Gin'Ca

The pink peppercorn is not a peppercorn. It grows on Schinus molle, a Peruvian tree unrelated to true pepper, and its taste reflects that: sweeter, more resinousResinousAn aroma reminiscent of pine or fir resin. It is juniper's signature, due to compounds such as pinene.Glossary, and nearer a berry than a spice. The Inca Distillery builds a Lima gin around it at 40%, alongside black pepper, which is a real one, and the contrast between the two is the recipe's central joke.

Citrus · Spicy · Floral · Herbal

Native botanicals do most of the work. Tangelo is the citrus that stands out, a cross between tangerine and grapefruit, sweeter than one and more bitter than the other, and it fills the upper register while lemon and lime supply a cleaner sharpness alongside. Lemon verbena adds a lemony herbal note owing nothing to any fruit. Then the two peppers divide the middle. Pink peppercorn is aromatic and lightly sweet, black pepper drier and genuinely hot, and between them they cover a range no single spice reaches. Cinnamon warms behind them both, rosemary runs a resinous green thread, and marigold contributes a faint bitterness with its own floral edge. Some botanicals macerate for a day before the still is lit; others go into a vapour basketVapour infusionBotanicals sit in a basket above the liquid, so only the alcohol vapour passes through them, for a lighter, fresher extraction.Glossary instead, and splitting the method that way keeps the delicate ones intact.

The producer suggests a MartiniDry MartiniGin and a little dry vermouth, stirred over ice and served in a well-chilled stemmed glass, with an olive or a twist.Glossary, and that is the right call, since a stirred drink gives the two peppers room to separate. Neat works for the same reason. Mixed long, take a neutral tonic over a great deal of ice, with a grapefruit wedge standing in for the tangelo. Category Winner at the 2019 World Liqueur Awards, which is a slightly odd category for a gin and still a verdict. Putting a false pepper and a true one in the same recipe only works if the difference between them is the subject. It closes peppery, citric and warm.