Only eighty bottles of Xamorfos Premium Navy Strength Gin were produced. Distill Hub, a young distillery in Salerno, in southern Italy, has made Xamorfos gin since 2021, and this edition takes the recipe of its Premium London Dry to 57%, with the same soul, more volume and more intensity. Salerno lies at the southern end of the Amalfi Coast, and the distillery, on Via San Leonardo, also welcomes visitors.

The London Dry recipe uses ten botanicals from Italy and South-East Asia. Eight of them are divided into three groups and infused at different alcohol strengths before distillation, and the final distillation passes vapour through red rose petals and elderflower blossoms to capture their delicate aromas. The spirit is based on grain alcohol and made batch by batch in a discontinuous copper alembic heated by an open flame. London Dry batches run to around 400 bottles, which makes this 80-bottle navy strength edition especially rare.

At navy strength the essential oils of the botanicals become more concentrated, so the aroma is fuller and the flavours carry further. The silvered label, patterned with fish scales, refers to the maritime legend behind the style: sailors are said to have checked that their gin had not been watered down by making sure that gunpowder soaked with it would still catch fire.

The brand presents Xamorfos as a journey from a secluded place on the border between reality and desire towards a dimension where confusion becomes order. With so much strength, the gin gains from dilution: add the tonic little by little and finish with a lemon zest, or use it in a Martinez or a Negroni, where it will not be lost behind the vermouth.