Rutte Oude Twaalf Genever is discontinued, and replaced by the Rutte Barrel Aged Genever, among others. But I still had a decent sample of it in my sample drawer, and I quite like it too, so I decided to write a little something about it anyway.
Also, you can still find it in plenty of online shops. Genever isn’t like whisky, were everyone buys anything simply because it is discontinued, hoping to make a quick buck, regardless of the quality. Yep, I’m not cynical at all about the ways of the whisky market.
If you’ve been reading my blogs on Genever, you know by now that Oude is the Dutch word for Old. What does Twaalf mean? Very simple, it means Twelve. This does refer to the age of the Oude Twaalf Genever, but that isn’t to say that it has aged for 12 years.
I mean, it has. But only partially. The malt wine has aged for 12 years indeed, but the neutral grain alcohol hasn’t. There are botanicals in here. Juniper for sure, I don’t know which other ones though. But if I had to guess, at least cinnamon.
Rutte Oude Twaalf Genever (38%)
Nose: Inviting and warm, with lots of little subtleties, like cinnamon and cardamom, with light touches of aniseed and vanilla. Well balanced.
Taste: Warm baking spices, lots of cinnamon. Fairly sweet also, but with a subtle peppery edge. Again, vanilla from the wood. The balance is here too. Good stuff.
Finish: A little shorter than I hoped for. The oak lingers for a little while.
Not the maturation, but especially the warm backing spices, which I suspect are part of the recipe, make for a very inviting drink. I like cocktails, but am far from an expert. However, I bet that someone with a little more know-how would find interesting ways to incorporate this.