Twenty-eight botanicals at twenty-five percent alcohol is a combination that ought not to work. Alcohol is what carries aromatic material, so cutting the strength this far usually thins a recipe out; Lubuski compensates by loading the list instead, and the bottle is designed around that trade rather than in spite of it.

Flowers set the tone before anything else. Chamomile is soft and faintly apple-like, elderberry flower sweeter and headier, and lavender cooler than either, and the three of them together give the top a gentleness that a full-strength gin rarely allows. Citrus peels follow immediately, lemon and grapefruit sharpening the edges while orange fills the middle with a rounder sweetness. Then the spices arrive, and they are the ballast: ginger warms, cinnamon and cloves add a dark sweetness, cardamom brings its cool camphor lift. Mint and lemon balm run a green thread through the whole thing, hyssop and gentian supply a discreet bitterness that keeps the fruit honest, and arnica adds another herbal turn behind them. Juniper holds the centre. Because there is less alcohol to burn, the aromatics land softer and stay longer, which is exactly the effect the low strength is there to produce.

A lighter gin needs a lighter hand, and the usual gin and tonic ratio will simply wash this one out. Pour more spirit than you normally would, use a plain tonic, and keep the glass properly cold. It also works well over ice on its own, which is where the twenty-five percent stops being a compromise and starts being the point. A grapefruit slice follows the citrus, a sprig of mint the herbs. Twenty-eight normally signals a maker hiding behind quantity, and the reduced strength is what turns the number into an argument instead. It ends floral, citric and gently spiced.