Highballs and long drinks · Gin
A glass packed with ice, a good measure of gin and freshly opened tonic poured gently down a bar spoon. Simple, but getting it right means cold ingredients, lots of ice and a garnish that suits the gin.
1¾ oz
London dry gin
5 oz
tonic water well chilled, freshly opened
Garnish: Lime or lemon wheel · Ice: Ice cubes
Gin and Tonic
Dry juniper and citrus, gentle quinine bitterness and lively bubbles. Crisp, refreshing and moderately strong.
Tonic water owes its bitterness to quinine, extracted from cinchona bark, which was used in the nineteenth century to prevent and treat malaria. British officials and soldiers in India took their quinine dissolved in soda water with sugar, and adding gin made the daily dose far more pleasant. Commercial Indian tonic waters were sold in Britain from the 1870s.
From colonial India the drink spread through the British Empire and then around the world. Since the 2000s, Spain in particular has turned it into a showpiece, the gin tonic served in large balloon glasses with creative garnishes, and a wave of premium gins and tonics has followed.
Between 1:2 and 1:3 gin to tonic; 50 ml gin to 150 ml tonic is a good starting point.
Both are common. Lime is the classic in many bars, lemon suits softer, citrus-forward gins.
Because it contains quinine, the bitter alkaloid from the cinchona tree.
The perfect sound
Relaxed, bright and effortlessly British.
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