Tanqueray Malacca

Bartenders kept this recipe alive. The 1997 release acquired a following that outlasted the bottle itself, and Tanqueray went back to Charles Tanqueray's archives to reissue it in 2013, which is a rarer sequence than the drinks trade admits: usually a discontinued product simply stays discontinued. Bottled at 41.3% and named after the Straits of Malacca, the old spice route through Southeast Asia.

Citrus · Spicy · Floral

The spice route explains the botanical list. Peppercorns, cloves and cardamom are trade goods rather than gin ingredients, and setting them beside juniperJuniperThe one compulsory botanical: gin must taste predominantly of juniper. Its "berry" is really a small conifer cone, resinous and peppery.Glossary, coriander and angelica root moves the whole thing away from the London DryLondon DryA style, not a place of origin: every flavour comes from distilling natural botanicals. After distillation only water and a trace of sugar may be added, with no flavouring or colouring.GlossarySee London Dry gins template it otherwise resembles. Rose petals are the other departure, and they are what make the aroma floral where a classic recipe would be purely green. Grapefruit zest opens the nose, the rose sits behind it, and a mild peppery warmth runs underneath both.

On the palate the texture stays dry, and that dryness is what keeps this a gin rather than a liqueur: juniper is still clearly present, supported by cloves, grains of paradise and citrus peel rather than buried by them. The finish is mildly spicy with a floral trace that lingers.

Spice and flower together suit a considered glass. A long drink with a lemon twistTwistA strip of peel twisted over the glass to release its oils, then dropped into the drink.Glossary and a scattering of pink peppercorns is the producer's suggestion and it follows the recipe on both sides. A MartinezMartinezThe presumed ancestor of the Martini: gin (often Old Tom), sweet vermouth, maraschino and bitters, stirred over ice and served straight up.Glossary is the more interesting route, where the sweeter vermouthVermouthAn aromatised, fortified wine flavoured with herbs and barks; its name comes from the German Wermut, wormwood. Dry vermouth goes into a Martini, sweet red into a Negroni.Glossary meets the rose and the cloves directly. Keep any tonic neutral. A gin brought back by demand rather than by marketing is worth the attention. Most reissues are anniversaries pinned to a date; this one answered people who would not stop asking for it. It closes floral, spiced and dry.