🍸 Juniper-flavoured spirit drink

A juniper-flavoured spirit drink belongs to the broadest category of juniper drinks in the EU: ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin, grain spirit or grain distillate flavoured with berries of common juniper (Juniperus communis) or of the species Juniperus oxicedrus. It is category 19 of Regulation (EU) 2019/787, with a minimum strength of 30% vol.

Besides juniper berries, producers may use flavouring substances, flavouring preparations, aromatic plants or parts of them. There is one condition: the organoleptic characteristics of juniper must be noticeable, even if they are sometimes attenuated. This is what sets category 19 apart from gin, where juniper has to dominate the taste.

Such a drink may carry the legal name “Wacholder” or “genebra”. The category also covers protected geographical indications: Genièvre/Jenever/Genever for Belgium, the Netherlands, the French departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais and the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony, as well as Steinhäger and Ostfriesischer Korngenever (Germany), Gin de Mahón (Spain), Vilniaus Džinas (Lithuania) and Spišská borovička (Slovakia).

The regulation also describes gin, distilled gin and London gin as juniper-flavoured spirit drinks, but with stricter rules: a strength of at least 37.5% vol., a base of ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin only, and berries of common juniper only.

Why it matters to you. A label reading “Wacholder”, “genebra” or a geographical indication does not mean the bottle holds gin: the strength may start at 30% vol., and the base may be a grain distillate. For genever, origin matters; for gin, the production method does. Read the legal name on the label. According to the WHO, no amount of alcohol is safe.