Inspired by the classic White Lady, comprising of gin, Cointreau, lemon and egg whites, we’ve renamed our spring-themed variation. This ‘Green Dutch Lady’ combines Dutch genever with wheatgrass, a chlorophyll-rich super-food that gives this cocktail its vibrant green hue. Together these two ingredients share a spicy aromatic link that pairs nicely with fresh bergamot juice, ginger and even a dash of water from the North Sea (yes, really!).
A Genever-Wheatgrass cocktail
The complexity of Rutte & Zn’s Old Simon Genever, with its especially wide range of aromas, enables us to pair it with many different ingredients. This genever is distilled from grains, toasted hazelnuts and walnuts, herbs and juniper berries. This particular genever also has citrus-floral notes that can be found in bergamot and ginger, which add their own lovely accents to this cocktail.
“The wheatgrass’ spicy notes form a strong aromatic link to the genever, which serves as the basis for our Green Dutch Lady.”
Wheatgrass is the name for young wheat sprouts and has a sweetish taste. In the current health trends, Wheat Grass juice has become a very popular product, especially used for healthy drinks. This popularity is due to the high content in fibres, chlorophyll, magnesium and selenium. Wheat Grass is one of the most generous natural sources of Vitamin A, B-complex, B12, C, E and K.
A Crab toast pairing with Codium Algae
As it turns out, these same floral, spicy notes are also present in the crab meat toasts that I’ve chosen to serve alongside our Green Dutch Lady cocktail.
“Distilled from the fermented grains of malted wine, Rutte’s genever production process also imparts fermented, malty notes that pair well with the crab, which contains its own nutty, popcorn-like aromas.”
Lastly, to further enhance this pairing and its links to the North Sea water in our cocktail, I’ve added a bit of algae, which has its own green-fatty scent, to the crab meat mixture. The seaweed used here is Codium, also referred to as “dead man’s fingers”.
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The Green Dutch Lady cocktail (serves 1)
Wheatgrass juice
preparation
- 60 g wheatgrass
- 1 L water
Blend 60 grams of wheatgrass with 1 liter of water and sieve to make 30 ml of juice. Do this just before serving, in order to prevent the wheatgrass juice from oxidizing.
Wheatgrass cocktail
preparation
- 45 ml Old Simon Jenever (45ml)
- 30 ml wheatgrass juice (press 60g of wheatgrass with 1 L of water just before serving)
- 20 ml fresh bergamot juice
- 15 ml simple syrup
- 10 ml egg white
- ¼ of a bar spoon ginger purée
- a dash of sea water (or water with salt)
In a cocktail shaker without ice, combine the Old Simon Genever, wheatgrass juice, fresh bergamot juice, simple syrup, egg white, the ginger purée and a dash of sea water.
Shake and pour into a glass without ice. Serve alongside toast topped with crab and algae.
