Distilled from a strong blond beer rather than from a neutral base alone, Haeseveld Premium Distilled Gin begins at a brewery in Ghent. Brouwerij Haeseveld, on the Alfons Braeckmanlaan, serves its own beers straight from the cooling tanks in its bierhuis, and one of them, the Ultra Strong Blond, became the starting point for this gin. The beer is distilled to keep its aromatic richness, and the distillate is then blended with pure grain spirit.

Dry · Herbal

For the distilling, the brewery turned to Stokerij De Moor, a family distillery in Aalst founded in 1910 by Frans De Moor and his wife Anna Lafon and known for its gins and liqueurs; it remains a family-owned house today. The collaboration joins a brewer's raw material to a distiller's craft, and the gin reaches the shelf at 42% ABV, with a cream label on a 70 cl bottle. Juniper gives the gin its identity, and the brewery keeps the rest of the recipe to itself.

Haeseveld describes the gin as refined and pure, soft and fresh, with a clean finish, and sums it up as powerful in origin and elegant in taste. The beer base gives a slightly rounder texture than a gin made on neutral spirit alone, carrying some of the Ultra Strong Blond's aromatic character under the juniper. That softness makes it approachable neat, well chilled, as well as in a long drink, and it suits a Dry Martini, where its texture shows clearly.

A classic Gin & Tonic suits it well. Fill a highball glass with ice, pour in 4 cl of Haeseveld, then 10 cl of Indian tonic, and stir once. A thin strip of orange peel brightens the beer-born aromas without hiding them, and a measured pour of tonic keeps the finish crisp. The gin is sold at the brewery, where it can be collected from the bierhuis or ordered through the webshop.