Cucumberland Hannover Fine Cordial Gin

There is no cucumber in this gin. The name is a pun - Cucumber crossed with Cumberland - and it points at the garnish rather than the recipe: the classic cucumber slice that ends up in the glass, not a botanical in the still. What is in the still is a Prohibition-era American formula, revived in Hannover, closer to Old TomOld TomAn 18th-century English style, lightly sweetened or rounder, halfway between genever and London Dry. It is back in favour for classic cocktails.GlossarySee Old Tom gins than to 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 but drier than a true Old Tom, and carrying 42.8% ABV.

Fruity · Herbal

Twenty-seven botanicals go into it. Three set the direction: spruce shoots, which give a green resinousResinousAn aroma reminiscent of pine or fir resin. It is juniper's signature, due to compounds such as pinene.Glossary lift quite distinct from juniper's; rose flowers, which supply the floral weight a cordialCordialA concentrated syrup of fruit (often lime) and sugar, made to be topped up.Glossary style needs; and cubeb pepper, whose warm, faintly medicinal bite keeps the sweetness from settling. The rest fill in around them, and the effect is dense rather than showy - a gin that reveals itself in layers instead of leading with one idea.

The cordial designation matters. There is sweetness here, but it is measured, closer to the softened spirits the English drank two centuries ago than to a modern flavoured ginFlavoured ginGin with flavourings, often fruity, added after distillation. It may be coloured and lightly sweetened.GlossarySee Flavoured gin gins. Fruit and herbal notes carry the middle, the spruce keeps a cool green line running through, and the finish is warm and lightly peppered from the cubeb.

Elderflower is the right partner, floral rather than sugary, so the cordial sweetness is not doubled. Build straight in a highball: 5 cl, lengthened to 15 cl with Fever-Tree Elderflower Tonic Water, then a few ice cubes - enough to chill without watering down a spirit built on softness. Garnish with a fine round of fresh cucumber, which is exactly the joke the name was making, and it happens to suit the herbal side. Thomas Henry or Fentimans Elderflower both do the same job.