Bax Botanics Verbena

In a field where makers seem very much to be focusing on subtle blends and balances of multiple herbs, fruits, botanicals and spices, this has just one flavouring: lemon verbena. It’s a bold decision, but if you’re going to go mono, it’s a good choice. There’s a fresh palate-cleansing gustiness to the nose, a clean almost mentholated aroma with a faint suggestion of Fox’s Glacier Mints.  The first taste is a citrussy herbal hit with plenty of body, which moves into a long lingering finish of fresh grassy lemony sweetness (which is surprising as there is no sugar or sugar substitute in it). Tasting the drink without a mixer I detect a slightly oily feel to it, and a touch of bitterness in the aftertaste but mixed, as the makers suggest, with three parts tonic it modulates into a delightfully sophisticated lemony aperitif.  One to keep.