Over the past few months, Sue Sea and I have explored the other white spirit, gin. These included Gordon's (inexpensive), Beefeaters and Tanquerya (classic London Dry), and finally Vincent Van Gogh (an exceptional Holland style gin).
You see gins, like rums come in styles. London Dry style is classic, Plymouth style by law can be made only in Plymouth, England, and last the Holland style. Each uses different ingredients and methods and accordingly the flavor profiles differ.
So it is with tonic water.
Bar owners use "sweetening systems" stocked with nameless, cheap bulk tonic water. Then there are the grocery store quinine tonics made by Canada Dry or sold as generic brands. Perhaps the most appreciated is Schweppes Tonic Water, a bit more expensive. Of these, the Schweppes is considered a quality classic.
New tonics appear...
A recent article in the NY Times pointed out new "premium" tonics made by Stirrings ("triple-filtered") and Fever-Tree Premium Indian Tonic Water (..."flavored with Sicilian lemons, African marigolds and hand-pressed Tanzanian orange oil.".
A number of upscale mixologist have begun developing their own signature house-tonics in Portland, Atlanta, Washington and Manhattan - the last by Jim Meehan who uses lime and lemongrass. The latest boutique producer is a New York businessman who has produced a few hundred cases of something called Q-tonic.
Q-Tonic
Like all new boutique products you have to develop your own "unique selling proposition". Jordon Silbert of "Q" (for quinine, dummy) offers up his on the Q-tonic website. Historically, quinine is alleged to have appeared first as a fever fighter for the British troops in Peru, who - according to "Q" - developed the first G&T's for this, uh, purpose.
"Q" also points out the fact that common tonics use minimal quinine and lots of artificial sweeteners. The site even provides a handy, promotable chart selling "Q's" advantages in terms of calories, glycemic index, freedom from high fructose corn syrup and last, use of "all natural" ingredients. It's promoted as an all natural, low production custom kind of product.
His claims are rather extravagant:
Apparently Silbert has hired Juan Valdez to hand strip the bark and bring it back by llama train. Whew! Naturally, I immediately ripped off an email asking "Q" whether they actually used the hand-picked bark and organic agave, or whether these were processed in situ and simply purchased pre-processed."Q": We’ve used the best ingredients we could find. We went to the slopes of the Peruvian Andes for hand-picked quinine and to the Mexican countryside for organic agave, a sweetener better than honey with a gently rounded sweetness. We meticulously refined our recipe with both food scientists and mixologists. Then we worked with one of New York City’s best design shops to develop a bottle as beautiful as the liquid it holds.
Q Tonic’s natural quinine is believed to improve circulation and accelerate digestion. For centuries natural Peruvian quinine has been used by naturalists and herbalists to improve health, increase energy, and stimulate blood flow.
We custom blend Q Tonic with all natural ingredients, including handpicked Cinchona bark grown in its native habitat, the slopes of the Peruvian Andes.
Of course its the latter.
The claims then fly...
According to the Times the basic ingredients in most tonics are sweeteners (artificial or HFCS), citric acid, quinine and carbonation. The new boyz fight over their improvements.
1. Their products contain additional ingredients like lime, lemongrass, marigolds and orange oil.
2. Stirrings claims their cane sugar provides for a "purer, cleaner taste", while "Q's" Silbert believes his agave nectar's profile better complements the quinine.
3. Fever Tree's Rolls promotes his "pharmaceutical grade" quinine from the Congo (which he claims is descended from the original Peruvian strains) as providing a "cleaner bitterness".
Ho hum. Would someone wake me up when this interquinine warfare has ceased?
The problem with all this is simple...
Gin and tonic is a classic and quite enjoyable drink. And regardless if the original was based on mountain grown Cinchona bark, modern G&T's have been made with relatively similar tonics containing relatively similar ingredients:
Citric acid, sweetener, quinine and carbonation. Schweppe's is the standard.
Thus tonic is the one predictable in the ubiqitous gin and tonic. It's the gin that varies. Not to mention that most gin drinkers have long established habits and tastes. Beefeaters and Schweppes with a lime is classic and common. People love "their" G&T's.
Tossing in even more flavors and variables really defeats the drink. Each "new" tonic really creates a new drink and is asking the G&T drinker to abandon his/her well-established drink to add new, expensive and unexpected elements. Ain't gonna happen. According to the Times the big producers have not reacted with their own lines.
They know better...