After Bokma, Filliers and Bols, today it is time to take a quick look at a more contemporary Genever producer. Most of the readers of this blog will be familiar with Zuidam, if only because of their excellent Millstone whiskies. However, originally they mainly produced liqueurs.
While far from a young company, Zuidam doesn’t have the same heritage like some of the centuries old Genever producers that are around in Belgium and The Netherlands. The company was founded in 1974, and is currently led by second generation master distiller Patrick van Zuidam.
Today I’ll be trying a Zuidam 3 Years Old Zeer Oude Genever. The base is a triple distilled malt wine, consisting of equal parts corn, rye and malted barley. This is then distilled a fourth time with botanicals such as juniper, licorice root and aniseed, before being filled into a virgin American oak cask.
Zuidam 3 Years Old Zeer Oude Genever (38%)
Nose: Wow, hold your horses! Some very active virgin American oak here, with lots of vanilla, fudge and caramel, as well as some wood shavings. Finally, some very feint and delicate juniper notes.
Taste: Very creamy with lots of oak again, and also vanilla and fudge. But here there’s a bit more room for other flavors, such as cloves and pine, and some licorice too.
Finish: A medium length finish with oranges, caramel and a whisper of aniseed.
Plenty to like here, but… the oak is very, very dominant. I wonder if this would work in a cocktail, maybe in like a Genever Old Fashioned, because this has a lot of sweetness. However, I found this a bit too much when I drank it neat.
Photo: Master of Malt
