Lotus flower is not a botanical the European gin trade has much use for, and its presence tells you where this bottle comes from before the label does. Owl Man Distillery assembles it with traditional Chinese herbs, cassia root, lemon and tropical fruit for a special edition that takes Macau, a city built on two cultures meeting, as its subject. Bottled at 45%.

The lotus is the most delicate thing here and the recipe protects it. Its floral note is soft and slightly powdery, closer to a water flower than to a garden one, and it sits high in the aroma where nothing crowds it. Lemon works directly beneath, sharp and clean, and the contrast is what keeps the flower from turning soapy. Cassia root brings the warmth: a spice in the cinnamon family but drier and woodier, it fills the middle and offers the palate a resting point. Tropical fruit adds a sweeter, riper layer behind the citrus without ever dominating, and the traditional Chinese herbs run underneath the whole arrangement with a savoury, faintly medicinal depth that Western botanicals do not produce. At 45% everything is legible, and the layers arrive in order rather than at once.

Complexity like this is easy to flatten. Choose an unflavoured tonic, ice the glass to the rim, then pour more spirit than a standard build would suggest so the lotus is not lost. Lemon peel tracks the recipe most closely as a garnish, squeezed over the surface and dropped in. Without anything added, barely chilled, the herbs read clearest, and one glass that way is worth it. A limited edition built on a city rather than on a season is a more interesting proposition. Cassia root and lemon are the two ingredients most bottles would reach for; the lotus and the Chinese herbs are the two that make this one worth finding. It closes floral, spiced and clean.