When making a gin and tonic, your main ingredient is tonic and Fever-Tree have looked to enhance the enjoyment of this ubiquitous favourite, especially with the ever growing range of premium and craft gins.
The range of Fever-Tree tonic water was developed to allow the drinker to taste the base spirit and appreciate the different gins.
During a recent visit to Sydney, we sat down with Tim Warrillow, Co-Founder of Fever-Tree to learn more about what makes their premium mixers unique and his recommendations on the best Fever-Tree tonics to match with the various gin profiles.
5 Things You Need to Know About Fever-Tree Tonic Water
Here are five things you need to know about Fever-Tree Tonic Water:
1. All Natural
Fever-Tree Tonics are made with natural ingredients with nothing artificial added such as sweeteners, preservatives or colouring. The ingredients include quinine from the Congo, soft spring water, cane sugar or fruit sugars in the case of the Naturally Light mixers, along with a range of botanicals.
2. Five Fever-Tree Tonic Waters
Fever-Tree produce five tonic waters though not all are available on the Australian market*. Aside from the regular Fever-Tree Tonic Water, Fever-Tree Light Tonic Water is made from fruit sugars with the botanical formula of the standard tonic water tweaked to suit the flavour profile. Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic has lemon thyme and rosemary from Provence as well as fruit and flower extract from Sicily which give it savoury notes with a woody and herbal character. Fever-Tree Elderflower Tonic is crafted from hand-picked flowers and a unique flavour extraction process that retains the delicate floral character while Fever-Tree Lemon Tonic, a take on Bitter Lemon is made with Sicilian lemon oils.
3. Recommend G&T Serve
When it comes to making a gin and tonic, Fever-Tree recommend 1/4 gin to 3/4 tonic. However, always use a freshly-opened bottle and serve the gin on ice with the bottle of tonic to top up as needed.
4. Best Garnish
When it comes to garnishing a gin and tonic, citrus peel such a lime or lemon is recommended as it delivers flavour and aroma from the additional oils without adding any juice and altering the botanicals of the gin.
5. Pairing Tonic to Gin
Every tonic in the range was developed to suit a particular style of gin. Fever-Tree Indian Tonic and Fever-Tree Light Tonic Water go best with juniper-driven gin and the London dry style. For lighter and citrus based gins, use Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic as its gentle flavour does not overpower the gin’s botanicals. The delicate Fever-Tree Elderflower Tonic is best suited to floral gins while Fever-Tree Lemon Tonic suits juniper-heavy gins that can benefit from citrus notes.
* Fever-Tree Indian Tonic and Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic are currently available in Australia with Fever-Tree Light Tonic to follow soon.
