Marjoram belongs in a kitchen long before it belongs in a still, and finding it on a gin's botanical list is rare enough to count as the reason this bottle exists. Lubuski works with a short recipe of juniper, coriander, lavender and marjoram, then commits the distillate to wood and bottles the result at 42%.

Barrels change a gin in two directions at once, and both are audible here. The wood adds a warm depth with a resinous, faintly vanillin edge, and it also rounds the alcohol, so 42% drinks with less bite than the number suggests. Underneath that, the herbs hold their ground rather than dissolving into the oak. Marjoram is sweet and slightly peppery, closer to oregano than to thyme without ever reaching that intensity, and it gives the middle a savoury turn that most aged gins lack entirely. Lavender sits above it, floral and cooling, and the pairing is the interesting part: a culinary herb and a perfumed flower usually fight, and instead they divide the register between them. Coriander bridges the two with warm seed spice, and juniper keeps its green pine core intact through all of it. The whole thing lands herbal and spiced with wood behind, robust yet smooth.

Wood and herbs both suffer under a heavy mixer, so treat this one as a sipping bottle first. Poured neat onto one big cube, the barrel work reads at its clearest, the herbs opening as the ice softens the edges. Mixed, it wants a classic build rather than a long one: a Negroni takes to it particularly well, the marjoram standing up to the bitterness without strain. Should you prefer tonic, keep it unflavoured and choose orange peel over a citrus that cuts. Barrel gins usually arrive tasting of the wood first and of the recipe second; this one reverses that order. It closes warm, herbal and dry.