Actually, according to Wikipedia it was in World War II that the Jonge Genever style was born. Due to limited amounts of grain being avaible to make malt wine the amount of malt wine in Genevers dropped drasticly. After the war was over production of this 'new' style Genever continued as 'Jonge' Genever and Genever according to the old recipe was being sold again as Oude Genever. The truely original 100% maltwine Genever wasn't avaible at all anymore. Another story about Jonge and Oude Genever styles comes from the website of Rutte & Zonen. One of the better Genever producers of Holland. On their site is a story that says the invention of the column still in (I believe) 1831 later brought upon a change between Oude and Jonge Genever. Where the jonge was made with a high percentage of neutral grain alcohol from column still distillation and the Oude being made mainly with malt wine. After economical recess in the 70's the Genever industry tried to win back some credit by beefing up the minimal quality requirements for Genever. Also more truely old style Oude Genevers were being made again and nowadays van Wees sells up to 20 year oak cask riped Genever. On another note. Yesterday I picked up a bottle of Rutte Twaalf (Twelve) Oude Genever and made a cocktail based on the Brandy Apricot Frappe recipe, with lemon juice added to the concotion. I made it like this: - 2,5 cl Rutte Twaalf - 1,5 cl van Wees Apricot brandy - 1 cl Rutte Amandel (almond liquer) - 1 cl Lemon Juice It was quite tasty! I'm not done tweaking it yet though. And it needs a name
