This is a rather special one. A couple of years ago (almost five, by the looks of it) Drinks & Gifts organized a trip to Zuidam distillery together with DH17. A couple of drinks shops in The Netherlands thought it was a good idea to team up. It was.

The biggest drawback is that Zuidam is as far south as you can go if you exclude the province of Limburg, and that meant a three hour bus drive with not a soul I know. Back then that was especially true since I had just moved into town. Shockingly, not much has changed in that respect.

Anyway, the trip was awesome. We tried some great booze there varying from liqueurs to jenever, gin, single malt and rye whisky. I didn’t try too many of the liqueurs since I figured those to not sit too well with all the stronger drinks.

On the way back we got a goodie bag from Jolanda of Drinks & Gifts. The bag had some items in it that I don’t remember. Also, it had a 5cl bottle of this, and an order list (on which I ticked the box next to the one year old pot still Jenever).

The fun fact about this sample is, by the way, that it never got an official release, as far as I know. The ABV is not stated on the label but I guess it’s some 40%.

Sniff:
The oak influence is quite noticeable with the heaviness of red wine. The genever is very light on the nose since it mostly stays behind the oak and wine influences. It has an old, attic like scent to it with lots of dust and old boxes. The grapes do go a little bitter if you sniff it for a while. Actually, there’s a lot going on but not much of it I generally attribute to genever.

Sip:
The oak manifests as a huge dollop of vanilla syrup. There’s oak and cassis lemonade. The red wine is present here too but in a lighter way. Not as heavy as on the nose. Again, not too much genever. There’s some grains, some fruit and some dryness.

Swallow:
The dry feeling together with the vanilla flavor lasts longest. It’s slightly fruity (red fruits) and very sweet.

A strange thing this. It is a tasty drink however you put it. However, I wouldn’t generally call this a genever since there’s just not enough flavors of juniper and spices and herbs. Most of what I get it white oak (was it white oak?) and red wine influences. Interesting.

Zuidam Zeer Oude Genever, 10yo, Red Wine cask, distilled on 11 February 2000.