Collective Arts Lavender & Juniper Gin

Lavender is the botanical that most gins use in trace amounts and hope nobody notices. Here it appears on the label beside juniper, and that pairing is the whole idea: a floral Canadian gin that keeps a dry spine underneath the flowers.

Citrus · Dry · Floral · Herbal

Lavender handled badly tastes of soap. Handled at this weight it reads honeyed, slightly camphorous and cooling, and it still needs company to stop it drifting. Chamomile provides it, apple-skinned and gently bitter, sitting just below the lavender and holding it down. HeatherHeatherA small flower of the Scottish moors, honeyed and slightly woody.Glossary adds a drier honey note over the top, closer to dry heath than to a hive. None of the three flowers is loud on its own. Almond softens the middle with a marzipan roundness, and orris root fixes the whole arrangement in place, which is what orris is for: it makes floral notes last instead of evaporating. Without it, a recipe this floral would fade within a minute of pouring.

Bergamot supplies the citrus, a shrewd choice. Perfumed rather than acidic, closer to Earl Grey than to lemonade, it agrees with the flowers instead of cutting across them. Coriander seed keeps a drier citric lift going underneath, and juniper holds the resinousResinousAn aroma reminiscent of pine or fir resin. It is juniper's signature, due to compounds such as pinene.Glossary centre so that what you drink stays recognisably a gin rather than becoming a scented water. Calling it dry is no contradiction: the flowers sit on a frame that stays firm underneath them.

Floral at the top, dry below, with a finish more herbal than sweet. Pour it with a light tonicLight tonicA low- or no-sugar tonic, often sweetened with substitutes. Drier, it brings out the bitterness and the gin.Glossary, ice enough to keep it cold, and lemon peel; elderflower and rose mixers double what is already there and flatten it. A Gin Fizz suits it too, the lemon and the bubble giving the lavender something to push against. Neat, it is softer than most gins and wants to be very cold, which tightens the lavender and stops the almond from spreading.