Over the past years, gin has become common in many cocktails and flavour combinations, however, its most famous mixer has been tonic. In order to soften the bitterness of juniper, the basic ingredient of every gin, tonic is added to a tall ‘highball’ glass in a ratio of 1:3. With ice in the mentioned combination, every gin gets the necessary freshness.
Since almost every gin has different ingredients, a perfect G&T depends on the gin’s flavours and aromas. Arete Puro is a gin in which Mediterranean aromas and citrus freshness predominate, so we recommend serving it with Fever-Tree Mediterran Tonic and lemon zest.
A brief history of gin & tonic
Although many believe that gin is the original British drink, this information is not true. The British popularized it when they started consuming gin and tonic (G&T).
Gin originated in the 17th century in Flanders, now the Netherlands, and is believed to have been created by the chemist and physicist Franciscus Sylvius, who then called it genever. A few decades later, British soldiers discovered it while at war in the Netherlands and brought it to Great Britain for the first time. At the time, it was used for heartburn and kidney stones, and soldiers consumed it to ‘relax’ them before going into battle. After they returned to Britain, they nicknamed it ‘Dutch Courage’.
In the 17th century, genever became very popular in England and took on a new name – gin. Its popularity spread outside the army, so the process of importation and distillation was accelerated by the abolition of the monopoly of the London Distillers’ Guild in 1690.
Around 1780, Johann Jakob Schweppe, a Swiss watchmaker and chemical enthusiast, found a method of filling water with carbon dioxide, which is performed by mixing chalk and sulfuric acid, which created tonic. Its use immediately began to grow in British India where soldiers were prescribed doses of prophylactic quinine (tonic) to combat malaria. Since quinine is very bitter, the soldiers mixed it with sugar and water to make it easier to consume. Schweppe was inspired by these methods of the British soldiers, so he added quinine and citrus extracts to his sparkling water, creating his most popular product – Indian Tonic.