Gin L'Etoile was created in Paris with pastry chef François Daubinet as a winter recipe built around apple, spice and vanilla. The Distillerie de l'Arbre Sec gives previously used pastry vanilla pods a second life in the still, then combines them with Auvergne juniper, coriander, apple, cinnamon, ginger, lemon, orange and lemon balm. Bottled at 43% ABV, the edition is limited to 1,000 bottles.

Cooked apple shapes the first aroma, joined by cinnamon and coriander. Vanilla broadens the palate and gives it a rounded texture, but the recipe retains energy through ginger and citrus. Lemon and orange brighten the sweeter ingredients, while juniper supplies a dry base that keeps the gin from reading like a pastry filling. The recovered vanilla pods are more than a sustainability detail: they connect the distillery directly with the chef's work and with the flavour architecture of the bottle.

The palate moves in a clear sequence. Apple and vanilla arrive first with a soft, almost jam-like quality; ginger and citrus then lift the middle; lemon balm brings a fresh vegetal note to the long finish. Cinnamon remains present as warmth rather than heat. The result is generous without being heavy, and it works especially well neat, where the transitions between cooked fruit, spice and herbs can be followed without interference.

Serve 4 cl over one large clear cube in a small tumbler. Add a thin apple fan and a short cinnamon stick to the glass, then present a second apple fan and cinnamon stick on a dish beside it. No tonic is needed for this preparation. A short rest over the ice opens the vanilla and cooked-apple notes while preserving the fresher ginger, citrus and lemon-balm finish.