Recipe

• 4 parts genever

• 2 parts brightly coloured triple sec

• 1 part lemon juice

• ½ part sugar syrup

Shake together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Last weekend I was at an exceptional combined stag and hen do, and there were a few bottles left over.  A Dutch friend of ours had brought the Dutchest drink he could find with him from duty-free, and couldn't take it back with him on the plane, so I leapt right in there and claimed it. Meanwhile the stag and hen themselves were begging me to take away the hideously bright orange liqueur they had brought back from holiday with them several years ago, and I obliged happily.  Arriving back home and reflecting on an awesome weekend, it seemed only right that my first cocktail should combine the two ingredients I'd brought back.

Genever is a very old style of drink from the Netherlands, flavoured using juniper berries, that was first imported into Britain following the Glorious Revolution (1688).  British distillers started making their own, with a drier, cleaner taste, and this eventually developed into gin; meanwhile, the Dutch carried on producing genever in much the same way they always had, and you can still find it over there today.  Compared to gin, it has a darker yellowish/brownish colour, a richer, deeper taste, and a sort of weird twist that's comparable to tequila.  In short, it's fascinating to drink, and each sip is peculiar and complicated.

The decision on how to combine the two ingredients was an easy one.  I have a standard go-to recipe for sour cocktails with triple sec, using the 4–2–1–½ proportions shown here, and I've even featured it before here on the blog (see Embassy, Yellow Bird, Lemon Drop, and Margarita for examples).  When the spirit in question is gin and the fruit is lemon, it's called a White Lady, a drink I tried once with some success, but never quite posted about.  Well, switching the gin for genever, and using the most orange triple sec the world has ever seen, what could I call it but a Dutch Lady? It's absolutely superb.  Every sip has all the richness and weirdness of this beautiful genever, but it's balanced perfectly with the sweet fruity triple sec and the sour lemon.  Far from being simply a variation on a White Lady, it reminds me more of a Margarita made with one of the darker golden tequilas, with that curious twinge complimenting the other flavours wonderfully.  If there's any criticism, it's that it's not so perfect as it warms up.  So chill your glasses/spirits, use plenty of ice, and drink it fast!

Many thanks to the three donators: I'll be drinking plenty more of these.