The juniper is not the usual juniper. California juniper is a different plant from the European berry that flavours almost every gin on the shelf, drier and more resinous, and building a recipe on it changes the foundation before any other botanical is considered. Las Californias gathers it with plants growing on both sides of the border, and bottles at 42%.

Everything on this list belongs to the same landscape, which is rarer than it sounds. White sage is the plant most drinkers will place, dry and camphorous, the plant that scents the chaparral after rain, and it dominates the herbal register without crowding it. Californian artemisia works alongside with a bitter, wormwood-like edge that gives the palate its savoury backbone. Yerba santa is stickier and more resinous, faintly medicinal, and damiana adds a sweeter floral note that stops the recipe going austere. Californian hops contribute a green bitterness quite unlike juniper's. Then the kelp arrives at the bottom and does what seaweed always does in a spirit: it adds a trace of ocean salinity and a savoury weight that stretches the finish. Earthy is the honest description, and the close is unexpectedly fresh.

Savoury and earthy together want a drink that does not sweeten them. A Negroni suits it particularly well, the bitterness of the vermouth meeting the artemisia head on. In a long glass, use a neutral tonic over abundant ice, and garnish with lime instead of anything herbal, since the recipe carries enough herb already. Sourcing every botanical from one landscape is a constraint most distillers avoid because it limits what they can reach for. Most gins could be made anywhere; this one could only be made where its plants grow. It ends earthy, herbal and saline.