Kozue

Kozue means the treetop, the very tip of a branch, and the name is literal: this was the first gin anywhere to distil koyamaki, the Japanese umbrella pine. Nakano BC works it in Wakayama, where the tree grows, and builds the rest of the recipe from the same prefecture - mandarin peel, lemon peel and sansho, all local. Only the juniper is imported, from Europe. It is bottled at 47% ABV.

Citrus · Woody · Spicy · Herbal

Pine could easily dominate a gin, and here it does not. Koyamaki arrives as a green, resinousResinousAn aroma reminiscent of pine or fir resin. It is juniper's signature, due to compounds such as pinene.Glossary note with something softer behind it, closer to fresh needles crushed between the fingers than to the sharp turpentine edge conifers can give. Mandarin peel opens above it, rounder and sweeter than lemon on its own would be, while the lemon keeps the top clean. Sansho closes the whole thing with its particular citrus-pepper tingle, and juniper runs underneath from start to finish, holding the shape.

What surprises most is the texture. At 47% you expect heat, and instead it drinks smooth and quite gentle, with the strength showing as weight rather than as burn. The finish is long, dry and faintly woody, the pine returning after the citrus has gone.

A tonic with real quinineQuinineAn alkaloid from cinchona bark that gives tonic its bitterness. The British in India drank it against malaria and added gin: the gin and tonic was born.Glossary bite suits it, because the resin needs something firm to answer. Into a cold highballHighballA long drink served in a tall, straight glass with plenty of ice: a spirit topped with soda or tonic. The word also names the glass.Glossary go 5 cl of gin and ice in big cubes, then 15 cl East Imperial Burma Tonic, whose robust bitterness meets the woody and peppery side directly. Garnish with rosemary, the sprig lightly flamed - a second resinous note that doubles the forest register rather than decorating it. Thomas Henry Tonic Water or Fentimans Premium Indian both work if you want the citrus further forward.