Hundred Gin Infinity

Garnish with sage leaves and dark chocolate shavings, says the producer, which sounds like a misprint until you read the botanical list. Both make sense once you know what is in the bottle: the chocolate answers the tonka bean, the sage cuts the vanilla, and neither would be worth doing on a conventional dry ginDry ginGin with no perceptible sweetness: in the European Union, the word "dry" allows at most 0.1 g of sugar per litre.GlossarySee Dry gin gins. Hundred Gin makes Infinity in the province of Liège at 40%.

Citrus · Fruity · Herbal · Vanilla

The compound method explains the freedom. Rather than redistilling with botanicals, the house adds natural aromas to a finished gin base, which lets four dominant flavours be dosed precisely instead of fought for in a still. Vanilla and pear supply the soft rounded sweetness that opens the nose. Tonka bean follows with a warm, faintly balsamic character somewhere between almond and dried hay, and the weight of the whole comes from it. Yuzu arrives last and does the necessary work: a bright citrus lift with a fine bitterness, without which the sweetness would sit heavy. A broader botanical mix runs underneath, framing all four without competing.

The palate follows the same sequence. Pear and vanilla first, tonka warming the middle, yuzu keeping the close fresh, and a finish of medium length where the three sweeter notes fade against a citrus echo. Supple in texture, aromatic rather than dry.

The earlier Hundred releases were limited series; Infinity was built as the permanent one, available all year. Silver in the compound ginCompound ginGin made without redistillation, by blending botanicals or extracts into neutral spirit.GlossarySee Compound gin gins category at the World Gin Awards. One bottle in a hundred carries a golden cap, and the code inside it can be sent to the brand for a refund under the terms it publishes. Neat over ice works, and so do fruit-driven cocktails, where pear and vanilla can lead without flattening whatever else is in the glass.