Bols Genever, the grandfather of Gin
 by Laurie Johnson
 Thursday, February 18th, 2010
 New York, NY
 Views: 11,677

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Well, well my lush friends at Bols Genever dropped a bottle of this spirit of at Grapevine HQ the other day, 6 hours later I was rolling on the floor remembering why I'm not supposed to drink alone. Genever is the original Gin, if you will. This is the spirit that inspired what we today know as Gin, and thanks to the old school metality of the heads at Lucas Bols, Genever is making a huge comeback into the cocktail circuit. There really isn't anything I can say that I'm not repeating from their facts sheet, so instead of re-hashing something already well written, I'm just going to quote the facts sheet on Bols Genever here;
Genever factsheet
    "Genever is a separate spirit category that was awarded the prestigious AOC status (Appellation d'Origine Controllée) in 2007, restricting production to the Netherlands and a few nearby areas. This qualification also stipulates the minimum amounts of maltwine and Juniper berry that it must contain
 
    The heart of a good Genever is high quality maltwine. This is a flavour-rich distillate of three different types of grain; corn, rye and wheat. Maltwine gives Genever its characteristic smooth, malty and fresh taste.  It is not used in any other product in the world
 
    Genever is a marriage of maltwine, pure and crystal clear grain alcohol and a selection of botanicals including the juniper berry
 
    In the 19th century, Genever was one of only four accepted bases for cocktails worldwide in addition to rum, whisky and brandy
 
    Many famous classic cocktails from the 19th century such as the Collins were originally made with Genever and many more forgotten classics like The Holland House are now making a comeback in the world's best bars
 
    Genever was so popular in the 19th century that in 1880 the importation of Genever to the USA was six times larger than the importation of gin
 
    In the Netherlands, Genever is the number-one spirit, accounting for over 25% of all distilled spirits sold
 
It can be said that gin owes its origins to Genever.  When Genever was introduced to the English in the 17th century, the English distillers lacked the grain-distilling expertise and the enormous supply of high quality grains to make good maltwine, which forms the base of Genever.  Therefore English distillers were forced to omit the maltwine and produce a version of Genever, that they called gin, made from neutral alcohol and heavy juniper berry infusion."

You may scoff and say your not a gin drinker so why would you drink Genever, well, the maltiness really does offer a nice earthy tone that really smoothes and rounds everything out. I really recommend you try this drink out, it goes well in punches and mixes easily with mint drive teas. It is available in most reputable liquor stores, so try it out the next time you need to bring something to a party.


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Last updated by Laurie Johnson - Thursday, February 18th, 2010 -  New York, NY