Kortjakjes craze?: De opkomst van jenever in achttiende-eeuwse Nederlandse liederen

In the first half of the eighteenth century, London's moralists campaigned against the rise in popularity of a new distilled beverage: gin. Current-day historians argue convincingly that this so-called gin craze was a moral panic. On the other side of the Channel, gin's Dutch equivalent jenever also rose in popularity during the eighteenth century. Yet, a similar jenever craze did not take place there. This article traces how contemporary Dutch songs reflected on the rise of jenever. While their lyrics do point to anxieties about alcohol-consuming women, destitute drunkards, and destabilised households, the Dutch reaction to jenever's rise was relatively mild.