With all this talk about Genever and kopstootje floating around on the blogs as of late, a new light was shone on this relic I found while packing up the beer cave today. With my curiosity piqued, I decided to record a few photos and decipher the label before it's lost in a sea of boxes indefinitely.
For those too lazy to click on a link, genever is a Dutch infused liquor that is sometimes served with a beer back in a ritual called "kopstootje" (little head butt). While infused with botanicals similar to gin, what sets genever apart is the blend of distillates that replace a good portion of the neutral base spirits in gin.Anyway, this old bottle of J.H. Henkes Oude Genever in my possession has a bit of copy on its label, some of which I understand from my knowledge of beer, but most of which I don't. I thought it would be interesting to see how the company described their liquor, so I ran it through Yahoo! Babel Fish to see how it might be translated. It's not the smartest translator, and the results are always questionable, but hey, it's free!
Here's what Yahoo! has to say, without any interpretation from me:Old Genever, from grains stoked double persuaded.
Authenticity is possible... [hole in label] ...guaranteed if capsule is cork intact is and the fire mark stigmatising brandmerk henkes... [too faded to decipher].
Boooooring!
I was hoping for a beer recommendation for kopstootje or something.
Anyway, it's a neat old bottle.
Just came by and saw you genever bottle. . It's quite unique what you have there.Henkes was a distillery that started of in Rotterdam, three partners bought a distillery that was called de ooyevaer (the stork) form the owner, who came from The Hague, Holland (the dutch Queen lives in the Hague) That is why the stork, standing on one leg, an eel (yes an eel) in its beek is on the bottle. That stork is the city weaponshield of the Hague. Henkes distillery was in Rotterdam and started off in 1894. Because it was closer to the port (haven) and they could ship their genever quicker away all over the world.You have a historic bottle there. Genever, specially dutch genever was once the "whiskey of the world" . Whiskey was a smelly not well distilled beverage (that is why they serve it still in those wide open glasses). It was on board of almost every ship in the world and was used for celebrations or as reward for the crew after a period of long hard labour on board. And it beats drinking water. Nice to see that you have this old bottle in such good condition. Keep it safe, it's a nice momentum.
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