Summit Sips

I was never a Gin & Tonic fan, but all of that changed last year when I read Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s post about making tonic from scratch. Of course, his wasn’t the first recipe to gain widespread attention. The resurgence of craft tonic is credited to Kevin Ludwig of Portland, Oregon whose recipe even appeared in the March/April 2007 issue of Imbibe Magazine. Having basically skipped over that recipe back then, I considered it an ingredient best left to gin drinkers, or someone who was more interested. Finally, after reading more about it and seeing craft tonic added to a cocktail I really enjoyed, I decided to give it a try.

Why make something that already exists?
When I first saw the Imbibe article, I was asking myself all sorts of questions. Can’t you simply buy tonic water at the store? It’s cheap enough, it’s crystal clear, and it’s essentially a commodity product–right? I mean, where can you really go with something so basic? Well, it turns out that the tonic water available today is truly a different product than it was originally. Commercial tonic is little more than bitter soda water, completely devoid of other flavor characteristics. I soon realized that making your own tonic isn’t about reproducing what is on the shelf already, but rather exploring cocktail history to create something refreshing, natural and delicious. I found that the Gin & Tonic can be transformed, or rather, revived. I still don’t order them at most bars, but now I most definitely make them at home!

The Bitter Truth About Tonic Water
Think about the name, tonic, for a moment and you conjure up images of old-time pharmacies or even bearded swindlers selling bottles of secret sauce as a medicinal cure-all. Actually, this is not far from the truth. The defining ingredient in tonic, besides water, is quinine. Quinine imparts the familiar bitter flavor in commercial tonic water, and although these days it’s added in a pure chemical form as a flavor component, this was not always the case.

Quinine is a natural alkaloid with true medicinal properties. It’s available over the counter by prescription in the US or in small quantities in tonic water. It is extracted from the bark of the cinchona plant, a small tree native to South America. Cinchona bark, long used by Peruvian natives as a muscle relaxant, is effective in the treatment and prevention of malaria and other afflictions. The locals would grind the bark into a powder and combine it with sweetened water to offset the bitter flavor—thus creating the world’s first tonic water. It has been used by Europeans since at least the early 1600′s as a cure for malaria and the bitterness eventually led British colonials in India to combine it with gin to offset the taste, creating the Gin & Tonic cocktail.

Although the sale of quinine is regulated by the FDA, cinchona bark is sometimes available at health food and nutrition stores. My interest here is not to extract a drug for home remedies, but to reproduce the bitter flavor that would have been present in a traditional tonic—the original ingredient that drove the Gin & Tonic to become such a popular cocktail. I can’t imagine the G&T in its current state rising alone to the prominent “goto” status it seems to enjoy. Something must have changed over the years, and it’s not the gin. I find it ironic that what started historically as a way to improve the consumption of tonic has evolved into a combination to soften the flavor of gin. Certainly, tradition has had a lot to do with its popularity, but gin drinkers (and haters) everywhere are completely missing out on everything good that is possible with a craft Gin & Tonic.

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