Young, old, or perhaps corn wine?

What is really in your glass

"Young genever is younger than old genever." Logical, right? Unfortunately, this is not true. The difference is not in the maturation time, but in the recipe. And when you know what is really in the glass, it tastes different.

At Stokerij Soestdijk, we do not make young or old genever. We work with malt wine — the heart of traditional genever — and distill everything artisanally in a copper pot still. To understand why this matters, you need to know how the three categories differ.

It’s all about malt wine

Malt wine is a distillate of grain — barley, rye, spelt, wheat — that is distilled in a copper alembic. The special thing: you can still taste what was in it. The grains give character to the distillate. Earthy notes, bread, a slight nuttiness. That is exactly what young genever tried to avoid after the Second World War.

After the war, grain was scarce. Producers switched to cheaper neutral alcohol, added some malt wine for legal reasons, and made it sweeter to mask the sharp taste. That became young genever. Practical, but not exactly artisanal.

The three categories at a glance

Why we make grain gin

Grain gin is technically not gin — it falls into its own category. But it is the most artisanal thing you can make as a distiller. More than half of the distillate must consist of malt wine. That means more grain, more character, more complexity in the glass.

With more than 50% malt wine, you taste the grain — not as a secondary flavour, but as the main role. That is exactly what we want.

Our local rye comes from the farm on the Soester Eng. They determine the flavour of our grain gin. Not a flavouring, not an extract. Just grain, still, time. The higher alcohol percentage of at least 38% provides more body and a longer, warmer finish. And we do not add sugar afterwards to take off the sharp edge. Our gins are naturally smooth by distilling them three times. Triple grain gin!

Grain gin is the most direct answer to the question: what does Soest taste like? Not by adding flavours, but by leaving nothing out.

Young and old gin: a matter of age or recipe?

For the sake of clarity: "young" and "old" say nothing about how long the genever has matured. They refer to the recipe used. Old genever may have been aged in oak barrels and thus have a golden yellow colour — but that is not necessary. Young genever is always colourless.

Old genever does have a mandatory presence of juniper flavour. This is not required for young genever. This explains why many young genevers taste fresh and light — and why old genever has more character, but also more variation from distiller to distiller.