Inside My Table #86 | Excerpt
Taste Test—What’s New in the Tonic World?
Gin and tonic ranks high on any list of popular cocktails, but the importance of the “T” in a classic G&T is neglected all too often.
Tonic water was invented in the 19th century by British colonials in India, who took daily doses of quinine—a natural extract from the bark of the Peruvian cinchona tree — to prevent malaria. Since the health potion tasted wretched by itself, the ingenious Brits added a splash of gin, and a classic was born.
Today there are dozens of tonic waters on the market, but not all tonic is created equal. We put seven brands to the test, tasting them plain and mixed with Plymouth English gin. Our ideal tonic had a nice balance of quinine bitterness with a measure of sweetness, blended smoothly with the gin, and was carbonated with a pleasant fizz that didn’t go flat too quickly.
We found it in Q Tonic, a tasty “premium tonic” that ditches the high-fructose corn syrup and soda bubbles for agave nectar and Champagne-style carbonation. But Q’s price is just as premium as its flavor, and G&T fans won’t be disappointed by Schweppes and Stirrings, either. Steer clear of diet and discount labels, which tend to skimp on the quinine and pile on the sugar.
Q
$7.99/four 6-oz. bottles*
24 calories, 7g sugar per serving
The easy winner: very dry, powerful quinine flavor is infused with a subtle hint of sweetness. Organic agave, instead of traditional cane sugar, endows this tonic with a crisp flavor. A very full-bodied, adult taste, and it mixes smoothly. The price tag makes it a rare indulgence.
Score: 5 out of 5
Schweppes
$1.33/liter
110 calories, 27g sugar per serving
Smells sweet and lemony, but has a bitter quinine flavor. Very fizzy, but not for long — the bubbles dissipate quickly. Mixes quite well. Our second favorite after Q, and a much more reasonable choice for the price. Long our personal gold standard for cocktails.
Score: 4.5 out of 5
Stirrings
$4.72 /four 6-oz. bottles
80 calories, 20g sugar per serving
An unusual taste: light-bodied and slightly grapey, on the top of the mouth. Quite sweet, but not syrupy. The quinine flavor is too weak to stand up to the gin when it’s used as a mixer. An airy, pleasant drink.
Score: 3.5 out of 5
Canada Dry
$1.42/liter
140 calories, 35g sugar per serving
Weak quinine flavor, too much corn syrup, and very bubbly carbonation. A decent if uninteresting mixer. Overall, not bad, but there’s a reason Canada Dry is better known for its ginger ale than its tonic water.
Score: 3.5 out of 5
White Rock
$.95/liter
80 calories, 21g sugar per serving
Very sweet, so much so that the sugar overpowers any quinine flavor or effervescence that may have been present to begin with. If you use it as a mixer, you don’t need lime; it’s seems to be sort of pre-flavored.
Score: 2 out of 5
Shasta
$.89/liter
80 calories, 21g sugar per serving
We didn’t expect much from this discount soda brand, and unfortunately we were right. It’s sweet, but not as much as White Rock, and there is a strong bitter flavor. But instead of having a tasty punch like quinine, this strange flavor is unpalatable. Mixing with gin only amplifies the unpleasant taste.
Score: 1.5 out of 5
Diet Canada Dry
$1.42/liter
0 calories, 0g sugar per serving
Some diet drinks manage to mask the taste of artificial sweetener with other flavors, but this one fails miserably. It uses saccharin, which leaves a bitter metallic aftertaste. (Newer sweeteners, like aspartame, are more convincing imitators.) Forget about quinine; this sugar substitute overwhelms the palate. We recommend that dieters choose a smaller serving of a quality drink. Don’t waste gin on this.
Score: 1 out of 5
*We purchased our tonic waters at Spec’s.
