Cocktails with Genever
Genever is the juniper-flavored grain spirit of the Netherlands and Belgium — the malty ancestor that gin grew out of. But where gin is juniper-forward and dry, genever’s signature is malty, bready grain, with juniper only a background note.
ABV35–46%On most bottlings, varying by style. The older, maltier styles reward a stirred, spirit-forward build.
Substitutes for Genever
Gin can stand in as a small juniper modifier, but not as the base — no gin has the malt-wine body of oude or korenwijn. A young jonge, or a soft Old Tom, is nearest in spirit.
On the label
- jonge / oude / korenwijn
- Not ages but malt-wine content — jonge has little (light, mostly neutral spirit), oude more (rich), korenwijn most (often oak-aged).
- "malt wine" (moutwijn)
- The malty grain distillate at genever’s core — the thing gin left behind.
- graanjenever
- Guarantees an all-grain base; plain jenever may use a molasses-based neutral spirit.
- minimum strength
- 30% ABV for the genever category as a whole, 35% for jonge and oude, 38% for korenwijn.
