Timut pepper from Nepal is not really a pepper at all, and its particular quality is that it smells of grapefruit. That is the botanical this Belgian London Dry is built around, set against juniper and citrus peels at 40% ABV, and the pairing turns out to be unusually coherent: the pepper and the peel are pointing at the same place from two different directions.

Citrus arrives first and reads as peel rather than juice, bright, with a fine bitterness running across the top of it. The Timut follows and this is where the gin becomes distinctive, because its citrus character arrives together with a genuine peppery prickle rather than instead of one. The two effects land at the same moment, so the centre of the drink is simultaneously fresh and warm, an effect that is difficult to arrange with conventional botanicals. Juniper holds the green resinous frame firmly, and an earthy note runs underneath that gives the finish some weight. A faint floral nuance shows late, well behind everything else, and it is easy to miss on a first glass. The palate is zesty at the front, peppery through the centre and dry at the close.

A gin with a signature this specific needs a mixer with nothing to add. Plain tonic is the correct answer, and a broad swathe of grapefruit skin makes the point best, since it doubles the aroma the Timut is already producing. Lemon works too and is a good deal easier to find. Avoid anything sweetened, which softens the peppery edge first. It gives a striking Negroni, the pepper meeting the bitterness head-on rather than hiding behind it. Timut remains rare enough in gin that the bottle is worth opening simply to find out what it does to one. It ends dry, peppery and citric.