Bergamot is the signature of Grace Gin Icon, also sold as Grace Gin Bergamot, from LKC Drinks. Grace was created by a trio of Greek friends, Lila, Hara and Katerina, and the range draws its botanicals from the land and the sea of Greece. LKC Drinks presents Grace as the most awarded Greek spirit.

The gin is 100% double distilled in a copper pot still at Avantes Distillery, on the island of Evia, and bottled at 43.5% ABV. It brings together kritamos, the rock samphire that grows on coastal rocks, orange blossom and cedar, distilled with bergamot and cypress cones. Kritamos also features in Grace Charis, the original, juniper-driven gin of the range, which links the two bottles.

Each botanical adds a different landscape. Bergamot, the fragrant citrus known for flavouring Earl Grey tea, gives a bright and perfumed top note. Orange blossom softens it with a floral line, kritamos brings a green, lightly saline edge, and cedar with cypress cones adds dry, resinous wood. The movement from citrus to flower, then from the shore to the conifers, gives the gin its depth once the first burst of bergamot fades. Kritamos has long been gathered along Greek shores and pickled for the table, so its presence here is a direct link to local food as well as to the coast.

The range now counts three bottles: Charis at 45.7%, Icon at 43.5% and Amethyst at 40%. The producer's advice for Icon is short: it goes exquisitely well with a dry tonic. A light tonic that is not too sweet keeps the bergamot precise, a strip of bergamot peel repeats the citrus, and a small sprig of rock samphire points to the coastal side of the recipe. Plenty of ice keeps the floral and woody notes sharp, and a wide glass gives the bergamot oils room to open.