Thirty varieties of cider apple go into this one, which is not a number any gin producer would reach for unless apples were already the family business. Christian Drouin has been distilling in Normandy for generations, and Carmina takes that orchard as its foundation, adding six botanicals macerated and distilled one at a time. Bottled at 42%, in a run of 8,550.

Cider apples are not eating apples. They are smaller, harder and considerably more tannic, grown for acid and bitterness rather than for sweetness, and using thirty varieties gives a depth that a single one could never reach. What comes through is orchard fruit with real grip underneath it. Raspberry and blackcurrant work above that base, the first bright and tart, the second darker and more resinous, and together they push the aroma toward summer. Elderflower adds a honeyed floral lift, lemon and orange divide the citrus, one sharp and one round, and vanilla lays a creamy warmth right at the bottom that keeps the tannin from turning severe. Juniper runs through the centre. Distilling each botanical separately is why the fruits stay distinguishable instead of merging into a single jam.

Fruit this layered rewards being tasted before anything is added to it. Neat first, then a long drink with a neutral mixer, a slice of lemon and one raspberry, which the producer suggests and follows two halves of the recipe at once. Skip sweetened tonics entirely, since the apples already supply the body. A cider house making gin has an advantage nobody else can buy, since the orchard was planted long before the still arrived. Most gins reach for fruit as decoration; here the orchard is the foundation and the botanicals sit on top of it. It closes fruity, floral and tannic.