Gin and Tonic

A gin and tonic is a very simple 2 ingredient cocktail. Much like a vodka tonic or vodka soda it’s refreshing and easy to make.

Gin and Tonic Flavors & Occasions

One difference between a gin and tonic and a vodka tonic is that gin tends to have a much stronger flavor than vodka. Vodka is a neutral and light tasting liquor. Gin has hints of botanicals to its flavor profile. Most gin has a heavy juniper flavor and aroma profile. So it has a lot more of a taste than Vodka does.

So, what does a Gin and Tonic taste like? Where a vodka tonic has mostly the bitter taste of the tonic water, the Gin version has a more even combination of the carbonated, bitter tonic and the Gin.

If you’re not familiar with tonic water, it is a carbonated and mostly bitter drink. Originally it had a strong amount of quinine added into it which is used to treat malaria. This is where it gets its bitter taste. Over time, less and less quinine is used and some brands include a sweetener.

This is a fantastic go to drink for most any occasion. It’s quick to throw together and it’s refreshing as well. The refreshing nature makes it a wonderful sipping cocktail for summer. It goes well with any meal since it has a light flavor profile and won’t overwhelm the food.

Since there are only two ingredients in this cocktail it is important to make sure that you get high quality versions of both.

Ingredients and Recipe

Learning how to make a this drink is SO easy. As I already mentioned it only takes two ingredients to throw together this simple cocktail. The perfect recipe is 1 part gin and 1 to 3 parts of tonic water. You’ll need:

Gin

Note: If you’re a gin aficionado you may want to try your hand at homemade Gin to use in your drink.

Tonic Water

Lime

Ice

Highball Glass (this is our personal set)

Jigger to measure liquid

Spoon to stir (we use the jigger and spoon from this set)

Once you gather your ingredients and supplies, you can get your drink made.

Step One

Take a highball glass and fill it completely with ice.

Step Two

Pour in your gin.

Step Three

Add in tonic water.

Step Four

Rim your glass with a lime wedge. I like to run the lime wedge around the rim of my glass and then squeeze some of the lime juice into the top of the tonic water for a little extra lime flavor.

Possible variations

This recipe is a 1:2 ratio, you could decrease or increase the amount of tonic water to 2 oz or up to 6 oz if you want a stronger or more diluted drink.

Make an orange gin and tonic by adding some orange juice and bitters. The resulting cocktail is still refreshing, but with a sweet citrus twist.

If you want to add a little more flavor to your drink, you can always muddle fruits together and add them in to your drink to have a little extra fruit flavor or you can use an infused gin.

Cucumber Gin and Tonic is one of my favorite additional flavors you can make. The drink is already so light and refreshing and so is cucumber. Adding in cucumber just adds another dimension of refreshing flavor, but being it is a light flavor it does not over power the nice botanical tones of the Gin.

Recipe

For more great cocktails