Engine Organic Gin

Five botanicals, all organic, all Italian. Engine keeps the list that short on purpose: juniper, sage from the Alta Langa, Sicilian lemon zest, Calabrian liquorice root and Damask rose petals grown in Piedmont. A five-plant recipe is a risk as much as a statement, because with nothing to hide behind, one heavy-handed botanical would be obvious in the glass.

Citrus · Dry · Fruity · Herbal

Sage is the surprise. It is a savoury herb, almost camphorous, and it pulls the gin towards the kitchen rather than towards the perfumery, where a gin with rose petals might otherwise end up. The rose answers it from the other side, floral and soft, and the liquorice root sits underneath, giving body and a sweetness no sugar was needed for. Sicilian lemon zest keeps the top sharp, juniper takes the centre, and the four of them are spread far enough apart that you can follow each one. Few gins let you name every botanical from the glass, and fewer still with a flower in the recipe.

The base is organic wheat alcohol and the distillation is done under vacuum, at low temperature, which protects the sage and the rose: both lose their finer aromas when heated hard. The whole chain is certified organic, from the grain to the botanicals. Bottling is by hand in limited quantities, at 42%, in 50 cl and 70 cl. The oil can is the work of Paolo Dalla Mora, and it is the reason most people recognise the bottle before they recognise the gin.

A Mediterranean tonicMediterranean tonicA tonic with less bitterness and sugar, scented with herbs and citrus (rosemary, thyme, lemon). It leaves more room for the gin's botanicals.Glossary matches the herb and the citrus better than an Indian one. Measure 4 cl of gin, top it with 10 cl of tonic over hard ice, and add a lemon peel and a sage leaf. Use cold ingredients and mix briefly. Slap the sage leaf between your palms first, because a whole leaf dropped in flat gives almost nothing.