the Gin is IN

Gin from an American perspective, since 2009.
Tonic Water

Liber & Co. Tonic Syrup

Mar
22
Posted in Tonic Water 0

When the fine folks at Liber and Company asked if I wanted to test out their tonic syrup, I was enthusiastic. I am a big fan of the effort to bring tonic back to its roots, to step back from the High Fructose Corn Syrup edge and to offer something that is much more complex and more interesting. When you look at Tonic Syrups, its clear to see what the tradeoff. While it may never be as pleasing to the masses as they finely sweetened and only subtly bitter mainstream brands like Canada Dry, the complexity and richness of Liber [...]

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Tomr’s Tonic

Mar
16
Posted in Tonic Water 0

The definition of what “Tonic” is has expanded* significantly in the last couple of years. I would place this expansion squarely within the trend of “making it yourself” and the healthy skepticism about about “what IS in our food?” What exactly IS in Tonic Water? Often times High Fructose Corn Syrup and very little that resembles the tonic water of old. The craft revolution has come from the farmer’s market and now sits squarely in the bar. So cocktail celebrities like Jeffrey Morgenthaler have written excellent guides to making your own tonic water from scratch.  And companies like Tomr’s have [...]

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Fentiman’s Tonic Water

Sep
12
Posted in Tonic Water 1

Today we’re re-visiting a favorite feature of the past.  Fentiman’s Tonic Water was one of the notable omissions from the winter series. Although I’ve had it, and enjoyed it before, I didn’t have ready access to it in order to do a proper review. Fortunately, a supermarket near me now stocks it, and Fentiman’s has gone from an obscure oddity to a regular presence in my fridge. The first thing you’ll notice about Fentiman’s is the strong herbal notes. Lemongrass is prominent and almost the dominant counterpart to the quinine. Its not as sweet as other tonics, opting for cane [...]

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Tonic Water: Polar

Jan
16
Posted in Tonic Water 0

As if the Tonic Water party hasn’t gone on long enough, I have yet another plastic bottle tonic to review. Polar is a sweeter, high fructose corn syrup tonic that occupies that middle ground as a safe tonic water stocked in most supermarkets. It’s not as low as you can go, and it’s not the best you can get. But it will get the job done. I think it is the most subtle of the big 3 supermarket brands (Canada Dry and Schweppes being the other 2 and therefore, it might be hit or miss on most people’s palette. It’s [...]

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Tonic Water: 365 Everyday a.k.a. Whole Foods

Dec
18
Posted in Tonic Water 0

Though I have already reviewed so-called store brand tonic waters, I wanted to call out one in particular which does a great job of replicating some of the features of the top-shelf tonics like Q Tonic and Fever Tree. It’s made with real cane sugar and while it doesn’t boast chinchona bark like Fever Tree, the cane sugar makes this tonic taste less syrupy sweet, especially when compared to brands like Canada Dry and Schweppes. Overall, the quinine flavor seems well balanced and the flavor is not overpowering. I think that the Whole Foods 365 Everyday tonic water goes really [...]

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Tonic Water: Other

Nov
30
Posted in Tonic Water 2

I know you’ve seen it. Every store has one. That generic yellow bottle. It says “Tonic” on it. It’s dirt cheap too. You can express its price in cents, not dollars. But what can you do with it? In most cases it’s drinkable. But also sickeningly sweet. They tend to go light on the quinine and heavier on the sugar. This means that it will appeal to a wider palette, and ironically it does the finest work when taking low quality gins, adding plenty of lime juice and coming out with an acceptable beverage. If I had to pick, a [...]

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Tonic Water: Canada Dry

Nov
21
Posted in Tonic Water 0

I walked into my next door bodega, and asked if if they had any tonic water. He said, “We have club soda, it’s the same thing.” I kindly told him that it’s not. He asked me, “What are you making?” “Gin and Tonic,” I said. “Yep, the same thing. Club soda and Tonic water are the same thing. Trust me, I’m a bartender.” “…” I muttered something about how it wasn’t, (“Trust me”) and left. The next day, though, there were six tonic waters in the case just for me. My bodega stocks Canada Dry, and therefore when the rain [...]

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Tonic Water: Fever Tree

Nov
18
Posted in Tonic Water 2

There are some items that are a pleasure to review. This happens to be one of them, and one of my personal favorites. I knew I loved it before I even set out to write this review. But I’m going to try and be unbiased. Fever Tree, much like Q Tonic, boasts of using “all natural flavors.” They use cane sugar and real chinchona from Peru. You can tell immediately that this is not your standard supermarket tonic. As closest parallel is Q tonic, I will use Q as a comparison point. Fever Tree is also very fizzy, and the [...]

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Tonic Water: Schweppes

Nov
08
Posted in Tonic Water 2

Oh, old friend. The much maligned “plastic bottle” tonic water. You know, the one that the label peels off in the back of your local bodega… In all seriousness, in many places this IS tonic water. It’s the mainstream tonic water that you can find anywhere. And to be honest, it’s not all that bad either. Schweppes tonic is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup and therefore is noticeably sweet and has the added effect of sweetening any cocktail that you put it in. Though gin purists might think that introducing a new gin drinker to a gin and tonic with high [...]

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Tonic Water: Q Tonic

Nov
02
Posted in Tonic Water 4

The first tonic water I’m going to review if the first craft tonic I’d ever tried. Before Q tonic, it was just your standard supermarket brands. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with them, and it’s not as if they don’t have their merits, but Q tonic represented a big change to the game for me. The quality of the gin was no longer the only consideration. How does the tonic work? Is the tonic right for this gin? Is the tonic even good? Let’s begin. Q tonic began in Brooklyn, NY when Jordan Sillbert (as the oft-repeated story goes) [...]

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