Yuzu, Japanese ginger, green tea, cherry blossom and Nashi pear form a Japanese botanical list, and this gin is made in Antwerp. The Antwerp Gin Company is a father-and-son operation working in small batches, and the mismatch between the ingredients and the address is the whole idea rather than an accident of sourcing. It is amber in colour and bottled at 44%.

The Japanese material is chosen for range rather than for novelty. Yuzu peel opens the citrus and is more floral, more complicated than lemon, and orange peel sits beside it with a rounder sweetness that broadens the top. Cherry blossom is the most delicate thing on the list, faintly almond-scented and easily lost, and at 44% there is enough strength to carry it without burning it away. Green tea operates underneath with a dry tannin, giving the palate a structure that fruit alone would not provide, and Nashi pear adds the crisp, watery sweetness that separates that variety from a European pear. Japanese ginger warms the middle more gently than the common root does. Black pepper sharpens the finish, coriander seed bridges the citrus and the spice, and juniper holds a clean line through all of it. Mostly organic material, and the complexity is genuine rather than claimed.

A list this layered needs a mixer that adds nothing. Unflavoured tonic, ice packed to the top, and a generous pour so the blossom and the tea are not buried. Yuzu peel makes the ideal garnish when it can be found, orange peel the practical one, and a slice of pear the option that follows the fruit. Taken undiluted and barely chilled, the tea and the blossom separate most clearly, which is worth doing once. A small operation attempting this much is a risk taken deliberately. It closes citric, floral and gently tannic.