Spirit

Genever

Genever (or jenever) is the malty, juniper-flavoured Dutch and Belgian spirit from which gin descends — a fuller-bodied, grainier drink built on a distilled malt-wine of barley, rye and corn rather than on a near-neutral spirit. Where modern gin is bone-dry and crisp, genever is rounder, softly sweet and almost whisky-like, carrying the cereal, bread and nutty weight of its grain base beneath a gentle wash of juniper and botanicals.

Dry & cleanSpirit-forward

At a glance

Signature

Malty & Pine

Herbal

Strength

Spirit-forward

by taste profile

Fuller-bodied and softly sweet for a juniper spirit, genever leads with malt, cereal grain and warm toasted bread from its pot-still malt-wine base, threaded with gentle resinous juniper, caraway, coriander and anise, and rounded by a honeyed sweetness in oude and korenwijn styles; the texture is weighty and faintly oily, closer to a young whisky than to a crisp gin, with a clean alcoholic warmth at around 40 percent and a malty, lightly herbal finish.

Taste balance

SweetnessDry

DrySweet

AciditySoft

SoftTart

BitternessSmooth

SmoothBitter

StrengthStrong

LightStrong

Spot a mistake on this page? Tell us