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Aaah, gin- such a wonderful spirit!  Clear, dry and hinting at piney juniper shrub, it is wonderful to sip straight or mixed most season of the year.  In spring, a greyhound (shot of gin in a highball glass, rim salted, grapefruit juice to fill) refreshes, cooling but not chilling the consumer.  Come summer heat, gin and tonic adorned with a lime slice is a delightful relief.  And in the bluster of late autumn and winter, a martini warms the belly.

Not to be overlooked or denigrated is gin's ability to blast you into orbit.  Indeed, some of the most hideous benders I've experienced or witnessed were the result of too much gin.

Now, those who have bothered to compare the tastes of two extreme gins, say, the fabulous Bombay Sapphire, and the foul Barton's, understand that like vodka, gin derives its greatness from subtlety.  In short, while Sapphire finished dry and lightly hints at juniper and all sorts of exotic herbs, Barton's pierces the tongue with bitterness and flushes the sinuses with a horrific alcohol ester and Pinesol-like stink.

This "good-gin-as- subtle and bad-gin-as-heavily-flavored" standard established, we must promptly chuck it out the window to come to grips with Tanqueray Malacca Gin.  It is an unusual concoction.

According to the bottle, Malacca is an "1839 recipe originally developed during the days of the Company's Far Eastern trade...[and] is infused with selected botanicals from the East Indies and Europe."  This is believable, since there is a port town in Malay named Malacca and this gin tastes nothing like traditional London gin.  But is drinking Malacca a bit like sucking on rattan (e.g., malay stick)?  While I can't say I ever tried, I'd venture to say no.  In which case, what the hell are these "botanical" anyway?

Well, I sampled Malacca straight (repeatedly) on three straight nights.  Each time I took a belt of it, I was pleased and fascinated.  It passes over the tongue clean and dry, and lightly breathes juniper as a good gin should.  But upon swallowing, the nose picks up a very light dash of pepper and an abundant but unidentifiable nuttiness.  One empty bottle and three hangovers later, I've yet to nail down this nutty flavor.

Regardless, it's a very flavorful and complex gin, and it's well balanced.  At $15 to $20 for a 750-ml bottle, it is a little less than standard Tanqueray and a little more than half of what you might pay for Bombay Sapphire.  Malacca is impressive, and had I more money I'd order a case of it.

Malacca does have a glaring shortcoming.  Contrary to the label's assertion, it shouldn't be mixed with anything fruity.  Malacca and grapefruit?  Malacca and lime?  Hell no- the tastes collide terribly.  A Malacca martini, with a lemon twist, up?  Absolutely.  (Rating ***1/2)