This bottle exists for a reason outside itself. Fynoderee Distillery made it with the RNLI for the lifeboat charity's two hundredth anniversary, and every bottle sold supports the service, which puts a gin in the unusual position of having a purpose beyond the glass. Distilled on the Isle of Man at 40%.

The recipe takes the sea seriously rather than decoratively. Sugar kelp is the maritime element and it is used sparingly, contributing a clean saline note at the very end that reads as sea air rather than as salt. Above it the aromatics are bracing. Juniper and pine open together, the two conifers reinforcing each other into a sharper resinous attack than juniper alone would give, and lemon zest cuts across them with a clean brightness. Fennel is the surprise in the middle, aniseed and herbaceous, and it pairs with coriander to fill the herbal space between the pine and the spices. Then the warm material arrives: nutmeg dry and aromatic, cardamom cool and lifting, orris root powdery and binding the whole thing together from below. The result is citric, herbal, spiced and faintly earthy, and the aftertaste lingers smoothly.

Bracing gins want cold glasses. Fill it with ice first, use a neutral tonic, and pour with a firm hand so the kelp and the fennel are not lost in the dilution. Lemon peel is the garnish repeating the recipe; a short pine or rosemary sprig is the alternative that pushes the resinous side forward. Leave sweetened mixers alone. A charity edition is usually a label change and nothing more, and this one is a recipe in its own right. Two hundred years of pulling people out of the sea deserves better than a sticker, and the recipe treats the occasion as a brief rather than a badge. It ends piney, herbal and clean.