The sincerest form of flattery

Distillers have never been known to let their creativity be stifled by rules – quite the opposite. For instance, genever is a Protected Designation of Origin and can only be made in the Netherlands, Belgium and small regions of France and Germany. However, distillers across the globe, inspired by genever’s history and flavours, have introduced genever-like products to their ranges.

They’re simply calling it by different names, such as geneva (the Anglicised name for genever which has been around at least since Philip Massinger’s 1623 play, ) or , as the French call it. Ginever is another, but that term has never really taken off, perhaps because regulators forbade at least one producer to use it. Finally, there’s Dutch-style gin, which is neither from