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Jenever (, ), also known as Hollands, genever, genièvre, peket, or sometimes as Dutch gin (archaic: Holland gin or Geneva gin), is the juniper-flavoured traditional liquor in the Netherlands, Belgium, and adjoining areas in northern France and northwestern Germany. As an EU and UK protected designation of origin, the term jenever and its soundalikes can only be used if the product is made according to the specifications in Belgium, the Netherlands, two northern French departments, and two German federal states. Gin was developed in Britain after the introduction of jenever to the island.
At least in some regions, such as around Ommen in Overijssel, Netherlands,Donkers, H. W. H. A. " Een slimme boer bedenkt iets nieuws". (1997). jenever is distilled from spelt, an old variety of wheat.
The first written references to genever (or jenever) are found in scientific papers written by several Flemish authors. Jacob van Maerlant (Bruges, 1235 – 1300) described how to add parts of the juniper tree to a spirit made of distilling wine in his book Der Naturen Bloeme, published in 1266. It was the first writing of distilling in Dutch and had to do with the juniper tree. Later on, in 1522, the Antwerp-based doctor Phillipus Hermanni wrote the first recipe for genever. He described how to mix crushed juniper berries with wine and distill it afterwards. The very first versions of genever were being made for medical purposes and came from distilled wine. Later on, when cold periods drove out the vineyards in Flanders, it was replaced by distilling beer, calling it malt wine.
There is tradition that attributes the invention of jenever to the Dutch chemist and alchemist Franciscus Sylvius de Bouve (1614–1672). However, the evidence suggests that jenever was already known and used as a medicine in the 1500s. Already by 1606 (several years before Sylvius's birth), the Dutch had levied taxes on jenever and similar liquors as alcoholic drinks, suggesting that jenever had by then stopped being considered a medicinal remedy. Furthermore, prior to Sylvius's tenth birthday, jenever appeared in Philip Massinger's 1623 play, The Duke of Milan, which referred to the drink as "geneva". Geneva was the Anglicized name for jenever (even though the drink has no relation to the Switzerland city of Geneva), a name that English soldiers had brought back with them when returning from battle in the Low Countries, first in 1587 (well before Sylvius's birth) and again during the early 1600s.
Since the 1950s, Dutch flag carrier airline KLM has issued a series of Delft Blue houses modelled on buildings in the Netherlands filled with jenever, which are presented to passengers.
In modern times, jenever distilled from grain and malt only is labelled Graanjenever. Jonge jenever can contain no more than 15% malt wine and 10 grams of sugar per litre. Oude jenever must contain at least 15% malt wine but no more than 20 g of sugar per litre. Korenwijn (grain wine) is a drink very similar to the 18th-century-style jenever and is often matured for a few years in an oak cask; it contains from 51% to 70% malt wine and up to 20 g/L of sugar. Although the name oude jenever does not necessarily mean that the jenever is in fact old, there are some distilleries that age their jenever in oak barrels.
About 90% of all Jonge Jenever sold on the market is a blend of malt wine produced by Filliers in Belgium, sugar beet or grain based ethyl alcohol from factories in Germany, France, and (mostly) Russia, and water. Most of the bigger brands contain no malt wine, so they resemble, in essence, vodka. Distilleries in Belgium and the Netherlands actually distill jenever, which mostly produces limited volumes of specialty drinks.
). In Belgium, Deinze is very well known for the Filliers distillery, and Aalst is well known for Stokerij De Moor and Stokerij Van Der Schueren, both still active today. Hasselt styles itself as Belgium's jenever capital and has a museum dedicated to the drink. Also with the Biercée Distillery in Wallonia, one of only two Belgian distilleries to export their genever to the USA.
Dutch-based Lucas Bols produces and sells oude genever, known as ginebra in Spanish, in South America. Ketel One is now more known for producing vodka, but it started out as, and still is, a jenever distillery.
The names Genièvre and Genièvre de Jura are also protected geographical indications of Switzerland (recognised in the EU).
Protection as a geographical indication of Jenever also applies in Armenia, China, Georgia, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Moldova, Norway, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Japan.
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