🌿 Gin & Tonic

The world's most popular long drink — the right glass, the right ratio, and matching garnish to gin botanicals.

2 min
Serves 1
Built
Copa / Highball
Ingredients
  • 2 oz Gin (London Dry, contemporary, or Old Tom — your choice)
  • 4 oz Premium tonic water (Fever-Tree, 1724, or Schweppes 1783 — chilled)
  • Garnish: lime, cucumber, rosemary, grapefruit, or herbs to match the gin's botanicals
Method
  1. 1
    Chill the glassFill a copa or highball glass with ice. Let it sit for 30 seconds to chill the glass, then pour out the melt water.
  2. 2
    Add iceRefill the glass generously with fresh ice cubes.
  3. 3
    Pour the ginPour the gin over the ice.
  4. 4
    Add tonic gentlyPour the tonic water down the side of the glass or over the back of a bar spoon. Never pour from height into the middle — you destroy the carbonation.
  5. 5
    Add garnishAdd the garnish before stirring — the botanicals in the garnish infuse slightly into the drink.
  6. 6
    One gentle stirLift from the bottom with a bar spoon once. Do not muddle or stir vigorously.

Matching Garnish to Gin

The Gin & Tonic was created as a practical medicine. British officers in India were prescribed quinine to prevent malaria — but quinine alone was intensely bitter. Mixing it with gin, sugar, water, and lime made it palatable. The British East India Company sold pre-mixed tonic water in the 1800s, and the G&T was born.

The modern art of the G&T is matching garnish to the gin's dominant botanicals. Citrus-forward gins (Hendrick's, Tanqueray No. Ten) go with cucumber or grapefruit. Juniper-forward London Drys (Gordon's, Beefeater) go with lime. Floral gins go with elderflower or lavender. The copa glass — wider than a highball — concentrates the aromatic compounds in the headspace, making it smell better.

Variations

🥒 Hendrick's Special

Use Hendrick's gin, a premium tonic, and sliced cucumber. The cucumber echoes the rose and cucumber botanicals in Hendrick's perfectly.

🍊 Citrus G&T

Use Tanqueray No. Ten with grapefruit tonic (Fever-Tree) and a grapefruit slice. One of the best combinations in the gin world.

🌸 Floral G&T

Use a floral gin (Bloom, Beefeater 24) with elderflower tonic and a sprig of dried lavender. Perfumed and spring-like.

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