Quinine is what makes tonic water bitter, and here it has been distilled into the gin itself. La Distillerie de Paris put the ingredient normally supplied by the mixer directly into the spirit, which inverts the usual arrangement completely: instead of adding bitterness to a gin, you are adding water to something that already has it. Bottled at 43%.

The quinine is present from the first moment and it never leaves. Its bitterness is dry and slightly medicinal, quite different from the bitterness of juniper, and it stretches the finish considerably longer than the botanical list alone would manage. Bergamot works against it at the top, sharp and floral, and lime peel adds a harder, greener citrus edge beside it, the two together supplying the brightness that keeps the bitterness from becoming grim. Beneath them the structure is classical: juniper firm and resinous, coriander warm, angelica root dry and earthy, and the three of them give the palate its foundation. Then the two unusual softeners appear. Jasmine adds a heady floral lift, oolong tea a semi-oxidised tannin lying between leaf and orchard fruit, and both work to round the quinine without cancelling it out.

Adding tonic to this would be adding quinine to quinine, and the producer says as much: soda water is the intended partner. Serve it cold, be lavish with the ice, and keep the proportions generous, since there is nothing sweet in the glass to hide behind. Lime in a wedge, or bergamot peel in a strip, is all the garnish it needs. It also works remarkably well in a Negroni, where the bitterness meets its equals. Building the mixer into the bottle is an idea most distillers talk about and few attempt. It ends bitter, citric and long.