The word Pink promises fruit, but the list says something else: the ten botanicals of the house dry gin are all still there, intact, and the red fruit has been added to them rather than put in their place. Alqueva Lake Gin makes this version in Portugal, in the Alentejo, at 40%.

Strawberry and raspberry lead the nose, fresh and lightly sweet, and hibiscus follows with a floral tartness closer to cranberry than to jam. Pink apple widens that fruit from below and gives it its roundness. What is unexpected is everything else, untouched beneath that layer: lemongrass and lemon verbena still lifting the top, mint and lemon thyme adding green freshness, ginger a clean burn, and cinnamon, cloves and coriander a measured spice. Angelica root and liquorice root hold the bottom, and juniper remains the backbone of the whole arrangement.

Alqueva is a lake in the Alentejo, and the brand takes its name from it. The region behind the bottle is one of wide plains, hot summers and a long agricultural tradition, which is a plausible enough source for a recipe carrying this much fruit and this many herbs at once. Distillation is in traditional copper, and the strength is held at the same forty percent as the dry gin, so the two can be compared directly.

The result is a balance rarely found in a category usually reduced to syrup. The palate opens on juniper, red fruit arrives immediately behind it, apple rounds the middle, and the finish returns berries, light florals and gentle spice without sugar ever taking charge. The texture is soft, the close clean.

A neutral tonic is the better route, leaving the fruit legible without adding to it. Fresh berries or a thin slice of apple are coherent garnishes and preferable to anything syrupy. A pink gin that keeps its herbal half is rarer than it sounds.