humidity - watermelon cocktail

The Mixology Monday theme for this month is gin, so I hope I’m not cheating by using genever, the original gin from the Netherlands.

I have to give credit to my sister, Shamu, who whipped up the pretty decoration for this drink, which I've called Humidity because it’s the perfect summer afternoon cocktail.

Around midday, when you feel like switching from your morning juice to an afternoon swill, this drink is a refreshing option.

The sweetness of the crème de cassis is tempered by the watery melon juice and the spiciness of the genever.

Humidity
Anna's very own recipe. Makes 4.
Ingredients:
2½ cups watermelon flesh, seeds removed
5 tablespoons Crème de Cassis
2 tablespoons Malibu
2 tablespoons Genever
Ice
Method:
1. Blend all ingredients together.
2. Strain into glasses.

Genever, also known as jenever, jeniever and Holland gin, is the Dutch and Flemish juniper-flavoured spirit from which English gin evolved. The word gin is an abbreviation of the Dutch word genever meaning juniper.

Genever was originally a distillation of malted grain mash, which tasted fairly bad and was improved with strong juniper berries and other botanicals. It was first sold as medical elixir in the 1500s but by the 1600s it had become popular for its flavour.

The English got their first taste of genever in the 1580s when English troops were fighting Spain in the Dutch War of Independence. The spirit famously became known as "Dutch courage", but the real rise came when the Dutch Duke, William of Orange, took the English throne in 1688.

Delicious sloe gin was created for middle-class Victorian ladies while the G&T evolved to mask the bitter flavour of quinine, a malaria medicine. It’s funny to think that modern tonic water contains quinine as a flavouring when the British soldiers were originally trying to avoid it.

There are two styles of genever "Oude" (old) and "Jonge" (young) which are separated by the base alcohol production: oude genever is heavier in flavour, sweeter and can be a straw colour while jonge genever is drier, lighter and closer to the English style.

Genever is usually lower proof than English gin and is therefore usually served chilled and straight rather than mixed into drinks. It is also drunk as beer chasers, also known as a kopstoot (headbutt).

Schiedam and Groningen are famous for their genever, whereas Belgium has it’s own jenever from Hasselt.

Our gin MxMo host is Jay from Oh Gosh so head on over to see what other gin tipples have been created this month.

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes drinks drink recipes cocktail recipes creme de cassis watermelon genever humidity mxmo mixology monday malibu recipes genever recipes creme de cassis recipes watermelon recipes