Old Sport Gin

The mastiha enters last. Old Sport is distilled three times, with five herbs in the first pass, three more added in the second, and the resin of the mastic trees of Chios held back for the third, so the one botanical that makes this gin Greek is also the one least exposed to heat. Splitting twelve botanicals across three passes also means none of them spends the whole distillation in the boiler.

Citrus · Dry · Spicy · Fruity · Herbal

Mastiha is a resin, not a leaf or a berry, and it behaves differently from everything around it. It carries a clean pine-and-cedar aroma with a cooling, faintly medicinal edge, and its closest relative here is juniper itself, which is also resinousResinousAn aroma reminiscent of pine or fir resin. It is juniper's signature, due to compounds such as pinene.Glossary. That kinship is why the gin reads dry and tight rather than herbal and loose, even with a long botanical list behind it. Resin laid over resin is a narrow path, and staying on it without turning medicinal is the achievement.

That list is otherwise orthodox: wild juniper berriesJuniperThe one compulsory botanical: gin must taste predominantly of juniper. Its "berry" is really a small conifer cone, resinous and peppery.Glossary, angelica rootAngelicaThe root of a tall umbellifer, earthy and musky. After juniper and coriander it is the most common botanical: it binds the aromas and holds the finish.Glossary, orris rootOrris rootIris rhizome dried for years, then ground. Powdery and violet-like, it mainly works as a fixative that binds and lengthens the other aromas.Glossary, coriander seeds, cardamom seeds, cinnamon bark, nutmeg, licorice root, rosemary, lemon peel and bitter orange peel. Rosemary is the second Mediterranean voice, pulling towards resin as well. Cinnamon and nutmeg warm the middle, liquorice rounds it without any sugar, orris root fixes the aromas in place, and the two peels keep the top bright. Callicounis Distilleries makes it at Kalamata, in the Peloponnese, and bottles at 42% in 700 ml.

An Indian tonicIndian tonicThe classic tonic: sparkling water, bitter quinine and sugar. The name recalls colonial India, where quinine warded off malaria.Glossary gives the quinineQuinineAn alkaloid from cinchona bark that gives tonic its bitterness. The British in India drank it against malaria and added gin: the gin and tonic was born.Glossary this gin can take. Ten centilitres of it to four of gin, a good quantity of hard ice, a lemon peel and a short rosemary sprig. Have the tonic properly cold and mix for no more than a second. Clap the rosemary before it goes in, and keep the sprig small: too much of it covers the mastiha, and the mastiha is why you bought the bottle.