Xolato X-Gin

Chocolatiers do not usually end up distilling gin, and Xolato took twenty attempts before it was satisfied with this one. The name comes from xocolatl, the cocoa drink the Maya and the Aztecs treated as a gift from the gods, and the bottle keeps that reference literal: cocoa is the first thing you notice, and it stays.

Spicy · Fruity · Herbal · Vanilla

The botanical list runs past forty, which sounds like a stunt until you see how the pieces are chosen. Cocoa from Colombia sets the base note. Roasted hazelnuts from Piedmont and almonds from Avola build the nutty middle that makes the chocolate read as praline rather than as cake. Wild vanilla and wild chillies, both from Madagascar, work at opposite ends - the vanilla rounding everything, the chilli leaving a slow heat at the back that stops the sweetness settling. Dried raspberry and banana add fruit, lemon cuts through, and juniper holds the whole thing to the definition of a gin.

For all that, it is lighter than it sounds. The aroma is unmistakably chocolate, warm and roasted, with red fruit lifting above it.

The palate is smooth and sweet-edged but never syrupy, the nuts and the vanilla carrying the middle, and the finish turns dry and faintly bitter, the way good dark chocolate does once the sugar clears. The chilli arrives last and lingers longest.

Serve it in a chilled old fashioned glassRocks glassA short, heavy glass (tumbler) for a spirit over a large ice cube or a short cocktail.Glossary with one large ice sphereLarge iceOne large block melts far more slowly than several small cubes, so the drink stays cold without watering down.Glossary, 5 cl of gin and, poured slowly, 15 cl Fever-Tree 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 - the herbal notes cut the richness instead of feeding it. Scatter a few cocoa nibs on top and add fresh raspberries, which sharpen the fruit already in the glass. If you want the pepper side pushed harder, Schweppes Premium Pink Pepper Tonic does it, and 1724 keeps things drier.