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 comes in, the weather changes, snow on the horizon, its 11:38 pm and I’m out of tonic or I’m lazy, I’m drinking Canada Dry.
Canada Dry is another sweet tonic water. High Fructose Corn Syrup, a pleasing flavor of quinine. It’s much more noticeably sweet than Schweppes. Canada Dry isn’t going to overpower any of your gins, but it’s also not built to compliment any of them. It’s a perfectly acceptable tonic water that has mass appeal.
It’s less carbonated than Q tonic and more in line with your standard sort of carbonated beverage. Not effervescent enough to hold its bubbles more than 3-5 days after opening. It goes flat quickly, and therefore should be consumed soon after opening.
Overall, much like Schweppes, I enjoy this tonic water and find it does an acceptable job of playing the tonic in my gin and tonics. If forced to choose though, I take Schweppes only by the smallest of margins over Canada Dry.