Genever
The Dutch and Belgian ancestor of gin: a pot-distilled malt wine of rye, wheat and corn blended with a juniper spirit — malty and bready, closer to unaged whisky than to London dry.
malty · bready · juniper
Kinds
- Jonge
- 'Young' means the newer, lighter recipe, not the age — little malt wine; drinks like a soft gin.
- Oude
- The older style, with more malt wine — fuller and maltier.
- Korenwijn
- At least half malt wine, often aged in casks — the richest.
If you can't find it
Specialist spirit shops.
Mostly gin, with a splash of unpeated malt whisky
You lose the malty body.
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- Oude or korenwijn when you want the malt; Dutch and Belgian shops have far more choice than most spirit shops.
- A little history
- Gin's source: English drinkers took to it in the 1600s through the Low Countries, and it was the gin of many early American cocktails.
- Worth knowing
- Treat it like whiskey rather than gin: stirred with a barspoon of rich syrup and a dash of bitters, it makes an old fashioned that tastes of bread and juniper.