Zuidam Korenwijn 1 Year Old 38% 50cl

Description

Zuidam Korenwijn 1 Year Old is, is not technically a Genever, but it is similar in style to Genevers made in the 18th century. Korenwijn (which translates as “grain wine”) must contain contains from 51% to 70% malt wine and up to 20 g/L of sugar. Compare this to Jonge Genever which must contain no more than 15% malt wine and 10 grams per litre sugar, and Oude Genever, at least 15% malt wine but less than 20 g/L sugar

Zuidam Distillers is a family owned distillery based in the town of Baarle-Nassau in southern Netherlands. They are well known for producing traditional genevers (and gin), Dutch whisky under the Millstone label and a range of liqueurs. The company was founded in 1975 by Fred van Zuidam in 1975 with one copper still. Today the company is run by Fred’s sons Patrick and Gilbert and has expanded to over three thousand square meters and there are four copper stills and over 1000 cask. Whisky production began later in 1998. Until recently all of their grain was milled in seven traditional windmills. Successful growth and an increase in production means this is no longer the case, although the grain milled by windmills is still a large component of their production. This way of milling causes almost no increase in the temperature of the grain and thus helps preserve the wonderful aromas. No artificial fragrances, colours and flavours are used.

After the milling, the mashing begins by adding hot water to an equal parts three way mash bill of corn, rye and malted barley.  The corn gives a rich sweetness, the rye gives spicy notes and the malted barley provides the backbone. This is a small batch process which takes about 8 hours per batch. The resulting Mash is cooled to 20° Celsius and pumped to the fermentation tank. There fermentation takes place in small batches at a very low temperature which gives helps to give Zuidam Genevers their fruity flavours. Fermentation takes about 5 days. This is much longer than is customary but is essential to allow for the delicate flavours to form.

The resulting mash is distilled three times in handcrafted copper pot stills producing a clean and fruity distillate (Korenwijn is distilled 4 times). Part of the distillate is then distilled again over a secret mixture of botanicals (including Juniper, Liquorice root, Aniseed and others). Then everything is blended together before it is put into small, American oak barrels for the final ageing process (apart from the Jonge).  Zuidam 1 Year Old Korenwijn is aged for 1 year in American oak barrels which results in a really smooth mouth feel as well as delicate vanilla flavours. It is bottled at 38% ABV.

As mentioned above, Korenwijn wine, by law has to contain between 51% to 70% malt wine the rest can be from molasses or other alcohols. By law it also does not need to contain any botanicals! Zuidam Korenwijn has a very high proportion of malt wine making this a very superior product.