Gin Mare

The olive lands first, which is a strange way for a gin to introduce itself. Arbequina olives sit in this recipe beside juniper rather than behind it, and they pull the whole drink towards the savoury side: faintly saline, faintly oily in the way a good table olive is oily, before any herb has said a word.

Citrus · Dry · Spicy · Fruity · Herbal

What follows is a Mediterranean garden laid out in plain order. Rosemary carries the resinousResinousAn aroma reminiscent of pine or fir resin. It is juniper's signature, due to compounds such as pinene.Glossary, slightly camphorous edge that meets juniper halfway. Thyme runs drier and more medicinal underneath, keeping the herbal half from softening into something green and vague. Basil is the sweetest of the three, peppery and faintly aniseed at once, and it does most of the lifting through the centre. Orange and lemon divide the citrus between them, orange rounding the top of it, lemon sharpening the edge. Coriander seed and cardamom hold the spine, one dry and citric, the other warm and perfumed.

Juniper runs from start to finish and never stands alone at the front, which is precisely what a New WesternContemporary ginAlso called New Western: juniper is still there, but other botanicals (citrus, flowers, spice) take the lead.GlossarySee Contemporary gin gins build sets out to do. This Spanish gin treats the pine note as one voice among several instead of the only one worth hearing, and the drink reads dry, herbal and savoury where a London DryLondon DryA style, not a place of origin: every flavour comes from distilling natural botanicals. After distillation only water and a trace of sugar may be added, with no flavouring or colouring.GlossarySee London Dry gins would read sharp and clean. It is a difficult bottle to bury under a heavy mixer and an easy one to build a drink around. The olives also explain why it behaves oddly inside classic recipes: anything expecting a clean juniper spine comes out wider and softer than intended, while anything resting on herbs, citrus or a salted rim suddenly makes sense.

Long, over a tall glass of ice, with a Mediterranean tonicMediterranean tonicA tonic with less bitterness and sugar, scented with herbs and citrus (rosemary, thyme, lemon). It leaves more room for the gin's botanicals.Glossary and either orange peel or rosemary depending on the half you would rather hear. In a MartiniDry MartiniGin and a little dry vermouth, stirred over ice and served in a well-chilled stemmed glass, with an olive or a twist.Glossary it wants very little vermouth and an olive rather than a twist, since the recipe has already made the case for one.