As is the case with many once-popular cocktail elements, the early Twentieth century wasn’t form to genever, gin’s malty predecessor. However the twice-distilled, juniper-inflected spirit made out of a base of malt wine was as soon as a staple of each Western European consuming and, later, America’s rising cocktail tradition.
Having originated within the Netherlands and Belgium, genever unfold in recognition after members of the Royal Navy garnered a style for “Dutch braveness” when England fought alongside the Netherlands within the Seventeenth-century Thirty Years’ Struggle. Whereas gin earned a status for being of poor high quality, genever—the unique recipes for which recall the complexity of whiskey extra so than they do modern-day gin—held its standing as a extra rigorously produced, better-tasting product for almost two centuries. In all chance, the “gins” that barman Jerry Thomas referred to as for in his Nineteenth-century bartenders guides had been, in reality, genever, because the period’s importers had been bringing in significantly extra of it than they had been English gin.
Then, within the Eighties, vermouth gained recognition as a priceless device within the American bartender’s arsenal, paving the way in which for lighter, brighter cocktails—excellent for gin, and fewer so for genever. A decade later, the introduction and subsequent increase of the dry Martini additional established gin because the nation’s most well-liked juniper spirit. And, although scientific advances in distillation noticed a lighter fashion of genever (generally known as “jonge”) emerge, it, together with the darker, maltier fashion (“oude”), by no means regained traction available in the market.
The eruption of World Struggle I didn’t assist issues. Spurred by a wartime scarcity of malt, the jonge fashion grew to become the usual out of necessity. Following the warfare, in 1919—the identical 12 months that america instituted Prohibition—Belgium enacted a ban on arduous liquor, additional sealing the spirit’s Twentieth-century destiny.
For sure, when it reentered the market anew, throughout our present cocktail renaissance, drinkers and bartenders alike weren’t certain what to do with the stuff.
“The primary time I encountered genever was again within the late ’80s,” says New York bartender Eben Freeman. “My father requested me to inventory a house bar for him, and I selected Bols for the crock alone. The primary Gin & Tonic I made with it was, protected to say, not what I had anticipated, nor wished.”
He solely started experimenting with the spirit once more following a molecular mixology workshop hosted by Bols, the namesake model of the famed Dutch distiller, which despatched every of the contributors a bottle of its darkish, high-malt corenwyn genever after the convention. In his Corenwyn Clipper, Freeman shakes genever with blackberry liqueur and tops it with glowing wine, yielding a drink that’s akin to a heavyweight’s Gin Fizz.
“[Genever] drinks like a candy and savory white whiskey with yeasty, malty earthiness and lightweight pine notes,” says Chad Solomon, who pairs the spirit with malted aquavit, pine liqueur and pine extract within the Pinetop Perker.
Like mixing rums in a tiki drink, combining gin and genever collectively can add complexity to a drink, a way that San Francisco’s Alex Smithfavors in cocktails. “I just like the clear, crisp high quality of gin, however really feel that the bready or cereal notes in genever can add a mysterious spine,” he says, including that, traditionally, punches usually referred to as for funky spirits, like genever. However he lets the spirit shine by itself alongside savory, caraway-laced kümmel in The Dutch Nemesis, an herbaceous drink sweetened with pineapple gum syrup and lightened with glowing wine.
Genever harmonizes effectively with confectionery flavors, just like the vanilla tones of sure candy vermouths (see: Sugar Monk’s Hanky Panky) or the nuttiness of amontillado sherry (see: the Mint Julep–Sherry Cobbler mashup I Am … I Mentioned). And its malty taste is welcome in wealthy flips, too.
Lastly, take into account pairing the spirit with beer, in a nod to the Netherlands’ beer-and-genever-shot ritual, kopstootje (actually, “little headbutt”). At New York’s Dutch Kills, the Hop Over riffs on the radler by introducing genever to hoppy IPA, orange flower water and falernum, whereas the McIntosh from a.o.c. in Los Angeles blends an IPA, poached apple purée and housemade pecan-brandy syrup—a liquid interpretation of apple pie. A totally trendy cocktail, the latter performs on genever’s Dutch roots and its outstanding place in America’s cocktail historical past.
