Two At The Most

Having already tried the Basic, Fancy, and Improved Gin Cocktails with Genevieve Genever Gin, I wanted to find some additional drinks to use this great new ingredient.

The first that caught my eye was the Amsterdam Cocktail, which I found in the CocktailDB.

Amsterdam Cocktail

1 1/2 oz genever (Genevieve)
3/4 oz orange juice
1/2 oz Cointreau
1 dash orange bitters (Regan’s)

shake over ice, strain into cocktail glass

Genevieve Gin and the Amsterdam and Rembrandt Cocktails

The orange juice is a great match with the malty genever flavor, and the Cointreau and orange bitters round out the flavor profile. This goes on the list of cocktails I can’t wait to try with other genevers as they become available.

Being in the greater Seattle area, I make the occasional trek to the Zig Zag Cafe. Last time I was there, I had the fortune to sit at the bar and be served by Murray Stenson himself.

Murray truly is a great bartender, both personable and fanatic about his craft. I asked him if he had any genevers on hand, and he let me try both an oude and jonge.

Oude, or old, style genever has a higher content of malt wine and tends to be sweeter than jonge genever, which has less malt wine in the original distillate.

I failed to write down the brands, but of the two, I preferred the jonge, finding it more interesting overall. I asked Murray if he had any ideas for a cocktail. He said he remembered a cocktail that someone had learned on a cruise ship and then taught to him. Apparenly, it originally called for raisins, as well, but this is how Murray made it for me:

Rembrandt Cocktail

1 3/4 oz genever
1/2 oz dry vermouth
1/4 oz Drambuie

stir over ice, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with orange twist

Made with the jonge, this was a really refreshing, balanced cocktail. Genevieve is much sweeter than the jonge Murray used, but still makes a nice Rembrandt.

Apparently the traditional way to drink genever is straight, possibly on the rocks, so maybe that explains the dearth of genever cocktail recipes. I hope these two provide inspiration for people looking for ways to experiment with this taste that’s becoming more available to us in the US. Proost!

Related posts:

1. Genever and the Barleyflower Cocktail
2. MxMo XXXI: 19th Century Cocktails — Plain, Fancy, and Improved Gin Cocktail
3. Zen Green Tea Liqueur and the Matcha Cocktail
4. Port of Barcelona Gin