VLAM Spirit is a story that begins with a spark, and continues to grow fuelled by the sweet & creative Limburgish origins of its chief distiller, Michael van der Heyden.
Michael grew up on a strawberry farm in the rich, red-soiled heart of south-western Victoria, the son of Dutch immigrants who knew a thing or two about good food and hard work. His childhood was full of fresh fruit straight off the vine and the smell of home-cooked meals, wafting through the house. He still remembers the traditional Dutch Vlaai fruit tarts that his family made - sweet, rustic, and made with love. That early connection to flavour and tradition never really left him.
As a young man, Michael joined the Air Force and trained as an instrument technician, servicing the complex workings of Hercules aircraft - perfect for someone with a sharp eye and steady hands. It was here that his instinct for technical precision was sharpened, and the discipline of working within millimetres became second nature. However, between the rations and mess hall meals, he found himself missing the comfort and creativity of cooking. So he leaned into it, completing a chef’s course in 1996 and spending more time in the kitchen, experimenting with flavours and techniques.
Around that time, he also started brewing beer at home-just for fun at first, but it didn’t stay that way for long. He ended up winning multiple national home-brew awards and diving deep into the world of fermentation and flavour. Then came mead. Then distilling. By 2015, Michael had fully thrown himself into creating spirits - gin, whiskey, rum, triple sec, absinthe, sambuca, even mezcal. If it could be crafted, he wanted to try it.
Now, after years of tinkering, refining, and following his nose (and taste buds), Michael has launched his own boutique distillery: VLAM. Each label is a nod towards how he got here. The "Lab" shows Michael in his booze shed, beautifully, obsessively tinkering away. The "Tulip", tips its hat to the van der Heyden clan's Dutch history, and the "Spark", is the flame that demonstrates the passion & the craft behind the VLAM label.
All of this and more, are poured into the still, the bottle, and the glass.
Proost!
