Wild hops are the botanical that makes this Belgian London Dry behave differently from its neighbours. Hops belong to beer, and the bitterness they carry is a different shape from the bitterness of juniper, so a gin that uses them gains a whole second register. Tanneke gathers them around Gottem in Flanders, along with nettle, liquorice and a set of botanicals the distillery does not disclose.

Each of the three named plants does something specific. The hops arrive with a green, faintly floral bitterness that lingers low in the mouth long after the juniper has gone quiet, and they pull the whole thing in a slightly resinous direction. Nettle is the surprise: distilled rather than brewed it loses the sting and keeps a dark green, mineral, almost spinach-like note that gives the middle an earthy weight. Liquorice works from below, sweet without sugar, and its root smooths the join between the bitter hops and the earthy nettle where the two would otherwise sit awkwardly. Juniper stays classical and firm through the centre, as the London Dry designation requires, and the undisclosed botanicals fill out the spice. What comes out reads herbal and spiced rather than citric, which is unusual for the style.

The bottle takes its name from Tanneke Sconyncx, a woman from Gottem accused of witchcraft in 1602, and the herbs chosen echo the ones a village healer would have used. Mix it the way the style intends: plain tonic, plenty of ice, no sweetened alternative. A lemon twist lifts the top, though a sprig of something green suits the herbal core better. Hops and juniper are cousins in bitterness and rivals in aroma, which is what makes the pairing worth attempting. It closes bitter-edged, earthy and dry.