Which cocktails can you make with jenever?

Yes. In Jerry Thomas's The Bar-Tender’s Guide, the Gin Cocktail has the line “1 wine-glass of Holland gin”, and Holland gin appears in more recipes in that book.

Holland gin was the term for Dutch genever in the nineteenth-century American bar. The full text of the book, published by Dick & Fitzgerald in New York with copyright notices from 1862, 1876 and 1887, can be read at the Internet Archive.

The Gin Cocktail is listed there like this: 3 or 4 dashes gum syrup, 2 dashes bitters (Boker’s), 1 wine-glass of Holland gin and 1 or 2 dashes Curacoa. The glass is filled one third with shaved ice, then strained into a cocktail glass, with a piece of lemon peel in it.

In the same book the Improved Gin Cocktail is called “Holland or Old Tom gin”, and Holland gin also appears in the Gin Sour, the Gin Fix, the Gin Daisy, the Gin Fiz, the Hot Gin Sling and the Hot Gin Toddy.

Young genever. The product file of the protected geographical indication allows at least 1.5 percent and less than 15 percent malt wine, so that the grain accent remains limited.

According to the Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek, malt wine is a distillate from a mash of germinated barley and a few other grains, and one of the raw materials of jenever and korenwijn. The more malt wine, the more clearly the grain shows in the glass.

Oude jenever must contain at least 15 percent malt wine. The dictionary gives 51 percent for korenwijn. These two types stand up better in a short mix with few ingredients, or neat.

The sweetening also differs. The specification for young genever allows a maximum of 10 grams per litre, that for old genever a maximum of 20 grams per litre. You notice that difference in the amount of syrup a mix still needs.

Stick to the official proportions of the John Collins and use young genever in place of the gin: 45 ml spirit, 30 ml lemon juice, 15 ml syrup and 60 ml soda water.

For the John Collins, the International Bartenders Association gives 45 ml gin, 30 ml fresh lemon juice, 15 ml sugar syrup and 60 ml soda water. Everything goes straight into a highball glass with ice and is stirred gently, with a slice of lemon and a maraschino cherry. The recipe carries the note that Old Tom gin makes the Tom Collins.

The official recipe calls for gin. If you replace it with young jenever, it is no longer an official John Collins but a variation on the same proportions. The young jenevers on the shelf in Bathmen range from 35 to 42 percent alcohol, so check the label before deciding the measure.

Both are possible, with equal measures or with the sour ratio from the official recipe, where jenever takes the place of the gin or the bourbon.

The International Bartenders Association gives for the Negroni 30 ml gin, 30 ml Bitter Campari and 30 ml sweet red vermouth, built directly in a chilled old fashioned glass with ice, gently stirred, with half a slice of orange.

For the Whiskey Sour, the same source gives 45 ml bourbon, 25 ml fresh lemon juice, 20 ml sugar syrup and optionally a few drops of egg white, shaken with ice and strained.

Here too: with genever instead of gin or bourbon you keep to the proportions, not the name. For old genever or corenwijn the shorter mix works better than the long one. Of the 118 genevers with a filled-in type, 36 are old genever and 18 are corenwijn.

Jenever falls under Regulation (EU) 2019/787 on spirit drinks, and the names jenever, jonge jenever and oude jenever are protected geographical indications.

The Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland names five Dutch jenever names with a geographical indication: Jenever, Graanjenever, Jonge jenever, Oude jenever and Vruchtenjenever. The applications come from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France.

The product file of Genievre, Jenever and Genever maintains a minimum alcohol content of 30 percent vol and less than 20 grams of sugar per litre. For jonge jenever and oude jenever the minimum is 35 percent vol.

The Alcoholwet classes drinks of fifteen or more percent alcohol by volume as spirits. Article 20 prohibits supplying alcoholic drinks to anyone whose age of 18 has not been established.