101 ways with Tonic Water
Really, who needs Gin? As Fever Tree kindly point out to us ¾ of your drink should be Tonic and the other ¼… well in my book that’s where we can experiment and believe me, I have tried some wonderful and fruitful concoctions!
Firstly, everyone will have a view on the brand of Tonic that they prefer, and I am no different. I do however hold the same opinion that I did in my drinking days which is, I am not a Tonic snob and expense is not always best so use whatever you like. Personally, during the week I will always go for my local Co-Op Diet Tonic water and if I feel the mood takes me I will opt for a Fever Tree or a Fentimans if I am going somewhere such as a friends’ house so I can pretend to be posh!
Bizarrely I never used to like Tonic until I stopped drinking and suddenly found that it helped with any cravings I had for Alcohol, and for some reason the taste, which I had always thought ruined the taste of Gin (how ridiculous is that), gently grew on me and now I am a fully-fledged believer and it basically fuels my Sober Warrior behaviour!
As you can see from the picture above there is a variety of fruits but also many syrups that I like to use in tonic and whilst you can buy flavoured tonic such as Elderflower etc. I much prefer to make it up myself. I also keep an abundance of pre prepared frozen fruits in the freezer to bang in prior to pouring the drink.
In addition to this there is a new world of Non-alcoholic Botanical drinks popping up like Seedlip and some supermarket own brand ones such as Asda (The Rhubarb & Ginger one is a personal fave), each with their own unique blend.
But I am not here to promote any of the brands or mixers yet (that is for you to decide) and so without further ado here are some ideas for you to experiment with, but bear in mind this list is not exclusive by any means and you are in charge so mix it up:
Syrups:
These come in all sorts of flavours and I am not just talking about the dessert kind. In this category, there are all the different fruit syrups such as Elderflower, Raspberry etc. and others like Rose or Vanilla.
Some of the dessert syrups are great and come in far too many to list but Passion Fruit and Mango are very good too. Finally, don’t be shy with trying something like a gingerbread syrup which is used in coffee and at the end of the day you can always use a small drizzle to test first before really going to town!
Fruits:
Basically, all fruits deserve a pop! Grapefruit, Lime, Lemon, Rhubarb, Orange, Clementine, Passion fruit, Cucumber (yes, botanically it is a fruit), Raspberries, Blackberries, Blueberries and any other berry that won’t poison you.
I mostly prepare in advance the citrus fruits and freeze which negates the need for ice, which an often water the flavour down if left long enough (but to be honest I don’t leave it that long to melt)
Herbs & Spices:
Mint, Black Pepper, Rosemary, Chilli (not a lot required), Mulling spices, Ginger.
In a Christmas Nutshell, if you are a Tonic fan like me then just experiment, you might be surprised.
For more entries in my series click this link.
Enjoy…. Darren
