Amuerte Coca Gin – Black Edition

Amuerte is made in Belgium around an unlikely hero botanical: Peruvian coca leaf, once chewed across the Inca Empire to stave off hunger and altitude. The Black Edition surrounds it with South American fruit, dragon fruit, tamarillo, papaya, physalis and orange peel, for a gin that wears its memento-mori philosophy openly. The bottle, designed by artists Havi Cruz and Adrian Dominguez and finished in 24-carat gold leaf, is as theatrical as the liquid.

The nose is exotic and fruity, all dragon fruit, papaya, physalis and orange. The palate follows suit, juniper holding firm beneath ripe tropical fruit and that faint herbal coca thread, before a long, lingering finish. Best enjoyed neat over a single large cube, where the fruit and its strange depth have room to unfold, or as the base of a striking signature cocktail.