Tangerine, bergamot and makrut lime take the place of the orange and lemon of the original recipe. That single substitution is what Distiller's Cut is about: the same house, the same region, but a citrus half rebuilt from fruit that is perfumed rather than merely sharp. The original stays on sale, so this is a second reading of the house style rather than a replacement for it.

The difference is real. Bergamot is floral and bitter at once, the citrus of Earl Grey rather than of lemonade. Makrut lime gives leaf and peel oil with almost no juice character, an aroma that reads as green and slightly soapy in the best sense. Tangerine is the sweetest of the trio and keeps the set from turning austere. Around them, coriander seed, clove, cinnamon and cardamom supply the spine and the warmth, lemon balm adds a herbal lift, and orange blossom brings a white-flower note the original never had. Three perfumed citrus fruits in one recipe could easily crowd one another, and the spice half is what holds them apart.

The Bravo de Esmolfe apple stays, and it is the signature the distillery refuses to give up: a small, intensely aromatic Portuguese variety that does not taste like ordinary apple. António Cuco built this version seven years after the first Sharish recipe of 2014, with everything the team had learned in between, and bottles it at 40% in 500 ml.

An Indian tonic suits the bitter edge of the bergamot. Four centilitres of gin under ten of tonic, ice that stays hard, a thin apple slice and a strip of lime peel. Everything cold, one short stir. Cut the apple at the last moment and keep it thin, and twist the lime peel over the glass before dropping it in: the oil matters more than the fruit.