What to Mix with Gin?

Gin-tonic was created in British India in the XVIII century. In order not to catch malaria and scurvy, soldiers drank tonic as a medicine – a mixture of water, bitter quinine, and lime alkaloid. Bitterness was removed by adding juniper vodka to the tonic. Over time, this cocktail became more popular than each of the drinks separately.

What Are Gin and Tonic

It is a low-alcohol cocktail, consisting of strong grain alcohol with spicy herbs, tonic – bitter-sour refreshing soda, citrus – lemon or lime, and ice.

Initially, gin and tonic were a mixture of malaria. Quinine makes the drink extremely bitter, so to soften this bitterness, people started to use gin. The medical tonic consisted of carbonated water and a large amount of quinine. Also, things to mix with gin such as sugar, corn syrup, or synthetic sweeteners were added to the drinking version.

In mass production at distilleries, rectified ethyl alcohol with juniper and lemon flavorings is added to the cocktail. In such cocktails, the alcoholic flavor is not so strong against the tonic background, and the drink itself is inexpensive. But it is much more interesting to make mixed drinks with gin at home.

Composition and Proportions

To make a good cocktail, for mixing, you need to select the best things to mix with gin in advance. The most important components of the drink are gin and tonic, and the right choice of alcoholic base and soda is also very important for a cocktail. The best choice will be British Beefeater or brands Hendrick’s (Scottish version with extracts of Bulgarian rose and cucumber), Plymouth Gin (cardamom, orange), or Bombay Sapphire (almonds, coriander, violet roots, and angelica).

Gordon’s alcohol is badly combined with quinine in the tonic: when mixed, you will feel the alcohol taste, and the bitterness will only become stronger.

But if you are not a refined connoisseur of the shades of alcoholic flavor, any kind of such alcohol will be a good place to start. As an experiment, you can take Dutch gin as one of the recognized types. It is a non-classical, but an original and pleasant option.

Tonic is an extremely good thing to mix with gin. Imported European Schweppes (best of all British) or American Evervess and Canada Dry will be the best choice for the combo.

There are no uniform requirements for the cocktail recipe, so mix components according to your or user’s taste in several proportions: the proportions are usually 1:2 (1 part gin, 2 parts tonic). In less strong cocktails, the proportion is 1:3, and in stronger ones – 1:1 or 2:3.

How to Mix Gin at Home?

The classic recipe of the cocktail “Gin-Tonic” includes ingredients:

• 100 ml of tonic;
• 50 ml of gin;
• 2 thin slices of lemon or lime;
• 100 g of ice.

Prepare the tonic in high cocktail glasses with a thick bottom. Take this glass and fill it with ice for a third. Then slowly pour the gin. In half a minute, the ice will start cracking, which means it’s time to add tonic. Pour it in, then squeeze lime slices of juice into the glass, and put the second one on the edge of the vessel for decoration.

For those who like it stronger, there is another way to make gin and tonic: you should take 150 ml of both drinks, and two slices of lime.

It is prepared in the same way as the classical one but without ice. In this case, the beverage turns out to be strong and bitter. To soften its taste, shake a bottle of tonic several times and let the gas out. Because of the large fortress, such a variant of cocktail should not be consumed too often.

If you like to drink the drink in a volley, you can prepare a shot:

• 20 ml of gin;
• 40 ml of tonic;
• a few drops of lemon or lime juice.

A small liquor glass will be the best mixer for gin.

You can also mix the original Scottish gin Hendrick’s with cucumber extract according to a special recipe:

• 50 ml of Hendrick’s gin;
• 100 ml of tonic;
• ice cubes;
• cucumber.

Cut the cucumber into thin slices, fill the glass evenly with cucumbers, and pieces of ice to the upper edge. Then pour the gin and tonic almost to the edges. Before drinking, shake the glass slightly.

How to Drink in Pure and Diluted Form

There are not only cocktails with tonic, which you want to mix according to a standard recipe. Gin can be drunk in 3 more ways:

• In the purest form. In this case, serve chilled to +4 … +6 ° C gin before meals. Pure gin gives a cold metal feeling on your tongue and awakens appetite, and lifts your spirits well. You can use citrus fruits, olives, and even pickled onions as an appetizer.
• You can dilute with non-alcoholic drinks. To do this, mix with other drinks like juices and nectars (preferably orange, lemon, you can take a grapefruit juice), simply carbonated water, soda, or cola. There are no exact proportions when diluting the drink, so the drinker regulates the strength of the drink at his discretion.
• Dilute with alcohol. This option is already closer to cocktails. Gin is well combined with other types of alcohol: not strong – vermouth or liqueur, as well as with small portions of vodka. It is best to mix them in equal parts, and in case of strong alcohol – add a little more gin.