Jenever

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.

Because the resulting spirit was not palatable due to the lack of refined distilling techniques (with only the pot still available), herbs were added to mask the flavour.

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.

There is tradition that attributes the invention of jenever to the Dutch chemist and alchemist Franciscus Sylvius de Bouve[6] (1614–1672).

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".

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.

A worldwide tendency for a lighter and less dominant taste, as well as lower prices, led to the development of blended whisky in Scotland and in the Netherlands to Jonge Jenever.

People started using the terms oude for the old-style jenever and jonge for the new style, which contains more grain instead of malt and can even contain plain sugar-based alcohol.

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.

Jonge jenever, colloquially a jonkie ("young'un"), is usually served at room temperature, sometimes (though this is now quite old-fashioned) with some sugar and a tiny spoon to stir.

[10] Recognized for its historic and cultural contribution, and subject to production specifications, the European Union protected genever with 11 specific types of jenever as a geographical indication: 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.