No doubt about it the Gin and Tonic is one of the most refreshing cocktails there is on a warm summer evening—cold, bitter, sweet and herbaceous. And it's so basic, it doesn't even have a name. It is what it is.
There are many of these, of course. My wife, Ann, and I once walked into a sports-ish bar near where we were staying in New Orleans' Garden District and ordered a Negroni. The bartender wearily said he didn't know what that was. "We only serve 'n' drinks here." When we asked "What's an 'n' drink," he said, "You know, gin n tonic, rum n coke." I believe we had a gin and tonic, but it wasn't perfect.
The problem with a gin and tonic, almost always, is that the first sip is heavenly, because it's a gin n tonic. But in moments that warm gin and (often) warm tonic turn so much of the ice to water that the drink is woefully dilute.
To combat this, I have come up with my own persnickety way of making a gin and tonic that totally satisfies. All it takes some planning: Freeze your gin and freeze the glasses, already filled with ice, and make sure your tonic and the lime itself have been refrigerated.
Of course, even strong, if diluted, gin n tonics are extraordinary given the right place. Some of the best gin n tonic's I've had have been on the porch of Treman Cottage on the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference campus, where I lived one summer as a fellow there. And I would be there as a guest of Ann's who has been on the faculty regularly since the year I met her, 1988, having just published her first novel, Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine.
What a lovely time those days were, chatting easily with poets such as Carl Phillips and Jane Hirschfeld, fiction writers Charles Baxter and Luis Urrea, and non-fiction writers such as Jane Brox (highly recommend her book Silence). Follow them on Instagram and Twitter for online programs the week of June 9.
Herewith, the FCH video by Katherine Guanche, on perfecting the common g-n-t, and a favorite poem by Bread Loaf's founder, Robert Frost, aptly suited to these trying times.
Stay safe and happy Friday!
Gin and Tonic, perfected
Ingredients
- 1 bottle gin
- 1 highball glass filled with ice
- 4 ounces refrigerated tonic, or to taste I'm fine with diet because I was a fatso even before the pandemic, but many, including my wife, insist on regular tonic (which really does make a difference)
- 1 hefty wedge of lime
Instructions
- Put the bottle of gin (it doesn't need to be full, just enough for a 2 ounce pour for all per drink) in your freezer 8 hours or more before you intend to serve your cocktail.
- Put the highball filled with ice into the freezer at least an hour before you intend to serve your cocktail.
- When it's gin and tonic time, remove your glass (or glasses) from the freezer along with the freezing cold gin.
- Pour two, or a Bread Loaf three, ounces of gin into the highball, add 4 ounces of tonic or to the brim.
- Squeeze the lime into it, adding the lime to the glass.
- Cheers. (Recite your favorite poem.)
Thank you! Love the poem.
If you can find it, Fever Tree diet Indian tonic is my favorite. It does not taste like "diet", and it has 10 calories/bottle. 60ish grams of gin plus a bottle of this and a hefty lime wedge is a standard in my house.
I forgot to add, they make diet Mediterranean tonic as well. It is lighter, and I had it first in the Hilton AMS gin bar with some floral gin I can't remember. It was originally made for vodka, but it works with more subtle gins because it isn't as strong-flavored as the Indian tonic. If you are using Beefeater, Tanqueray, or Sapphire, I might suggest the Indian, but that's personal preference.
Another, non elegant, approach is to use cold gin and make it in a Yeti cup which will keep it cold for a long time
i know fever tree, and yes, it's fabulous
I have them without the gin or vodka/lemon. Just tonic and it’s refreshing. Geezer brain can’t handle it.
But I can still partake in the “n”.
Pb n j, ham n cheese, cheese n crackers. Tonic n ice.
Cheers, thanks for the poem