Tonic water Cocktails
10 drinks with this bottle, from the easy ones up.
What goes with Tonic water?
Gin, obviously. Juniper and bitter quinine are made for each other, and lime ties it together. Vodka gives you a cleaner version. For something lower in alcohol, try white port and tonic, the Portuguese Porto Tónico, or dry vermouth and tonic with a lemon slice.
What does it taste like?
Bitter and lightly sweet with a citrus edge. That bitterness is what separates it from soda water.
Which bottle should I buy?
Schweppes and Canada Dry are the supermarket staples, and Fever-Tree and Q are the usual premium picks. Small bottles or cans keep their fizz, and flat tonic ruins a good gin.
Goes well with
A carbonated soft drink flavored with quinine, the bitter compound once used against malaria. It has no alcohol, and modern tonic has far less quinine than the medicinal original. Soda water with a squeeze of lemon and a dash of bitters gets you a bitter edge, though without the quinine.
Questions
Is tonic water alcoholic?
No. Tonic water is a soft drink. The bitter taste comes from quinine, not alcohol.
What is the difference between tonic water and soda water?
Tonic has quinine and sugar, so it's bitter and a little sweet. Soda water is plain fizzy water, and it changes the taste of a drink far less.
Why does tonic water glow?
Quinine fluoresces under ultraviolet light. That means a gin and tonic will glow under a black light.
One good drink, every Friday.
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