Gin and Tonic – the History, the Drink, the Recipe
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Gin and Tonic
Today’s mini-series will cover the all too simple Gin and Tonic. Well, easy to make but did you know…
As per the experts , Gin was created in the mid 1600’s in the Netherlands. The person accredited for its birth is Dr. Sylvuis, Professor of Medicine at Leyden, Holland.
His goals were for medicinal purposes, particularly for kidney affliction s . He fused the core of the juniper plant with a neutral grain spirit. He named it Genièvre, French for juniper. Within 5 years of its existence it was being commercially produced . English soldiers serving in the area took pleasure to the spirit. As one story goes it was the English sailors who invented the gin and tonic. In the same way Gin was created for medicinal purposes so was the Gin and Tonic. It’s purpose was for the cure of malaria
Turn Back the Hands of Time .
During the English reign of William and Mary (around 1689) home production of Gin was encouraged. Some sources claim that one reason for this was the fact that drinking Gin was safer than drinking water. Another factor of course was that production and distribution of Gin was rather cheap. The local landowners produced it as a by-product of grain and taxes were very low. As a result Gin was even cheaper than beer or ale. Thus, popularity spread, it became synonymous with the poor and abuse of the drink was rampant. In 1751 William Hogarth created the engraving ‘Gin Lane’ to display just how rampant the abuse really was.
The Gin manufcturedt around that time was the forerunner of what was known as Old Tom’s Gin, which was heavily sweetened. In the 1870′s Dry Gin was introduced and Gin took on respectability in England once again. Finer establishments served “Pink Gins” (with angostura bitter) and the cocktail age dawned in England. About the same time prohibition began in the U.S.
During prohibition, the Americans used a different recipe to produce Gin: by taking the poisons out of denatured alcohol to recover the ethyl alcohol. This was then flavored with juniper, diluted, and bottled. The name for this was “bathtub gin” and it probably tasted like the name. There were seventy-five different formulas to denature the alcohol, so if the purification process was not done by a skilled chemist, vile, and even deadly results occurred. In those days the meaning of the line “to die for” was totally different from today’s meaning. A little more literal.
As straightforward as it may seem the Gin and Tonic is anything but easy.
It’s a very simple drink, as is the martini. For that reason, it’s very easy to get wrong.
Because there’s so little that goes into this symbolic drink — gin, tonic water, ice and perhaps a bit of lime — what really matters are good components .
Yet even gin and tonic lovers face an uphill battle to find a good one. Even when done right, it’s not an easy drink to love — tonic’s slightly bitter quinine taste is a turnoff to sweet-drink lovers.
Atop the list of potential pitfalls is the tonic, a misunderstood beverage if ever there was one, and a potentially devastating blow to a perfect G&T.
The sad part is, it’s screwed up at 90 percent of the bars in America, and you know the reason? Ninety percent of bars in America use soda out of a gun that in no way, shape or form resembles quinine water.
The better bet is tonic from a bottle — preferably one of those single-serving jobs, which preserves freshness. Request it that way if you’re ordering in a bar; the best bars will at least stock club soda and tonic in bottles.
Gin vs. gin
The mystic to the gin is the choice of botanicals. All gins have juniper as a flavor base in their distillation, which is what provides those foresty scents. But most use additional flavorings of citrus and spices. Bombay Sapphire has made its reputation on its use of 10 botanicals, from lemon peel to cubeb berries, a Javanese pepper. The mix makes Sapphire’s taste profile spicier than most — though Walker insists it’s the balance of flavors, not the number of them, that is key to its seductiveness
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If you prefer a more straightforward gin — any London dry such as Beefeater or regular Bombay — to the more aromatic options, which also include Dutch and Plymouth gins, and new options like Tanqueray Ten. Or if you opt for “something snappier” like the original Tanqueray.
The key to the drink’s classic taste is to balance the bitterness of the tonic against the juniper and other flavors in the gin.
As for the rest, choose a tall, slim, chilled highball glass, the freshest limes possible and — no matter how hot the day — solid cubes of the coldest ice you can get. Ratios for tonic to gin vary widely, from equal parts to 2:1. It’s really a matter of taste.
Variations abound, and none are beyond the pale: a sprig of mint, or a dash of Angostura bitters only add additional layers of flavor. But the humble gin and tonic is a hot-weather drink, best not to be over thought.
Keep it simple a gentle stir and a big ol’ hunk of lime and head for the hammock.
And now the recipe You will need:
1. Some Collin/Highball glasses
2. some lemons
3. ice-cubes
4. Gin
4. Tonic
1. Cut a lemon slice and squeeze it into the glass, to get out all its oil and juice and after this put it at the bottom of the glass
2. Full with ice cubes till the edges of the glass
3. Squeeze a half lemon above of the ice cubes. Wait for 30 secs.
4. Fill the 1/3 of the glass with Gin
5. Fill the rest of glass with Tonic
6. Gently stir the mixture with the knife you have cut the lemon
