» About     » Archive     » Cast     » Authors     » Submit     » Search     » Random     » Statistics     » Forum     » FAQ     » Video Game     » RSS Feed     Updates daily

No. 4638:

First | Previous | 2021-09-23 | Next | Latest

First | Previous | 2021-09-23 | Next | Latest

Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/postcard/?comic=4638

Recovered from the browser cache of: David Morgan-Mar

The author writes:

Jenever, also known as "Dutch gin", is a traditional juniper-flavoured liquor produced in the Netherlands, Belgium, and select adjoining areas in northern France and northwestern Germany. Jenever is believed to have been produced as a medicinal product in the 1500s, although by 1606 the Dutch government had begun levying taxes on the product, indicating a transition from a medicinal to a recreational drink.

Although the history is somewhat murky, there is some suggestion that English soldiers serving in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years War (1568-1648) acquired a taste for the spirit, and that fortifying their bravery before battle with it is the origin of the phrase "Dutch courage" as a term for alcoholic beverages in general. Returning to England, they brought the recipe with them, adapting it to become the drink now known as gin.

The European Union now recognises "jenever" as a protected term indicating geographic origin in the Netherlands, Belgium, two provinces of France, and two states of Germany. As such, any drink produced outside that areas cannot legally be called by that name.

So when Charles Braseby decided to diversify production in his English gin factory by producing an historically accurate recipe for this liquor, labelled as such on the product packaging, he was, in fact, violating the Jenever Convention.