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More than 40 years being a #Pepper! #drpepper :) #itdrink #soda #simplepleasures (en Dulceria Regional Delia)

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Jenever, malt spirit genever, the new ‘it-drink’?

The past year gin tonics, also known as G&T, flourished in the going out scene. An example can be seen in the picture above. Working in a bar we expanded our glass collection to the popular big glass bowls where this cocktail is being served in. And everywhere you go, you would see people holding these ginormous glasses filled with loads of ice, certain herbal concoction, tonic and last but not least some fancy gin. This cocktail is not something that was invented the past year but thanks to marketing and media it became very popular. Whit this my interest in unconventional alcohol peeked. I asked myself, what can be the following ‘it-drink’? I had a conversation with a bartender and then I realized something very odd but funny. We were talking about what gin is made of, and how it is made. One particular fruit popped up in my mind and I made a certain association with it. This is ‘jeneverbes’, in English this is juniper berry. If we go back to the Dutch version of it, and we dissect the word ‘jeneverbes’, one gets ‘jenever’ and ‘berry’ (= juniper). This is when I thought, what about genever? This beverage is mostly consumed by people 35+. I was curious about the similarities with gin. So I decided to visit the Jenever Museum in Schiedam.

What can I say of this visit? Let me start by providing some basic information about what happens at this museum. It is not only a museum, they still produce on small scale malt spirit genever in the distillery. As the only one left in Holland they are still distilling according to the traditional Dutch method used since the end of the 17th century in the Netherlands. The process used can be compared to the one used for whiskey. For further information about the distilling process I would recommend a visit to their website: http://www.jenevermuseum.nl/  

Or read this short explanation below:

The 1st thing they do is mix ground rye, malted barley and water into a mash. The ground rye comes straight from the mill. The barley has to be malted first in a malt-house. By soaking it in water, germination takes place resulting in the development of enzymes which convert the starch from the barley into sugar. The sugar is needed to produce alcohol.

The mash is stirred thoroughly and left untouched for a while during which a sugaring process takes place at a certain temperature. Next a little yeast is added which ‘eats’ the sugar and produces amongst other things alcohol.. The mash now contains alcohol of about 6%

. It is then distilled for the first time, producing what is called crude alcohol of 12%. After the second distillation single alcohol of 24% is obtained. After the third distillation malt spirit of 48% is obtained. It is left to mature in oak casks, for at least three years.

Eventually Juniper berries are added, then it is diluted with water to bring it to a drinkable strength of 40%. The end product is called Old Schiedam.

 The interesting part of this explanation of the distilling process is the use of the juniper berries. Gin has a similar way of being made, or should I say distilled. And the funny thing about it is that the same as Champagne, Bordeaux or other regional wines, it must be produced in that certain region for it to be called a certain name. Back in the days the English copied this malt spirit genever process but they could not call it the same and they could also not pronounce it well. Thus gin was the result. This is a very short explanation of it and im sure someone else will bash on my explanation. But with gin the last part of the process is different. While malt spirit genever (Old Schiedam) is made only with juniper berries and produced in Schiedam. Gin is made with not only juniper berries but also with a lot of other botanicals such as citrus fruits, spices, nuts etc. Basically whatever gives it a certain appealing flavor.

This left me very curious, should I make a gin tonic, with Old Schiedam instead of gin, and serve it as a new gin on the market. Would anyone notice it? Or would they think, oh this a different tasting gin! What would mix well with Malt Spirit Genever (Old Schiedam) if not tonic? I’ve met people that drink it with cassis, a purple soda. But what about the future of Old Schiedam, could it be mixed with the right soda, the new ‘it-drink’?