At the onset of summer, what is the most ideal drink to have? What is that is soothing and refreshing? The era of having rum is long gone and beer is way too mainstream. Well, gin and tonic is the solution. Not many would know, back in the day, gin used to be the preferred drink during summers. The combination of one of today's most famous spirits – gin and tonic water - makes it the ideal pick to beat the heat.
The refreshing drink has a long traced history. From being a therapeutic drink to making its place in every bar as a cocktail now, the drink is a regular on all liquor menus. It is interesting to know how a medicine in earlier days is now a famous cocktail.
Gin is a spirit, flavored using juniper berries and other botanicals. It is a shortened name for Genever (French) which means juniper, with quinine being a vital ingredient in tonic water. Quinine is also a prophylactic against malaria which is a great cure for the disease.
So how did we Indians get acquainted with this foreign spirit? In the 19th century, much during the British Raj, malaria had taken a toll and was a plague on the British army residing in India. Quinine was prescribed as an antimalarial. Much before it came to India, the nasty spirit (gin) had a maligned image as one out of six houses in England produced gin. This left the household drunk. This phase was regarded as the 'mother's ruin'. It was known as the drink of the poor. The drink was portrayed in a very exquisite way by an artist named William Hogarth who painted a piece 'Gin Lane' about the scenario in England. It was after this that the government cancelled the license of gin, following which came the Tippling Act, which helped regain the status of gin.
In the modern era, tonic water is no longer a medicine; also the content of quinine has been cut down a lot - that's about 1/10th of a gram per litre. Being a classic, gin and tonic also comes in variations.
Here, the owner of a local lounge (Rockville), Rakeysh Chandan, tells of the variety that he has had gin and tonic with. Elder flower cordial is his personal favourite.
Two recipes by Satyaprakash Paul, a bartender at Rockville
Sweet and simple:
15ml lime cordial
10 ml ginger syrup
15ml gin (dry)
Layout:
50ml gin
20ml chocolate syrup
10ml white wine(dry)
Dash of bitterness
Tonic water can be added according to one's taste.
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