Lowlander IPA Jenever
It’s been a little while since I’ve written about genever. The reason, as I’ve explained in my last blog post, is that it’s simply not always easy to find interesting genever (samples) to review. However, a few weeks ago I was sent an package from Lowlander Beer. No, it doesn’t mean I’ll be writing about beer from now on. Lowlander actually teamed up with Wynand Fockink, one of the oldest-working liqueur and genever distilleries, to create the Lowlander IPA Jenever.
The IPA Jenever is distilled from, you guessed it, the Lowlander IPA beer. Now I know what you’re thinking, and before you start protesting, genever is not whisky. Indeed, there have been beer producers who attempted to make whisky from their hoppy beer, which does not work at all. But actually, hops has been used as a botanical in genever for centuries. So contrary to whisky, in the case of genever it’s not actually all that strange to distill a hoppy beer. Let’s find out how it worked out in this case, shall we?
Lowlander IPA Jenever (38%, OB)
Nose: Fresh and fruity with notes of peach and white grape juice, but also malt and subtle aromas of hop and juniper. Quite delicious and well-integrated.
Taste: Oily and sweet, with coriander and juniper, and a more pronounced hoppy bitterness, as well as bitter lemon peel.
Finish: Lingering spiciness, before returning to more herbacious and bitter notes.
Proper stuff which, and this shouldn’t be a surprise, works wonderfully well as a companion to a Lowlander IPA Beer.
Thijs is a spirits writer and accredited liquorist from The Netherlands. He runs the blog Words of Whisky and contributes to a number of Dutch and international publications.
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