Gyda Chariad means with love in Welsh, and The Gower Gin Company built this limited London Dry as a love letter to Japan. Yuzu, sansho pepper and plum sit beside juniper here, bottled at 45% ABV in 70cl, a strength that keeps such assertive botanicals in focus.

Yuzu leads with a vivid, perfumed citrus quite unlike lemon. Sansho follows with its tingling, almost numbing pepper, lighter and more aromatic than black pepper, and plum rounds the edges with stone fruit. Juniper stays dry and resinous underneath, and the interest of the bottle lies in the tension between those four elements rather than in any long botanical list. Few Welsh gins reach so far east for their ideas, and fewer still at this strength. The company sells it as a gift bottle, which suits a limited run whose Welsh name translates as with love and whose bottle was designed to be handed over rather than stockpiled.

Siân and Andrew Brooks run the company on the Gower peninsula, where foraged and local ingredients shape much of the range. Their work has been noticed: The Gin Guide Awards named them Industry Choice Distillery in 2022. This release is a limited run rather than a permanent line, which is part of why the recipe takes a risk that a flagship gin rarely can.

A curl of yuzu peel and a thin plum slice suit it best, both left whole. Tip a 4cl measure onto large ice, add Indian tonic, 10cl and cold from the fridge, then add the garnishes last so they do not sink through the bubbles. Nothing needs muddling here. At 45% the gin survives the mixer easily, so taste before adding more and let the sansho prickle show itself on the finish. The bottle is also certified vegan, a detail the company applies across its range.