings the last few years. Leaning into its heritage, the cruise line has introduced a Dutch-inspired gin, created a single barrel whiskey program that has grown from one bourbon three years ago to 16 barrels this year, and partnered with beverage experts to curate its cocktails. Drew Foulk, Director, Food & Beverage – Revenue and Innovation for Holland America Line & Seabourn, tells TMI in an exclusive interview, that each of these steps that Holland America has taken has been about enhancing the onboard experience.
“We did a big brand reimaging about three years ago, looking at what our guests were asking for, what they were seeking? We asked ourselves how do we differentiate ourselves within the industry?” says Foulk.
“I think the stigma with Holland America, especially when it comes to our F&B program and beverage program in general, was that we were kind of this old, sleepy, retiree only brand. We worked really hard to shake that stigma and say ‘we might not be a nightclub experience when you come on board, but we want to position ourselves as having one of the most premium luxury approaching products on the market when it comes to our food and beverage program.’”
Foulk explained that coming out of the restart post-pandemic, HAL put a lot of energy in premiumizing and modernizing its product.
“Responding to market demands, we saw that premium innovation was the story of the game, especially when it came to spirits. So we lifted up the quality of the offer and worked with our partners to find really good value, even in that premium range. And then we made sure we had the technique and craft to match the premium products.”
Holland America Line created a fresh juice program, using fresh-squeezed juice in its cocktails when it could, and also started making its syrups in house.
“We are making sure that we’re meeting what you’re seeing in a lot of the shore-side establishments, where you see that technique in the craft has really grown over the last decade or so,” says Foulk.
Dutch heritage inspires exclusive gin
Holland America Line has always tried to align with its Dutch heritage, says Foulk, but has recently enhanced this connection even more with its beverage programming.
“We have been around for quite a long time, 158 years of operation. So we have created opportunities for us to capitalize on our heritage, on our history,” says Foulk.
“We do a Dutch Day on board every voyage and we try to bring that to life on the beverage side. To celebrate our 150th anniversary in 2022 we created De Lijn Gin, Holland America Line’s first produced spirit, which has become a core component of our beverage program.”
Named De Lijn in a nod to Holland America Line’s roots, the bottle is adorned with a label boasting the name in Dutch orange, accented with line drawings of brilliant blue juniper berries in a style the cruise line has coined as Modern Delft, an homage to iconic blue and white of Dutch Delftware.
De Lijn Gin is made with a blend of Dutch inspired botanicals, including orange and rose, along with elderberry, lemon verbena, lemon, raspberry and juniper. Each botanical is cold distilled separately for distinct and consistent flavors. The result is a premium gin, made in America, inspired by the Netherlands, and specially crafted for Holland America Line.
“This is a really fresh, inspired gin. We wanted to do something that had notes and character that is a nod to our history and nod to our Dutch heritage, but also a nod to the old world versus the new world. So it’s actually a new western dry style gin. De Lijn Gin has been fantastic for us and is a something that we have been incorporating into a lot of our cocktails,” says Foulk.
In addition to its De Lijn Gin, Holland America has also introduced a couple of other core products the past few years.
“I really wanted to improve the quality of our house sparkling wine. Outside of coffee, it’s actually the number one beverage that we serve in terms of consumption. One of my biggest touch points when it comes to our guest experience for beverage was our sparkling wine, and it was a really poor quality, and I really didn’t like that. So we worked with Four Feathers winery in Washington, and created our own sparkling wine. We built this product from the ground up, built the brand from the ground up, and created this exclusive to us. I am super proud of this product. Our guests love it. It’s really been an improvement across the board. And we felt so good about it we submitted this for scoring. Wine Enthusiast last year gave us a score of 91.”
On the non-alcohol side, Holland America has invested behind the classic afternoon tea experience onboard.
“Again, we felt like we weren’t delivering phenomenal products here. We set out to create our own tea experience, partnering with Art of Tea, based out of California. They source the top 1% of the 1% of the quality tea out in the marketplace. We created our own tea blend, our Holland America Line Dutch Teatime Blend. This became the feature for our afternoon tea, but is also available on board as a retail item.”
Single Barrel Program
As a way to stand out from other cruise lines, Holland America Line has significantly expanded its single barrel whiskey program.
In 2024, the program featured a single barrel select bourbon from Buffalo Trace Distillery. In 2026, the single barrel program has 16 single barrel offerings.
“These single barrels are something that is exclusive to our guests on Holland America Line. The first single barrel was wildly successful. We really ramped this up last year, going from one barrel to around 10 barrels this last year. And still we managed to sell these out quite quickly,” says Foulk.
“I think this next year, we’re going to end up with around 16 barrels, introducing some really fun new products. This is the first time that Knob Creek produced a single barrel for a cruise line. And quickly after that, Heaven Hill came up with an Elijah Craig barrel for us, followed by Four Roses, and then Kentucky Peerless.”
Despite today’s robust barrel program on HAL, cruise wasn’t always an easy sell for these distillers, says Foulk.
“Three years ago, I couldn’t get an allocation to save my life. I could have knocked on the door and begged and pleaded and asked ‘can you give me an allocation for a single barrel?’ And they wouldn’t look at me,” says Foulk.
“All of a sudden, there are these new brands that have not even been really in the global travel retail space or on the cruise lines at all that have interest in being a part of this program.”
Holland America Line is now expanding its single barrel program beyond whiskey.
“We are introducing three unique new tequila barrels: Corazon tequila aged in old Weller barrels. It is a nod to our whiskey programs, but expanding to tequila products that we offer in all of our South America, Mexico, and Latin America regions. In the Caribbean, we really focused on expanding our rum program. We introduced a single barrel rum this year, presently offering a Four Square exclusive cask. It’s fun to see this outside the whiskey space, with growing interest in other categories.”
Partnerships with award-winning experts in different regions
As part of its investments in its beverage programs, Holland America Line has featured global beverage partnerships with award-winning bartenders and beverage experts including Sam Ross, Ivy Mix, David Wondrich, Jeff “Beachbum” Berry and Tess Posthumus.
“We have partnered with some of the best mixologists, experts, and historians in the industry, and have leaned on their expertise to help us craft unique cocktails by region.
“In Alaska, Sam Ross creates our curated cocktails for that region. We have leaned into his repertoire of creating some of the best modern, classic cocktails of anyone in the last 50 years in the industry. He’s created some wonderful cocktails that are incredibly popular.
“In the Caribbean, we work with David Wondrich, James Beard award-winning author, and to me, the foremost historian when it comes to cocktails and mixology. We are leaning on his knowledge to help us go into the deep history of rum and Caribbean cocktails. He also partners with Jeff “Beachbum, Barry, cheeky guru and rum expert as well. Between the two of them, we’ve created our rum ambassador program. Once a year we do our Rum Ambassador Academy.
“In Mexico and Latin America, we work with Ivy Mix, who become an icon for Latin America/ Mexican style cocktails. And she does a fantastic list for that region.
“For Hawaii and South Pacific, we are working with Jeff ‘Beachbum’ Barry again, creating our Tiki menus for that region.
“And then in Europe, we work with Tess Posthumous. Tess is a world class bartender, on the board of Tales of the Cocktail, a bartender, trainer, mentor in the industry and owner of The Flying Dutchman, a fantastic bar in Amsterdam. Tying into our heritage of Holland, she does our cocktails for that region.
“We have this nice stable of experts and professionals to help curate and create these unique, bespoke cocktails for all these regions that really lean into that locality, but also lift the prominence of the program in general.”
All of these changes have started to be noticed by the industry. Last year, Holland America Line took home top honors at Seatrade Cruise Global’s F&B@Sea Awards, winning the coveted “Best Beverage Programme” category. This prestigious award recognizes the cruise line that sets the standard for excellence with a diverse and exceptional selection of beverages, enhancing the onboard experience for guests.
“We have changed our program substantially over the last five years, and I think that people would be surprised to learn what we are offering and the premiumization that we’ve implemented, the craft that we’ve implemented, the local ingredients that we feature, and the partnerships that we have, and some really, really incredible cocktails and incredible spirit lists,” says Foulk.
“I think this single barrel series is really helping differentiate ourselves when it comes to the spirits program. Don’t sleep on Holland America. Look past the original stigma you might have associated with it; and come in with fresh eyes. We are delivering an incredible value compared to what we see happening on shoreside right now.”
