Animus Distillery Ambrosian Gin 500ml

Animus Distillery Ambrosian Gin 500ml is the standard bottling of this spice-and-citrus gin from the Macedon Ranges.

Australia's appetite for South-East Asian cooking is the starting point, and the botanical list reads more like a curry paste than a London Dry: ginger and galangal for rooty heat, fresh mandarin and lime for tang, young makrut lime leaf for perfume, white sesame seed ground in for weight. Juniper, cardamom, angelica, clove, coriander seed, turmeric, lemon myrtle and star anise do the classical work underneath. Five hundred millilitres is the format the Kyneton distillery uses across most of its range, which says something about how these gins are meant to be drunk: often, and without ceremony.

The texture is the giveaway, soft and full, with tangy citrus, ginger heat and sesame on the finish. Pour 45ml over ice with tonic and lime, or push it harder in a spicy sour. It also makes an unusually good gin basil smash.