Potatoes in the mash bill is the detail that separates this from most London Dry gin. De Cort works from a blend of grain and potatoes in Belgium, distilling slowly in copper stills to protect the delicate aromatics, and the result is an organic London Dry at 42% ABV built on juniper and a set of oriental botanicals. The base is the reason the gin feels the way it does before any botanical is considered.

Texture is the first thing to notice, before any question of flavour arises. The potato content gives a fuller, rounder body than a purely grain-based spirit would, and slow distillation in copper keeps that weight smooth rather than heavy. Over that base, fresh citrus opens the aroma, clean and lifted, and juniper follows immediately behind it with a green resinous line. The oriental botanicals fill the middle with a dry, aromatic complexity, herbal and lightly floral at the edges, none of it sweet. The palate is full-bodied and quite long, ending dry, and that combination of weight and dryness is unusual enough to be the main reason to reach for the bottle. Most gins offer one or the other; carrying both at once takes a base spirit doing more than the usual amount of work.

That body makes it a better mixing gin than its restraint suggests, because there is enough substance to survive dilution. A plain tonic over a well-filled glass works, with lemon peel to sharpen the citrus already present. It is also a very good Martini gin, where the fuller texture reads clearly against the vermouth and the herbal middle has room to show. Avoid sweet mixers, which fight the dryness that gives the gin its shape and waste the texture along with it. It finishes dry, herbal and clean.