Genever
Posted: Wed May 24, 2023 5:16 am
As many of us have been making gin lately. I have been doing some reading about the subject. I never realized there is a definition of old and young Genever and it has nothing to do with age. In the article I read, it is defined as follows:
This got me thinking about how most of us are currently making their gin combining the new method of a neutral then macerating it and redistilling through a pot still to extract the flavors.The difference between a young (=jonge) and an old (=oude) genever has nothing to do with the maturation of the product. A young genever mainly differs in production method and in taste from an old genever.
An old genever refers to the old production method and consists a great amount of malt wine. A young genever refers to the usage of neutral (grain) alcohol. In the beginning of the 19th century a new distillation method with a column, made distilling to 96% ABV possible. Consequently there was no grain taste left in the grain distillate. A young genever does not differ in age but in taste and composition to an old genever.
Malt wine is distilled to maximum 80% ABV, thus contains a lot of grain taste. An old genever will always hold a fuller grain taste than a young genever.