Hmmmm. Still puzzled by this Gin. Recently while in the Okanagan assisting with a new craft distillery startup, I was offered a sip of this Lighthouse Gin which comes from the town of Ucluelet on Vancouver Island. My initial reaction was that this Gin was the most vile piss I have ever tasted. The back label mentions something about 4 generations of craftsmanship have gone into this Gin.

OK. So…evidently Dad, Grand-dad, and great Great Grand-dad were distillers. But, the taste….how does one account for that? This past week-end, I suddenly had a brainwave! I could not see how a distiller could knowingly put such a wretched product in front of people. And then it hit me.

This Gin is NOT a product failure. This Gin is a marketing failure.

I am now convinced that this product is not Gin at all. This product is Genevre – the original expression of juniper flavored alcohol as created by the Dutch in the 1600s. The distiller is probably just (unknowingly?) following the old family recipe.

In 2015 I took an Alaska cruise on a Holland America cruise boat. One day at the bar I was offered a wee dram of Dutch Genevre. The bartender claimed people of Dutch heritage love the stuff. I thought it was piss!

My cruise boat memory now reminds me the Dutch product on the ship tasted very similar to the Lighthouse Gin from Ucluelet. If I am correct in my analysis, what needs to happen quickly is for this product to be re-named for what it is – Genevre! While the average Canadian Gin drinker will never embrace Lighthouse Gin, I have no doubt there are thousands of people of Dutch heritage across Canada who will immediately recognize this product as being a craft expression of Genevre. Thousands of people clamoring after a traditional product translates into $$$$.

If my memory is serving me wrong and this is not a Genevre recipe, then hmmmmm…I am still at a loss and looking for help…..