Re-live Christmas with this twist on a martini that uses a Christmas pudding gin and the spicy notes of Dom Benedictine. 

If you were lucky enough to score a bottle of local Australian gin Four Pillars Christmas Gin 2017, you will know it's an amazing little number - master distiller Cam Mackenzie firstly distills some Christmas puddings made to his mother's recipe with some traditional gin botanicals including juniper, angelica and coriander. Cam also ages their baseline Four Pillars Rare Dry gin in a few 125-year-old ex-William Grant scotch whisky barrels that had previously stored Rutherglen Muscat for 80 years. Finally he blends the two gins together and adds a splash of muscat that has been aged in some PX sherry barrels. Whew - if all of that don't scream Christmas, we don't know what does! 

To complement the richness of the gin, we decided to bypass the usual vermouth and go for a more sweet yet spicy herbaceous Dom Benedictine liqueur. Although the exact recipe is a secret, the base of the liqueur is known to be cognac and it is blended together with a combination of 27 individual herbs, roots and spices as well as a touch of honey.

The end result is a much warmer and spicier martini - befitting the Christmas season. Or when you just want to bring a touch of the festive season to your evening.

Ingredients

• 5ml Dom Benedictine liqueur

• 90ml Four Pillars Christmas Gin (2017 edition)

Stir all ingredients over ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Serve with a lemon twist.