The story behind gin and tonic

The cocktail was introduced by the army of the British East India Company. In India and other tropical regions, malaria was a persistent problem. In the 18th century, Scottish physician George Cleghorn studied how quinine (a traditional cure for malaria) could prevent the disease. The quinine was drunk in tonic water, but the bitter taste was unpleasant. British officers in India in the early 19th century began putting quinine in a mixture of water, sugar, lime and gin to make it more drinkable. The soldiers in India were already given a gin ration, so the sweet mix made sense and thus the gin and tonic cocktail was born.

The first written source for a gin and tonic is from the Indian sports newspaper “The Oriental Sporting Magazine” published on November 16, 1868. There was a report from the Sealkote Races, where “there were loud cries for gin and tonic, brandy and sparkling water and cigars and cigars”.

Malaria and tonic water

Since tonic water is no longer used as an antimalarial, today it contains much less quinine and is usually sweetened. Therefore, it is also much less bitter than it was in the old days. The smaller amount of quinine means that a minimum of 20 liters of tonic water must be drunk daily in order to get the required amount of quinine. However, that amount unfortunately produces a number of other serious side effects and a "gin and tonic" regimen cannot therefore be recommended.

The big Gin and Tonic guide

The recipe at the top just describes the basic recipe. It does not describe which gin or tonic to use. So there is "free play", and there are many different gin and tonic waters with completely different flavors. You can therefore be completely surprised by how big a difference in taste can be created. Below we suggest some delicious combinations from which you can seek inspiration, and we definitely recommend that you try them out.

Gin	Tonic water	Garnish
Beefeater	Schweppes Indian tonic	Lemon
Bloom	Fever-Tree Elderflower	Strawberry
Bombay Sapphire	Fever-Tree	Orange zest
Citadelle	Fever-Tree	Orange slice
Geranium	Fever-Tree	Lemon zest
Gin Mare	1724	Rosemary and pepper
Hendrick's	Gents	Cucumber slices
Hernö	Gents	Thyme
Monkey 47	Fentiman	Juniper
Monkey 47	Thomas Henry	Apple slices
Plymouth	Schweppes Indian tonic	Lemon slice and blackberry
Siegfried Rheinland	Fever-Tree Mediterranean	Grapefruit pieces

Still not sure which tonic to use for your Gin and Tonic? Read more about tonic water.