The whole orange goes into the still, and it goes in under vacuum. Distilling at reduced pressure lowers the boiling point, so the fruit gives up its aromatics without ever being cooked, and that is why the citrus here is bright rather than marmalade-like. Elephant Gin lays fresh organic Spanish oranges and roasted cocoa beans over its London Dry base, fourteen botanicals in all, at 40%.

Vacuum distillation is the reason the orange survives whole. Pith, flesh and peel each contribute something different, and gentle heat keeps all three legible: the peel supplies the zesty top, the flesh a juicy sweetness through the middle, the pith a fine bitterness holding the fruit back from cloying. Roasted cocoa works at the opposite end. Dry rather than sweet, dark and faintly bitter in the way of good chocolate, and it settles at the base where it gives the finish its distinctive chocolaty dryness. Between the two, the African botanicals do the connecting: baobab is tart and slightly powdery, lion's tail herbaceous and dry, and neither is common enough for the comparison to be easy. Juniper holds through it all, and the London Dry underneath keeps the recipe honest.

Velvety and zesty at once is a hard combination to mix badly, but sweetness would do it. Neutral tonic, ice in the glass first, and enough spirit that the cocoa is not thinned out. Orange peel in a broad ribbon is where the recipe points; a few cocoa nibs are the option that follows the other half. Neat it shows the vacuum work most clearly. Every bottle sold supports elephant conservation, which is the reason the distillery exists at all. Cocoa in a gin usually means a liqueur in disguise; keeping it dry is the difficult version of the idea. It ends zesty, dry and chocolatey.