There is surely no other writer with the same number of drinks associated with them. From absinthe to vodka, if it contained alcohol Hemingway drank it, and chances were he wrote about it too. Of all the drinks Hemingway enjoyed, the Daiquiri is probably the one in which his spirit endures most strongly. I wrote a post on the Daiquiri and Hemingway here. The post includes some cool photos so check it out if you haven’t already. Of course there were many cocktails Hemingway enjoyed besides the Daiquiri. Martinis featured prominently. He was also partial to absinthe topped with champagne, a mixture he dubbed Death in the Afternoon.

Recently I obtained a copy of Charles H. Baker’s Jigger, Beaker and Glass: Drinking around the World. Flipping the pages I was surprised to find a drink called Ernest Hemingway’s Reviver, or Death in the Gulf Stream. Interestingly, Baker and Hemingway appear to have been friends. Baker introduces the recipe as follows:

“One January 2 years back we took MARMION in a howling northeaster along with the, then, 4 year bride, a companion, and an insane steward, and pointed her down to Key West to get some receipts from Hemingway for the cookery book. We fished the Gulf Stream by day, and ate and drank and talked half the night. Even by the second day we were withering slightly on vine, and along with raw conch salad, or ‘souse’ listed in Volume I, we got Hemingway’s other picker-upper, and liked it.”

Both men spent time living in Florida so I guess it makes sense that they should have known one another. No doubt their mutual interest in drinking helped.

Baker mentions that before trying this drink he had an aversion to Genever, which he considered to taste like “fermented radishes mixed with spirits of turpentine”. As someone who traveled the world to gather cocktail recipes, Baker was obviously no slouch when it came to drinking. His feeling the worse for wear and needing a “picker-upper” after an evening with Hemingway therefore speaks volumes. Meanwhile, the fact that Hemingway’s “picker-upper” converted Baker on the matter of Genever confirms that Hemingway was more than your average boozer. Papa’s drinks were generally pretty damn good.

Death in the Gulf Stream

Recipe follows:

“Take a tall thin water tumbler and fill it with finely cracked ice. Lace this broken debris with 4 good purple dashes of Angostura, add the juice and crushed peel of 1 green lime, and fill glass almost full with Holland gin. . . . No sugar, no fancying. It’s strong, it’s bitter – but so is English ale strong and bitter, in many cases. We don’t add sugar to ale, and we don’t need sugar in a Death in the Gulf Stream - or at least not more than 1 tsp. It’s tartness and its bitterness are its chief charm. It is reviving and refreshing; cools the blood and inspires renewed interest in food, companions and life.“

Given my recent experiments with Genever I was pleased to come across this recipe. I made the drink up and found it to resemble a citrusy and summery pink gin. The drink is refreshing, aromatic, and a little bitter, with the Genever providing malty body and a slight funk. This is a good drink for appreciating the character of Genever. London Dry will make an serviceable drink, but will lack the essence of the original. Use an Oude Style Genever if at all possible.

To build the drink to best effect I suggest proceeding as follows: fill the glass nearly full of crushed ice; add two or three dashes of Angostura; quarter the lime, squeeze the juice from the wedges directly into the glass and drop each spent wedge into the glass; add a dash of simple syrup (if desired); top off with Genever and stir everything up; finish with a little more ice and a final dash or two of Angostura. Made this way the final addition of bitters will create a lacework effect in the ice on the top of the finished drink. To me this seems a nice touch.

To assist my anticipatory salivation ahead of Anistatia Miller and Jared Brown’s Tales of the Cocktail presentation on “The Cafes of Paris”, I have been taking a look at a few lesser known French aperitifs. Several weeks ago I took a look at Pineau des Charentes. Today I focus on a pair of fruit quinquinas.

Quinquina is vermouth’s neglected cousin. Vermouth is well recognized, if widely feared and misunderstood. Martini drinkers fall into two camps: those who really want vermouth in their drink, and those who merely wish to ritualistically conjure up its spirit. However, while vermouth provokes fierce debate and elaborate juju, the mention of quinquina elicits little more than a blank stare. This is a shame because quinquina is an interesting category. To fix those blank stares, perhaps a little explanation is in order.

Both quinquina and vermouth are aromatized wines (i.e. wines flavored with herbs and spices). Quinquinas distinguish themselves from vermouths in using quinine as a key flavoring. As in tonic water, the quinine originally served a medicinal purpose – warding off malaria and all that. Vermouth and quinquina are not mutually exclusive categories. Some vermouth producers sell ‘quinquina’ versions alongside their regular vermouths: for example Martini & Rossi release their sweet vermouth in both ‘quinquina’ and standard versions. However, despite some overlap there are marked differences, with quinquinas tending to emphasize spice while vermouths are more herbal.

Similar to vermouths, which can be broadly classified into sweet and dry styles, quinquinas largely fall into rouge and blanc styles. The rouge style is rich, spicy and based on red wine – Dubonnet Rouge is the classic example. The blanc style is light, citrus accented, and based on white wine – Lillet Blanc is the iconic product.

For some reason neither of these mainstream styles of quinquina ever challenged vermouth to become a ubiquitous cocktail ingredient. Cocktail recipes never casually call for a generic rouge or blanc quinquina. Quinquina is called for only occasionally, and always by brand. Even luminaries like Charles H. Baker considered Dubonnet to be “only needed in the more elaborate establishments”, and I do not recall him mentioning Lillet at all. Considering that Baker saw orgeat, kummel and six types of bitters as more or less essential bar supplies, this adds up to a bit of a slap in the face for the quinquina category.

If mainstream quinquinas like Dubonnet and Lillet are fairly obscure, fruit flavored quinquina are even more so. These fruity quinquina do not fall within either the rouge or blanc styles, with heavy fruit macerations completely masking the base wine. They deserve a look from cocktailians though, offering a great source of fruit flavors and complexity, yet one with minimal sweetness. Two products are introduced below: RinQuinQuin and Orange Colombo.

RinQuinQuin (15% alcohol by volume) is a peach flavored quinquina. It is produced in Provence by the same firm that makes Henri Bardouin pastis. The name means something like an invigorating drink or a pick-me-up in French. The production process involves maceration, distillation, blending and several months of aging. Both distilled alcohol and wine are infused with quinine, other herbs and spices, and peaches. The peaches are what distinguish the product, and are added not as fruit, but rather as leaves, skins and kernels. This makes for a very complex flavor. The product is lightly sweetened. The result is a fruity but refreshingly dry aperitif wine with a distinctly bitter edge.

Orange Colombo (15% alcohol by volume) is an orange flavored quinquina along the same lines as RinQuinQuin. Based on its complex taste I am guessing it is flavored with more than just orange skins. As in RinQuinQuin, leaves, blossoms or other material may also be used.

These fruit quinquina are traditionally consumed either chilled or over ice, perhaps garnished with a twist of lemon. However, there is no reason they cannot be used in cocktails. Bear in mind that their mild fruitiness makes them poor vermouth substitutes, while their lack of sugar and their herbal complexity prevent them from standing in for fruit liqueurs. A bit of a fresh approach is in order.

Here are a few ideas. . .

Peach Martinez

1 oz Genever (Bols Oude)

1 oz Italian vermouth (Martini Rossi)

1 oz RinQuinQuin

2 dashes Fees Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters

1 tsp maraschino

Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

A nice take on the Martinez. Cutting the vermouth with RinQuinQuin makes for a lighter and more interesting drink. The Genever provides a mellow but solid base, neither fading into obscurity nor dominating. The complex peach notes mingle nicely with the cherry. Increase the Genever a little if you find it lacks kick.

When playing around with RinQuinQuin to create variations on existing recipes you will probably find that cutting vermouth half-and-half with RinQuinQuin works better than a straight substitution. RinQuinQuin is more of a one note product than vermouth, albeit a complex note.

RinQuinQuin Vesper

3 oz gin (Tanqueray)

1 oz vodka (Stolichnaya)

¼ oz Lillet Blanc

¼ oz RinQuinQuin

Shake over ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a large lemon twist.

This is just brilliant. By upping the bitterness the RinQuinQuin addresses the problem of Lillet having been reformulated and lightened since the Vesper was originally invented. The RinQuinQuin also adds a peach layer to the citrus in the Lillet.

Orange Colombo can be used to create another nice Vesper variation. Both products can also be used in regular Martinis, where they work especially well with delicate gins like Tanqueray 10 that stand up poorly to vermouth. I would be inclined to split the quinquina 50/50 with vermouth.

Orange Colombo Pisco Sour

2 oz pisco

½ oz Orange Columbo (or cut back to 1/4 oz)

¾ oz lime juice

1/3 oz simple syrup

1 egg white (half an egg white per drink is sufficient if making multiple drinks)

Dash or two of Fees Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters

Put everything except the bitters in a mixing glass. Shake long and hard over ice until the drink becomes foamy. Double strain into a sour glass. Finish the drink by garnishing the foam with a few drops of bitters – you can use a toothpick to draw a pattern on the foam. A sour glass, champagne flute or wine glass is preferable for this drink. The garnish of bitters on egg-white foam is intended to provide aroma. A sour glass concentrates the aromas, while the smaller surface area means that the foam, and the aromas, last longer.

The Orange Columbo adds both a subtle orange note and a light bite, making a pleasant variation that jazzes up the original. Perhaps I am not using the right pisco, but I find pisco sours tend to be a little too plain and smooth. Orange Columbo livens things up without creating an unseemly ruckus. You can also try a splash of Orange Colombo in a Margarita – obviously you will still need the orange liqueur, but possibly it could be scaled back a notch.

There is tons of potential for using these obscure fruit quinquina in cocktails. If you see a bottle you should grab it and have a play around. Currently these products are underutilized, leaving the field wide open to experimentation.

Improved Gin Cocktail

The Improved Gin Cocktail is probably the best place to start appreciating the flavor of Genever in cocktails. The basic Gin Cocktail is gin, sugar and bitters. Garnish that with a citrus twist and you have a Fancy Gin Cocktail. Splash some liqueur into that and you have yourself an Improved Gin Cocktail. The Improved Gin Cocktail is the best of the bunch taste-wise, though very intense and heavy genevers (I am thinking Korenwijn style products) might be better appreciated in the more minimalist Fancy Gin Cocktail. Forget about the basic Gin Cocktail unless you find yourself with Genever on hand but no citrus.

Recipe:

2 oz Genever (Bols Oude – use an Oude if at all possible)

1 tsp gomme syrup (try and use real gomme syrup – instructions on making it here)

1-2 tsp liqueur (triple sec, curacao, maraschino or absinthe are all traditional choices)

a couple of dashes of bitters (Fees Whiskey Barrel Aged, Peychaud’s and Angostura are all worthy choices)

Build over ice in a rocks glass, or serve it up if you like. Garnish by squeezing the oils from a citrus twist over the drink, then drop the twist in.

There is huge potential for experimentation with the liqueurs and bitters. While not traditional, Drambuie is an interesting choice that brings out the malt character of the gin. Drambuie probably works best in partnership with another liqueur though, perhaps triple sec. Absinthe also works nicely, as do the anise notes of Peychaud’s. The version pictured above contains Drambuie, Peychaud’s Bitters and a little Absinthe Bitters (a sort of concentrated Absinthe made by the people who make Henri Bardouin pastis).

Martinez

The next drink is not strictly speaking a Genever drink. The Martinez was first mixed with Old Tom (a sort of hybrid gin sitting somewhere between Genever and London Dry). However, in the absence of Old Tom, Genever probably makes a more authentic substitute than London dry. The drink is said to be the ancestor of the modern Martini, and the design is something like a sweetened and reversed Martini – with sweet vermouth rather than dry, and more vermouth than spirit.

Recipe:

2 oz Italian vermouth

1 oz Genever (either Oude or Jonge should do)

1 tsp maraschino

1-2 dashes aromatic bitters (the cinnamon accented Fees Brothers Whiskey Barrel Aged is a good choice)

Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

The recipe looks a bit odd, but the result is a meditative drink, suitable for winter evenings. Nineteenth Century drinkers obviously were not afraid of vermouth.

Gin Daisy

These days a Tom Collins is made with London Dry Gin. However, in the 19^th Century the drink was made with Old Tom or Genever. Making a Genever-based Tom Collins is a simple matter that hardly requires any advice – just change the base spirit and you’re done. However, the Nineteenth Century also saw Genever used in other highball type drinks. The Gin Daisy is an interesting example. There is something almost Tiki-esque about the old fashioned flavorings.

Recipe:

2 oz Genever

2 tsp orgeat (Monin)

2 tsp Maraschino (Maraska)

½ oz lemon juice (juice of ½ a lemon)

Shake over ice, strain into a glass (I used a small old fashioned glass), and top up with soda water. For some reason I went very easy on the soda in this one, not wanting to dilute drink too much.

This is vaguely reminiscent of a Singapore Sling. The maraschino obviously supplies the cherry, while the soft and malty Genever boosts the fruity feel, and the orgeat adds a hint of Tiki. Tasty and very different. I like orgeat in cocktails.

Gin Fix

Drinkers in the UK will no doubt know the Bramble. In fact the Bramble is simply an updated Gin Fix. The original Gin Fix was concocted with Genever as described below.

2 oz Genever (Bols Oude)

¼ oz lemon juice (juice of ¼ lemon)

1 tsp simple syrup (or gomme syrup if available)

1 tsp raspberry syrup

Fill a glass with shaved ice – I substituted crushed ice. Build the drink over ice and stir thoroughly. Top up with more ice and garnish with seasonal berries – raspberries being the obvious choice. Raspberries being out of season meant I had to slum it with strawberries.

The raspberry syrup and Genever combination is most pleasant. The malty notes of the Genever add complexity and depth to a simple drink. It is worth a look if you want a summery take on Genever. The use of crushed ice means you should end up with a pleasantly frosted glass, adding to the summery feel. Obviously there is lots of potential for playing with different syrups, or substituting a berry liqueur as is done in the modern Bramble. You could even muddle some fruit into the drink, which would pretty much give you a Genever Bramble.

Gin and Milk

I posted on this one earlier – link here.  However, back in those days I did not have Genever.  Gin and Milk is MUCH better with an Oude Genever than with London Dry.  The character changes completely.  Rather than an oddball combination it becomes an intuitive one, with the maltiness of the Genever giving something of a ‘malted milk’ effect. There is no doubt that Gin and Milk was first made with Genever, so make the effort and try it the way it was intended to be.

In my original post on this drink I suggested a dash of orgeat.  When using Genever (especially an Oude) I am not so sure this is a good idea.  There is plenty of flavor happening already and little need to round things out with extras.  Of course if you like the orgeat then go ahead.  The bitters are still a nice touch.

Genever, the original gin, is a true old worldly spirit.

Genever was the original gin. Genever’s old fashioned credentials are highlighted by the way its producers play fast and loose with spelling. You can buy genever, geneva, genievre, jenever, jeniever, junever, and probably more; in English you might also find it called ‘Holland gin’ or ‘square gin’. Mark Twain once said he felt nothing but contempt for a man who could only spell a word one way. We can only imagine the esteem in which Mark Twain would have held genever producers. Genever was the popular gin style in the United States throughout most of the 19^th Century, so Mark Twain surely found frequent occasion to reflect upon the orthographical creativity of its distillers.

Genever has plenty of claims to fame besides creative spelling, boasting a rich and colorful history, as well as an early place at the cocktail bar. While the urbane and clean-shaven London Dry is the dominant gin style today, Genever is its extravagantly whiskered, baccy chewin’, gold prospecting grandpa. Genever may have fallen on hard times and be living under a bridge, but we should consider making its acquaintance. Cocktail bars have done themselves a disservice by showing Genever the door, since Genever was where gin cocktails started. Yes, to enjoy such old worldly delights such as the Fancy Gin Cocktail, the Improved Gin Cocktail, the Gin Fix and the Gin Daisy, you are going to require the company of Genever. The Martinez cocktail, from which the Martini is said to have evolved, is another excuse to give Genever an outing. While the Martinez was originally made with the hard to find Old Tom (a sort of hybrid gin falling somewhere between Genever and London Dry), in its absence Genever is the most flavorsome substitute. London Dry might wow the crowds today, but Genever has been around long enough to have learned a few tricks.

So what is the story behind Genever?

Not the Gin Doctor. . . The 17th Century Dr. Sylvius pictured here did not prescribe his patients gin, making him less fun than his 16th Century predecessor.

Genever and Gin History

Genever was invented in Holland in the late 16^th Century. The confusion surrounding the individual responsible for this advance in human civilization could provide ample material for a boozy remake of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors. The source of the confusion is the mixing up of two physicians, who shared key characteristics yet lived decades apart*. Both men were called Doctor Sylvius, were physicians and chemists, and were renowned professors at the University of Leyden. The similarities end there though. The first Dr. Sylvius, Sylvius de Bouve, lived in the 16th Century. By inventing Genever, this Dr. Sylvius showed the world that medicine could be tremendously fun. Meanwhile, the second Dr. Sylvius, Franciscus Sylvius, lived in the 17th Century. This Dr. Sylvius contributed to our anatomical knowledge of the brain, a worthy but dull achievement. The second Dr. Sylvius got the last laugh though. The invention of gin was widely misattributed to him, letting him go down in history as the brain researcher with a wild side.

To redress the above injustice we should now raise a glass and toast the original Dr. Sylvius, Sylvius de Bouve, for kindly inventing gin. Exactly what ailment Dr. Sylvius was trying to cure is murky, with applications of the new medicine ranging from back pain to cold feet, insomnia and more. Anyway, while Dr. Sylvius fretted about matters medical, his friends and patients swiftly realized that the new medicine had quite a few non-medicinal applications. History took a new and exciting direction.

In fact, Genever was simply a variation on the korenbrandewijn (literally ‘barley wine’ that had been ‘burnt’ – or distilled), which had been well known in Holland before Dr. Sylvius set up his still. Dr. Sylvius’ innovation was improving the palatability of this firewater by spiking it with a mixture of juniper berries and other aromatics. Juniper berries were a popular flavoring in Europe at the time, even being used in beer; in fact the Sahti beers of Finland are still flavored with juniper. Holland’s recently acquired colonies made exotic spices more available than ever before. Dr. Sylvius produced a superior variant of korenbrandewijn by combining careful distilling, juniper, and spices from around the globe. By 1595 he was selling his product as ‘Genova’.

The original Genever was distilled using pot stills from a malted barley ‘beer’. This produced a rich distillate, not unlike unaged Scotch whiskey. The distillate was then further flavored with juniper and spices. This traditional style of Genever is now known as korenwijn (literally “corn wine”), and remains the most flavorsome style.

The late 19^th and early 20^th centuries saw new styles of Genever emerge, driven by the greater efficiencies offered by column stills as opposed to pot stills, as well as by wartime austerity measures that limited the availability of barley. A distinction developed between Oude (or “old”) and Jonge (or “young”) styles of Genever, corresponding to traditional and modern production methods, respectively. Both these styles are blends of different types of spirits. The Oude style is malty and sweet, and contains a high proportion of korenwijn, cut with neutral grain or other alcohol. The Jonge style is lighter and drier, with a higher proportion of neutral alcohol and a lower proportion of korenwijn. Korenwijn also continues to be sold, but accounts for only a small share of the market.

Dr. Sylvius’ medicine became awfully popular

Through the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th Centuries Holland exported large quantities of Genever to thirsty markets throughout Europe and the Americas. Genever became especially popular in England, helped along by the arrival on the throne of a Dutch king, William of Orange. The English were soon producing their own version of the spirit, which they dubbed ‘gin’. The English gin industry rapidly grew, encouraged by a government that saw gin production as a way of soaking up Britain’s large grain surplus. The first style of English gin to become popular was Old Tom, a sweetened, grain-based, juniper flavored pot still spirit lying somewhere between Genever and London Dry. This was followed by Plymouth Gin, a drier gin with a soft citrus character. Finally London Dry emerged as the dominant style, being based on neutral alcohol produced in column stills, extremely dry and aromatic, and heavily flavored with juniper. Unlike Genever and Old Tom, London Dry was formulated with mixing in mind.

These days it is the English who export their gin around the world, and most Genever remains in producing countries like Holland and Belgium (also a producer). The Dutch and Belgians generally drink it neat, and have entire bars devoted to the stuff. In keeping with the move towards lighter Genever styles, the modern tradition is to drink Genever chilled, preferably from shot glasses stored in the fridge. Genever is often served this way as a chaser to beer. Despite its exceptional cocktail pedigree, Genever is no longer widely used as a cocktail ingredient.

Demystifying Genever classifications and terminology

Modern genever is classified into the following varieties:

Korenwijn: This is the closest thing you will find to the original 16^th Century Genever. Perhaps you can think of it as the ‘single malt’ version of Genever, though the analogy is an imperfect one. This variety comprises 50-70% pure korenwijn (i.e. distillate of malted barley), diluted with between 30-50% neutral distillate (produced from other grains such as corn, molasses, potatoes, or whatever else is deemed suitable). Though not mandatory, Korenwijn is sometimes aged for several years in oak barrels. The result is an extremely malty, rich, and flavorsome spirit, with both the base spirit and the botanicals contributing strongly to the flavor.

Oude (‘Old’) Genever: The ‘old’ refers to traditional production methods rather than aging. This variety contains from 15-50% korenwijn, and can be sweetened with up to 20 gms sugar/liter. The result is a sweet, malty, rich spirit, typically with an oily texture.

Jonge (‘Young’) Genever: The ‘young’ indicates Genever made in the ‘new’ 20^th Century style “i.e. heavily cut with neutral alcohol. This variety contains no more than 15% korenwijn, and no more than 10 gm sugar per liter, making it lighter and drier than the Oude style. This style is closest to the familiar London Dry gin, though the maltiness and light use of aromatics set it apart.

Graanjenever (‘grain Genever’): This is Genever made from 100% grain alcohol. That is, the korenwijn is cut only with grain alcohol, meaning it contains no alcohol made from molasses, potato, or other non-grain ingredients. The grains used to produce the non-korenwijn distillate do not have to malted barley though, so graanjenever is distinct from korenwijn. In practice graanjever is likely to be made from corn or wheat, both of which are cheaper than malted barley. It may also include some malted barley. This type of Genever is generally column distilled. It resembles a more full bodied version of a Jonge Genever.

You may also come across the following terms:

Friesche Genever: So far as I can tell this is not a meaningful designation. It seems to just be an attractive sounding word that some producers slap on their products, not a true indicator of style.

Roggen: There also seem to be rye-based genevers known as ‘roggen’. These spirits may be more rye-based vodkas than Genever though. That is, they may not be flavored with botanicals. If anyone has more information on this please let me know.

There are probably some terms and classifications that I have missed. However, the above should at least provide a start in understanding Genever.

Thus endeth the lesson. . .

Genever Product Comparison
So, having learned about Genever, I guess it is finally time to drink some. I managed to collect four different varieties of Genever, including an oude (Bols), two jonge (Bokma and De Kuyper), and a graanjenever (Bokma). Sadly I could not get hold of a korenwijn. I had also been hoping to include the limited release Genevieve from Anchor Distilling. Unfortunately that was not possible because the product was never made available in New Zealand shops and the New Zealand agent did not want to provide a sample for this tasting. Never mind, collecting four brands for comparison was a pretty good effort given that Genever is not common in New Zealand.

The tasting involved 20 ml samples of each spirit, served at room temperature and in wine glasses. It was not a blind tasting. First the spirits were nosed and impressions recorded. Then they were tasted and impressions recorded. Finally they were cut with a teaspoon of water, tasted again, and impressions recorded. I did not try mixing the spirits into cocktails since I thought they were so obviously different that there was little point comparing them this way.

Bokma Jonge Graanjenever (35%)

Nose: Not too much on the nose besides alcohol. Smells similar to vodka, but differs in having a distinct hint of malt in the background. I cannot detect juniper or other aromatics.

Taste: Taste-wise this is fairly flat. It goes down almost like vodka, but there is a subtle bitterness and aromatic juniper flavor. It has some sweetness and a rich mouth feel. There was no aftertaste to speak of. Adding a teaspoon of water smoothed the flavor and highlighted the juniper. It became very smooth after that.

Overall impression: Not something to sip on, more something to down as a shot. In cocktail terms it could make a more interesting mixer than vodka, but it does not contribute enough flavor to be the backbone of a drink. Think of it more as a way of adding alcohol while contributing a little richness and complexity that would not be there if vodka was used. It is far milder in character than most gins. Still, it has a full bodied sweetness that London dry gins do not offer. I have used this in the past as a base for infusing Oolong tea; it works very well in this role.

Bokma Friesche Genever (38% alc/vol)

Nose: This has a delicate perfumed nose that you can keep on coming back to. At first I could not place the smell. It just reminded me of perfume that had been worn a little too long and begun to fade. Then I realized it was a subtle blend of citrus and a spice I cannot place. It almost seems like musk or something. I guess before doing a gin tasting I should have educated myself some more about spices. Juniper is there as well, but I keep coming back to this other botanical that is reminding me of perfume. Anyway, nosing this stuff is very pleasant and interesting.

Taste: A full bodied mouth-feel together with a dry flavor profile. There is a nice balance of malt, juniper, citrus, and other aromatics. You could not exactly sip this by the fireside like you might a glass of whiskey, but there is more than enough taste to make you want to linger over it. The aftertaste is gently bitter. Adding water brought out a peppery note.

Overall Impression: The dry and delicately balanced taste makes this ideal for drinking straight. However, it could also take center stage in a cocktail like a Martinez. It could work in a Genever Old Fashioned, though a more malty Genever would be better.

De Kuyper JDKZ Geneva (37.1%)

Nose: A perfumed nose that is more robust than the Bokma Friesche. The nose is a blend of citrus and sweet malt, with juniper in there as well. The delicate balance of the Bokma Friesche is lacking, but there is still plenty to appreciate.

Taste: This comes across smoothly. The citrus and malt are very up front, with the combination pleasantly resembling a chocolate orange. As you swallow you get a burst of juniper. There is not much of an aftertaste. It is not as subtle or balanced as the Bokma Friesch, but nevertheless is easy to like. Adding water reduced the citrus and made the drink a bit drier. The water also drew out a background note I did not especially care for – something like ammonia. This had been faintly present before, but the water made it obvious. For me this taste became an unpleasant distraction.

Overall Impression: This could be drunk by itself or used in a cocktail. It is robust enough for mixing and I like its heavy citrus character. However, I prefer the Bokma Freische for its better balance, and because it is free of that ‘ammonia’ taste. This one gets points for the crooked bottle design though. It is kind of cool.

Bols Genever Zeer Oude (35% alc/vol)

Nose: This has a rich aroma that is far more sweet than spicy. You can smell a rich layer of grains, laid on top of which are some spicier notes, primarily juniper.

Taste: A big rich flavor. There is a creamy mouth-feel with tons of malt, with some gentle juniper flavors making things interesting. Citrus does not make its presence felt in a big way. Adding water did little to change the intensity of flavor or the mouth-feel. The water brought out some new tastes though, revealing a hint of the ‘musky’ taste I had noticed in the Boka Friesche. There is gently bitter aftertaste, almost like gentian or something. It is very smooth with no unwelcome flavors or unpleasantness.

Overall Impression: This is great for sipping, and would make an ideal basis for traditional Genever cocktails like the Fancy Gin Cockail. Of the four spirits I have sampled, this would be the best starting point for somebody wanting to understand Genever. All the characteristics are present.

Some Concluding Thoughts

To round things up I want to say that the Oude style is really what Genever is about. If shopping for Genever you should try and start there. If you are lucky enough to find some korenwijn grab that too. The Jonge is nice, but has only some of the character of the Genever once popular in cocktails. Using the Jonge in traditional Genever cocktails is going to be like cutting the rye in your Manhattans 50/50 with vodka. You may get the idea of the drink but you will not get the real experience. Of course, since the Jonge is by far the most popular and easy to find style, you will probably end up experimenting with it anyway. Nothing wrong with that and it is still fun to play with.

In a future post I will look at some Genever cocktails.

* Thanks to Jared Brown of the Exposition Universelle des Vins et Spiritueux for straightening out this confusion.

I decided to give infusing gin with tea a try. I started by making the Earl Grey Martini as written up by Gary Regan in the San Francisco Chronicle. Earl Grey is possibly my least favorite tea. I don’t hate the stuff exactly. Oil of bergamont is an interesting flavor. Unfortunately, that taste just doesn’t work for me in tea. To me, black tea must have milk added to it, and tea with milk should be a pedestrian affair, free of surprises. Oil of bergamont just does not fit into the picture.

So where does a guy like me get his Oil of Bergamont fix? The answer according to Gary Regan is to infuse your Earl Grey tea in gin and drink the gin. What an amazing idea! Where do I sign up?

OK, in reality I exercised a little caution. Rather than following Gary Regan’s instructions exactly and infusing ¼ cup of tea leaves in a liter of gin, I infused a heaped teaspoon of tea leaves in a mere 100 mls of gin (infusion time 2 hours). I didn’t want to risk ending up with a bottle of weird and disgusting Bergamont flavored gin that would be good only for plying old ladies with.

I then made the drink as described by Mr. Regan, 1 ½ oz infused gin, ¾ oz lemon juice, ¾ oz simple syrup (Gary Regan suggests an ounce but that seemed too much to me) and an egg white, shaken over ice. Bloody delicious! The sugar could possibly be taken down another notch, but no faulting the concept. This tea infused gin is great.

On a roll, I began rummaging through the house for things to infuse. There was some method to the madness. I figured I’d try some Chinese style tea infusions. My favorite tea is Oolong so I did an infusion of 1 heaped teaspoon of Oolong in 100 mls of Plymouth Gin (infusion time two hours). Then I did the same using Bokma Genever (infusion time three hours because of the lower alcohol – only 35% for the Bokma versus 42% for Plymouth). I figured rich Oolong tea might really work well with heavy bodied Dutch Genever as opposed to English gin.

I used good tea for this, namely a very good quality autumn harvest Iron Goddess of Mercy (???). Iron Goddess of Mercy is a popular Oolong tea from Southern Fujian and basically my favorite tea. With good quality Iron Goddess of Mercy you cannot go wrong. Good stuff should be in the form of rolled green leaves, will smell fruity and aromatic, and reusing the same leaves will yield three or more brews with evolving rather than diminishing flavor. Iron Goddess of Mercy is the most aromatic of Oolong teas, and the autumn harvest is the most aromatic of the variety (though the more delicate spring tea fetches the highest prices). The generic blackish Oolong you get in most Asian grocery stores is not even close to being a substitute. Search around for good stuff. A specialist Chinese tea shop will sell it.

I took my Plymouth gin Oolong infusion and threw together a gin sour as follows:

1 ½ oz Oolong infused Plymouth Gin

¾ oz lemon juice

¾ oz Kuei Fei Lychee Liqueur

Shake over ice and strain into a glass.

This experiment turned out strangely delicious. The gin ended up quite bitter but with fantastic tea fragrance. Some people dislike bitterness and may find it too much, but for me it was more or less what I was looking for. It may be possible to reduce the bitterness by refining the infusion process. I was not sure how well the lychee liqueur would fit. It seems such a cliche to whip out the ‘Chinese’ liqueur to match the Chinese tea. I was getting sick of always reaching for the St. Germain though and wanted to give something else a try. The lychee works well. Some people describe the fruity tastes in Oolongs as resembling lychee. Drinking the two together in a cocktail like this really does produce an effect like drinking a fruity, alcoholic, Oolong tea. Although the lychee is very much a one note liqueur, there is enough complexity in the rest of the drink that this is not an issue.

On reflecting, the odd thing is that the original tea brewed in water may have a more intense flavor than the cocktail. Iron Goddess of Mercy is traditionally brewed extremely strong. Instead of adding a few teaspoons of tea to a large pot you take a tiny pot and pack it so full of leaves that the leaves swell to fill the pot once water is added. A single pot of leaves will yield multiple brews, which drinkers enjoy from from tiny liqueur glass sized cups. Just maybe I should increase the quantity of tea in the infusion. However, it may then become too much to handle. Oolong is also high caffeine and even drinking it at the above strength I almost thought I was getting some caffeine effect before the alcohol.

I will do something with the genever infusion soon, most likely the same recipe.

Update 1:

The next day I tried exactly the above drink using the genever infusion, again with very pleasant results. This version somehow seems less bitter and more fruity. I wasn’t exactly scientific with my tea measurements so I may have unintentionally put slightly less tea in the genever compared to the Plymouth. Or maybe the lower alcohol of the genever meant it extracted less of the bitter components despite my infusing it for an extra hour.  Possibly the sweetness in the genever also offset the bitterness. Finally, the bitter tastes might have been reduced by the strained infusion spending 24 hours in the fridge.

Update 2:

The genever version of this drink has been quite well received and I think it deserves its own name. I am going to go for The Fort Zeelandia Cocktail. Fort Zeelandia was the Dutch capital during their colonization of Taiwan. The rationale for the name is that the drink combines Dutch-style gin with Taiwanese-style tea.

1 oz dry gin (Tanqueray)

1 oz dry vermouth

2 dashes kummel (I initially used ½ a teaspoon then upped it to 1 teaspoon)

Not in the recipe but I squeezed an orange twist over it.

Surprisingly the kummel was no more than a faint background note at ½ a teaspoon. I found a full teaspoon more to my taste. This one tastes pretty much like what you’d expect.  A pleasant martini variation.

Given that kummel originates from Holland it might be interesting to try making something like this using genever rather than standard dry gin.

Update: I later tried this using Bokma Genever, 2 tsp kummel, and a squeeze of lemon peel. It was very tasty, and perhaps better integrated than the original (hard to say though since I did not compare side to side). The milder character of the genever blends nicely with everything else.

I saw some kummel the other week. I had only drunk kummel once before (in the since disappeared Berlin restaurant on Mt Eden Rd. in Auckland) but its herbal caraway taste left a strong impression. Since getting into aquavit, also traditionally flavored with caraway, over Christmas I had been wanting to give kummel another try. So I bought a bottle with vague plans of finding an aquavit and kummel drink to use it in.

Before finding my aquavit and kummel drink though I happened upon a copy of Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. It’s a great book and I was pleased to see it contains a couple of drinks that I had found in Ted Haigh’s online cocktail database and enjoyed but never seen written up (e.g. the Blackthorn and the Park Avenue). I will try out some more of the other recipes later, but decided to start with this kummel drink.

The Vowel Cocktail

1 oz scotch

1 oz sweet vermouth

½ oz orange juice

1 ½ oz kummel

1-2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

This is an excellent drink with just the kind of taste I was imagining in a kummel cocktail. Unusually for a drink with an ounce each of scotch and vermouth, neither of these powerful tastes comes through particularly strong. Instead the kummel dominates with its heavy caraway scent. I wouldn’t call it one dimensional though. There is still a good balance, with the caraway doing interesting things as it mixes with the smoky scotch and herbal vermouth. It is slightly on the sweet side, but the strong flavors make this not too much of a problem.

Tasting this makes me think kummel would mix interestingly with Genever (though perhaps in smaller quantities). Genever-based Old Fashioneds or Manhattans could be an interesting model for experimentation, perhaps using the anise flavors of Peychaud’s bitters.