Chamomile is the ingredient that keeps this pink gin honest. Strawberry gives it the colour and the headline, but chamomile sits underneath with a dry, faintly honeyed floral note that stops the fruit turning into confectionery. The King of Soho builds the pair on the juniper and citrus of its own London Dry, adds vanilla, and bottles the result at a deliberately modest 37.5% ABV.

Strawberry leads and reads as the fresh fruit rather than a syrup, carrying at its edge the tartness that real strawberries have. Citrus sits above it, sharp and clean, raising the nose so that the fruit never settles too low in the glass. Chamomile arrives through the middle and does the corrective work, its dry floral character pulling against the sweetness, while vanilla rounds the whole thing as an impression rather than as sugar. Juniper stays legible underneath, which is what keeps the bottle recognisably a gin rather than a fruit liqueur. The lower strength keeps the palate soft from start to finish, and the close is short and clean rather than drawn out.

Built at 37.5%, it asks for length rather than intensity. Use a plain tonic, plenty of ice, and pour generously, since a shy measure will taste washed out. A wedge of fresh strawberry restates the headline, while a twist of lemon puts back some of the sharpness the low strength softens; one or the other, not both. It works equally well with lemonade, or in a simple summer cocktail where the fruit is allowed to do the leading from the front. Pink gins are easy to make badly, and the difference here is that something dry was put underneath the fruit rather than more sugar on top. It ends fruity and lightly floral, chamomile lasting after the strawberry.