Move over gin – tonic’s got some new best friends and they’re not messing around.
No one (except maybe maniacs) drinks tonic water on its own. It’s always accompanied by its BFF gin, or in rare cases, a hit of vodka and a slug of citrus. Many bartenders avoid using tonic at all, whether in cocktails or mixed with other spirits, because of the polarising bitter flavours. But friends, let’s not write off tonic water altogether. There are plenty of tonic pairings that are worthy of an arvo bevvy. Before we dive into our faves, let’s take a trip down memory lane to the invention of tonic water and its eventual popularity.
Tonic water was first sipped in the 1850s and was used to make quinine, a bitter bark used for malaria prevention, more palatable. It didn’t take long for the Brits to add gin to the mix, to create the G&T we know and love today. Even old Winny Churchill said “The gin and tonic has saved more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire.” Obviously not true, but a delicious drink nonetheless.
Now that we know a little bit about tonic water, it’s time to address the hard-hitting questions, like what can we pair it with? Here’s our sans-gin list of the pairings we like best. Give them a go next time you have a surplus of tonic.
