Connoisseur Tom's Take on Tonic

My love affair with tonic water started around the time I started drinking alcohol at around the age of 21. To this day, my favorite drink remains the Tom Collins, which in my book consists of tonic water, sour mix, and plenty of quality gin. It is through experimenting with my Tom Collins recipe that I learned my lesson about buying cheap tonic water, and will now usually make my favorite cocktail with Schweppes tonic water. However, I was recently lured into purchasing some premium tonic water, namely Q Tonic, from the internet where I bought four bottles. Q Tonic promotes itself as a premium tonic water with handpicked quinine (the anti-malarial chemical compound, extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree that makes tonic water bitter), sweetened with agave (as opposed to cane sugar, a trend that is picking up in some premium beverage markets).

Q Tonic is not nearly as bitter as most other tonic waters I have tried, I would assume this means less quinine which is a pity. There are some subtle herbal characteristics that make this tonic more complex than one’s I have tried in the past, it is also not as sweet, a trait I attribute to the agave. Q Tonic has small bubbles and a pleasant mouthfeel, with the majority of the bitterness coming in the aftertaste.

By comparison, Schweppes tonic water is bright and sweet with a punchy, up-front bitterness that sticks around. The bubbles are large and the flavor can stand up to whatever you throw at it without overpowering other flavors.

In a blind taste test, I found that I preferred the Schweppes, but the Q tonic is no slouch, though it is more suitable for drinking by itself or in a vodka tonic.

I’ll be using Schweppes for the following recipe. It’s one of my favorite summertime drinks, simply named T&B (Tonic & Bitters). This drink is traditionally made with Angostura bitters, but I feel the citrusy orange peel and spice flavor of Angostura orange bitters bring this drink to a new level of greatness.

Fill a glass most of the way up with ice cubes, cut a lime in quarters and juice it into the glass over the ice. Drop the lime quarters into the glass and shake in 4-5 dashes of bitters. Top with tonic water, stir gently, and enjoy.