Dampfwerk means steam works, and the name points where the recipe does: Ralf Loeffelholz opened the distillery in St. Louis Park, on the western edge of Minneapolis, in 2015, running it with his wife Mary and their two children, and Crane Gin follows an old German formula rather than an American one. Five botanicals do the work - juniper, rosemary, lavender, chamomile and clove - at 40% ABV.

It is a floral gin that refuses to be sweet. Lavender and chamomile arrive together on the nose, the lavender clean and slightly camphorous, the chamomile softer, carrying the faint honeyed impression dried flowers give without any sugar being involved. Rosemary is the counterweight: woodsy, resinous, and dry enough to stop the flowers settling into potpourri. Clove closes with a warming spice that builds slowly and stays on the finish rather than announcing itself at the front.

Juniper holds all five together and keeps the shape unmistakably that of a gin, which matters when lavender is in play - it is the botanical most likely to take a recipe somewhere it did not intend to go. Here it stays in proportion, and the finish is warm, dry and a little peppery.

The mixer should reach for the herbs rather than the flowers. Large cubes in a cold highball so the drink dilutes slowly, 5 cl measured over them, Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic Water to 15 cl, whose herbal profile lines up with the rosemary and the chamomile directly. Close with rosemary, the sprig lightly burnt so the oils come forward - it doubles the woody register and keeps the lavender in check. East Imperial Yuzu or Fentimans Valencian Orange both shift it towards citrus if you want the floral side softened.