This spirit has nothing to do with "wine" (made from grapes). Grain brandies were already produced in Holland in the 15th century and were called "Korenwijn" or "Korenbrandewijn". By distilling grain mash (barley, maize, rye or wheat) three times, the malt wine (Moutwijn) is produced, which has a very intense malt flavour. That is why it was flavoured with herbs. Mostly these were juniper berries, in Dutch "Jeneverbes". Jenever or jenever was then derived from this. Genever is considered the forerunner of gin, which was first produced in England. The juniper...
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Dr. Christa Hanten
Fachjournalistin, Lektorin und Verkosterin, Wien