J... Jenever
Jenever (also known as junever, genievre, genever, jeniever, peket or in England as Holland gin), is the juniper-flavored and strongly alcoholic traditional liquor of the Netherlands. Believed to have been invented by a Dutch chemist and alchemist named Sylvius de Bouve (in Latin: Franciscus Sylvius), it was first sold as a medicine in the late 16th century. In the 17th century it became more popular for its flavor. Traditional jenever is still very popular in the Netherlands.
Jenever was originally produced by distilling maltwine (moutwijn in Dutch) to 50% ABV. Because the resulting spirit wasn't palatable due to the lack of refined distilling techniques (only the pot still was available), herbs were added to mask the flavour. The juniper berry (Jeneverbes in Dutch, which comes in its turn from the French genievre) was chosen for its alleged medicinal affects, hence the name jenever (and the English name Gin).
There are two types of jenever: "Oude" (Old) and "Jonge" (Young). This is not a matter of aging, but of distilling techniques. Around 1900 it became possible to distill a high-graded type of alcohol almost neutral in taste, independent of the origin of the spirit. In modern times, jenever distilled from grain and malt only is labelled Graanjenever. Jonge jenever can contain no more than 15% malt wine and 10 grams of sugar per litre. Oude jenever must contain at least 15% malt wine but not more than 20 grams of sugar per litre.
Schiedam and Groningen, the Netherlands, are famous for their jenevers.
My mother used to drink this every day, before dinner. |
