It's a sort of prototype gin made from malt when stills were pretty basic. A far better idea than vinegar IMHO. Comes in Oude (old) which has the Juniper/bitter/stronger taste and Jonge (young) which is smoother, from more advanced stills and a bit more like Vodka.
As someone who tries to read Dutch using a limited English/German vocabulary, putting on a Geordie or Barnsley accent does actually help (like). I guess somebody's great granddad owned something more waterproof than a bicycle!
Andy