Gin & Food Pairing

An Oude Graanjenever pairs especially well with Stoofkarbonaden, the Flemish beef stew. The meat braises for hours in dark beer. The malty, slightly sweet notes of the jenever pick up the roasted flavors of the braised meat without overpowering the dark, faintly tangy sauce. Limburg inns have served this pairing for generations, usually on cold autumn evenings.

In spring, white asparagus from the Haspengouw, the fertile hill country south of Hasselt, takes center stage. Asperges op z'n Vlaams is served with melted butter and chopped egg. A clear Jonge Jenever suits it better here, since it doesn't overwhelm the delicate vegetable. Its clean, cool character lets the asparagus remain in the foreground.

For dessert, the region brings its own signature sweetness: Limburgse Vlaai. This is a flat yeast cake made with fruit from the cherry and pear orchards around Sint-Truiden. A Kriekenjenever, infused with sour cherries, mirrors exactly that fruit in the glass. It brings the circle full, from orchard to still.

In this way, the province's agriculture runs through the entire plate. Grain from the fields becomes the jenever in the glass, cattle from the pastures end up in the stew pot, and fruit from the orchards around Sint-Truiden tops the cake. Everything comes from the same region that once supplied the distilleries too. This closeness between field and glass still shapes the cuisine around Hasselt today, and in the cafés on the Grote Markt, jenever naturally sits right alongside the plate.