Italy might not be known for home to a ton of gin brands; but you can’t same the same for tonic water.
Galvanina is just the latest Italian export tonic water. Designed to be the world’s first truly organic tonic water, Galvanina Tonic Water features Rwanda sourced cinchona and three kinds of citrus: local Sicilian grown lemons and oranges, and Bergamot. The latter being a truly Italian fruit. Nearly 90% of the world’s production of Bergamot comes from a scant couple thousand acres of land in Calabria [more on the fruit].
Galvanina tonic water is finished with mineral water and sweetened with cane sugar.
Tasting Notes
Stirring effervescence upon pouring, a dense head lasting about two seconds emerges. Small, pert bubbles stick to the bottom and sides of the glass.
The nose is sweetly citrus with hints of Amalfi lemon and Cara Cara oranges. Texturally, the bubbles are focused up front, dissipating quickly on the palate, leaving the citrus, and then the quinine on the palate.
The citrus is less sweet that it seemed on the nose of Galvanina Tonic Water. It merely provides a subtle citric acid tinge, before the cinchona begins to take center stage. It unveils itself slowly, culminating with a musky, unctuous bitter note. Sweetened with Cane Sugar in slightly greater amount than other tonic waters, consequently, Galvanina is fairly sweet.
The finish is lingering with residual quinine notes that accumulate in the back corners of the throat.
I mixed Galvanina Tonic Water with Southwest Distillery’s Calamity Gin in a gin and tonic. The citrus from the tonic water is still there on the nose, adding some subtle sweet citrus that plays nicely with Calamity Gin’s already citrus-forward aroma. On the palate, I really like how Galvanina adds a dull throb of citrus in its Triassic, and a quinine sport in its Upper Pleistocene. It’s a really nice Gin and Tonic that comes together quite beautifully.
Overall
Galvanina Tonic Water doesn’t break bold new ground, but it is a top notch tonic option for those who like a bit more sweetness in their tonic and prefer a more complex quinine expression in their G&T’s.
Galvanina sodas are available both in the UK and the US.
Recommended in its category.