American Prohibition

In 1920, liquor was banned in America. Ordinary Americans, deprived of legal booze, turned to distilling alcohol illegally at home. That's how bathtub gin became popular: an easy-to-make but horrible-tasting mixture of industrial alcohol, glycerine and juniper oil that was mixed in large containers. Then the stuff was diluted with water from the bath tap - hence the name.

Gin takes gin to graze
In the period between the two world wars, the export of jenever to America came to a complete standstill due to Prohibition, but the party continued in London. In fact, the best American bartenders moved to Europe to continue their work here.

The capital of the British Empire therefore experienced a golden age for cocktails. Cocktail parties were thrown, people went to jazz clubs, nightclubs, cocktail bars and many other parties where gin was drunk, so that drink slowly pushed gin out of the picture. Many of the classic cocktails (such as the Negroni and the White Lady) were invented during this period.

General malaise
Jenever is tasty, but not necessarily more important than bread. At least that was the reason why distilling from grain was restricted during World War II. Not only for this reason, but also because jenever (as we remember from the Thirty Years' War) was also very useful on the battlefield, a large part of the production was used for it - and hardly for a peaceful drink in the pub.