It's Called Genever, And It's Fantastic

Never ones to be deterred by the questionable or fear the unknown, Dave and I set out to attend a Genever tasting a couple of weeks back.  As always, Eno Fine Wines in Providence and the Providence Wine Academy partnered up to put on an intimate little event in a show of appreciation for their loyal patrons.

To show you how much I knew about Genever, I googled it prior to the tasting and thought I was attending a sampling of gins.  Turns out I wasn't TOO far off, but certainly not close to the mark.

Genever is wildly popular and the spirit of choice in  Holland and Belgium and according to the distillers who were our gracious educators that evening big on the scene in the United States prior to the prohibition.  This was going to be one big lesson for us and we were ready to drink!  (LEARN...I meant learn).

Representatives were on site from Bols and Diep 9 (400 and 100 year old distilleries, respectively), presenting this mysterious beverage and they informed us that Genever (pronounced ge-knee-ver), much to my chagrin, is NOT gin but a malt wine based spirit that is distilled up to three times and incorporates botanicals in the process.  For the laymen when you hear the word 'malt' involved in alcohol you want to be thinking barley, wheat, rye and corn.  Not necessarily in that order or even all together, but you know it's born of one or more if it's malted, whatever it is.

Both Diep 9 and Bols brought a range of young and old Genevers, and the tastes and profiles of the two could not be more different.  The younger Genevers definitely reminded me of gin, as they're married with a juniper malt wine then distilled with the botanicals.  I was confused at first if I should be drinking this straight or looking for a mixer of sorts, but you can do either.  We tasted all of these straight and the Dutch and Belgians apparently always enjoy them that way, and when in Holland...  Some were much lighter than others and Dave and I personally enjoyed the younger Genevers, specifically the Diep 9 Young Grain which was clear, clean and smooth and easily enjoyed neat or on the rocks.  Of course feel free to dress it up a little with some St. Germaine or fresh fruit juice if the mood strikes you.

The Bols Aged Genever won our vote in the older category, where law states it needs to be more than 15% malt wine and aged a minimum of one year to be called 'old'.  This particular one was aged 18 months in brand new charred French oak barrels.  It should be noted you can only call a Genever 'young' or 'old' in Belgium and Holland and these were more reminiscent of a scotch whiskey to us, likely due to the aging in the charred barrel.  I wish I could only be referred to as 'old' in Belgium and Holland, then I wouldn't feel the need to drink so much Genever to forget about my age.  Anyway, I digress.  Given the vast difference between the young and old, you'll want to take that into consideration depending upon your tastes and preferences.

Another fun fact about Bols is that each bottle is hand crafted from clay found only along a certain river bank in Germany (I apologize for not remembering the name of the river, at this point I had been Genever'ed).  Each bottle is a little different due to the human element involved in manufacturing.

Unless you have an upcoming trip to Holland or Belgium in the mix, you won't be able to run into any store and pick this up...thankfully our friends down at Eno at Westminster Street in Providence carry Genever and will be more than happy to undo the confusion we've likely just caused you.

Until next time,
Dave and Trish