Meder’s Swan genever, although not the largest or the oldest of Dutch marks, was nonetheless the most widely known and consistently popular Dutch gin in America in the nineteenth century. Johan Jacob Meder (1772–1844) partnered with Herbertus Rahder in 1816 to take over the Swan distillery in Schiedam, built in 1795. In 1824, after Rahder’s death, Meder brought his son Johan Christian into the business, and they incorporated as J. J. Meder & Zoon. Swan gin was first brought to the United States by Frederick Gebhard, a New Yorker of Dutch birth. Gebhard and his nephew Frederick Suchard eventually secured the exclusive rights to distribute the brand, passing them down to Ferd. Ruttman & Sons and then W. A. Taylor. By 1834, the “much admired” Swan gin (as a North Carolina newspaper dubbed it) was available throughout the United States, always at a premium price.
Swan remained the best-known brand of genever in America throughout the nineteenth century, the spirit’s heyday there. In 1866, the firm produced 6,883 hectoliters of gin at 50 percent ABV (the equivalent of over 900,000 750-ml bottles), of which 1,975 hl were exported, most to the United States. By 1882, Meder’s production had risen to 44,000 hl (almost six million bottles), the lion’s share of that production going to America. The next decade, however, saw Dutch-style gins eclipsed in the American market in favor of English-style ones, and while the brand soldiered on in the market until World War I, it never recovered its position. J. J. Meder & Zoon continued making genever at the Swan distillery until 1969.
Grashoff, Hans. Nederland Is Mederland. Schiedam: National Jenevermuseum, 2016.
“New Goods.” Newbern (NC) Sentinel, December 19, 1834, 4.
By: David Wondrich