Old Tom was the eighteenth-century answer to rough spirit: sweeten it, and the drink becomes possible. The Kyoto Distillery has taken that idea seriously rather than nostalgically, and sweetened its dry gin with kokutou, the unrefined black sugar of Yonaguni in Okinawa - a sugar known for its mineral depth and a sweetness closer to earth than to syrup. The result carries 47.4% ABV, which is a good deal more assertive than the style usually implies.

Underneath the sugar sits KI NO BI itself, unchanged. Juniper, orris root and akamatsu, the Japanese red pine, form the base; yellow yuzu and lemon supply the citrus; gyokuro from Uji brings green tannin, and ginger, red shiso, bamboo leaves, green sansho and kinome fill in the herbal and spiced registers. Nothing was removed to make room for the kokutou.

That is what makes it work. The sweetness arrives early and is unmistakably molasses-like, with the faint smokiness good black sugar carries, but it never coats the palate: the tea tannin cuts straight through it, the sansho leaves its tingling pepper trace, and the akamatsu keeps a dry resinous line running underneath. The finish is long, sweet and dry at once, which is a difficult thing to arrange.

Sugar in the glass means no sugar in the mixer. Build over a sphere of ice in a cold highball: 5 cl measured in, East Imperial Yuzu Tonic poured slowly to 15 cl - dry, citrus-led, and it extends the yuzu already in the recipe instead of adding a second sweetness. Express a fine strip of yuzu zest over the surface before dropping it in. Fever-Tree Mediterranean or Fentimans Oriental Yuzu both work. It is also worth a small pour neat, where the kokutou is easiest to read.