During Tales of the Cocktail last summer, I met the guy who created Q Tonic Water. I finally popped my last bottle the other night and made a classic Gin and Tonic with lemon (I prefer lemon to lime in this drink). Q is made from hand-picked quinine in the Peruvian Andes and sweetened very lightly with Mexican organic agave which results in a tonic that is clean and crisp, without an odd, phony-tasting tangy edge.

If you notice, my rocks glasse are from the New Orleans’ Fairmont Hotel’s Sazerac Bar (R.I.P) - they’re a treasure. Bombay Gin is one of my favorites for its smooth, evergreen-ish flavor that isn’t over-the-top. With the Q Tonic and a squeeze of lemon, we have cocktail perfection.

Just so you know, tonic water’s key ingredient, quinine, was discovered for as a curative when it was isolated from the bark of the Cinchona tree sometime in the 1800s. For years prior, Peruvians treated fever with Cinchona bark, never knowing that quinine was the key.

Filed Under: Wine & Libations