Nineteen botanicals could easily turn into noise, and the technique that prevents it is progressive infusion: each ingredient is introduced at the point where it gives what it should, rather than everything macerating together and the loudest voices winning. Citadelle is made in the Cognac region at 44% ABV, and the list runs from coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and cumin through fennel, violet, iris root, liquorice and savory to cubeb and Szechuan pepper, star anise and lemon and orange peel. It took a Silver Medal at the 2024 World Gin Awards.

Juniper is unmistakably in charge despite the length of that list, which is the point of the method. Citrus arrives immediately alongside it, lemon and orange peel bright and clean, then the spices begin to separate out one at a time: cardamom and cinnamon warm and aromatic, cumin adding an earthy savoury note that very few gins carry, cubeb and Szechuan pepper supplying two distinct kinds of prickle. Violet and iris root sit further back, floral and powdery, and fennel with star anise leaves a faint sweet anise thread. The palate is complex but orderly, arriving in waves rather than all at once.

Complexity of this kind is best served plainly. A plain tonic, briskly carbonated, lets the spices unfold across the length of the drink, and lemon peel flatters more of them at once than any other garnish. It is an excellent Negroni gin, standing up to Campari without vanishing, and it makes a Martini with far more going on than usual. That range also makes it a useful bottle to own rather than a specialist one, since it can sit under a simple tonic or carry a stirred drink without adjustment. It closes warm, spiced and long, the pepper and anise trailing after the citrus.