Bobby's Jenever (750ml)

Bobby's Jenever traces its story to Jacobus "Bobby" Alfons, who emigrated from Ambon in the Moluccas to the Netherlands in 1951 and kept a taste of home alive by infusing his jenever with a family spice blend known as Pinang Raci. Decades later his grandsons, Sebastiaan and David, rediscovered an old bottle of his creation and set out to recreate it. They partnered with Herman Jansen, a family-owned distillery in Schiedam that has produced spirits since 1777, to turn their grandfather's homemade recipe into a commercial jenever, released in 2016 as an extension of the family's original Bobby's Dry Gin.

The jenever is built on a base of malt distillate, kept to a small percentage so the spirit remains classified as a young style rather than an old-style jenever. Juniper, lemongrass, ginger, cardamom, and cubeb pepper are distilled separately in copper pot stills before being blended together, a technique meant to preserve the individual character of each botanical rather than muddying them into one flavor.

On the nose, subtle maltiness meets juniper, candied ginger, and lemongrass, with a hint of toasted almonds underneath. The palate carries that grainy, bread-like quality further, layered with fresh citrus and warm spice from the cardamom and cubeb pepper. The finish is soft and rounded, closing with the same gentle maltiness that opened it, giving the spirit a comforting, slightly nutty character throughout.