Is it surprising to see a bottle of gin with a big warning tag telling you NOT to use it in martinis? Genevieve, the Genever-style gin by Anchor Distilling, does just that.

Anchor is known for using traditional distilling styles that differ from what’s in the mainstream now. In this case making a 17th-century-style of Dutch gin with a grain mash with juniper in a copper still rather than employing the now-popular 19th century redistilling method that produces a more neutral spirit we call London dry gin.

It’s appropriate that I tried Genevieve Gin at Whiskyfest, since it is more like a juniper whiskey than the smooth and bright gins you’ll find in martini glasses around the nation. It has a very strong juniper nose to be sure. However, it has more of a thick whiskey mouthfeel and a hot kick not usually associated with gin.

So this one isn’t for gin and tonics or a martini. But it is great for mixed drinks.

Here’s a particularly good one to try:

The Gin Fix

2 oz Genever gin
1/4 oz. lemon juice
1 tsp. simple syrup
1 tsp. raspberry syrup

Fill a glass with crushed ice and build the drink over the ice, stirring thoroughly. Top off with more ice and garnish with raspberries.

Anchor Distilling Genevieve Gin

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 11:17 pm and is filed under Gin, Liquor Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.