Jack Bettridge

>	About Me
>	My Main Blog Page
>	My Blog Archives

Most Recent Posts:

>	Saved By The Cigar July 08, 2008
>	Cigars, Economics and Cardiology July 01, 2008
>	Scene Smoking May 18, 2008
>	The Sounds of Silence May 06, 2008

Mixing on a New Level

Posted: 01:33 PM ET, March 30, 2007

It was bound to happen. The new cocktail culture has been driven by improving ingredients: better spirits, freshly squeezed fruit juices, etc. Now someone has jumped in with “artisinal mixers.” No more store-brand tonic water or ginger ale for Charles Rolls, the former owner of Plymouth Gin. He went out and formed Fever-Tree to ratchet up the quality of high-ball ingredients. Included in his portfolio are bitter lemon, club soda, ginger ale and tonic water.

Haven’t tried the soda or the ginger ale yet, but the tonic and bitter lemon are winners. Lots of out-front taste notes—quinine, coriander, lime, orange in the tonic, lemon, orange, quinine and other botanicals in the bitter lemon.

The name Fever-Tree comes not from the ‘60s rock group that sang “San Francisco Girls,” but from another name for the cinchona tree, which is the original and best source of quinine. Quinine, of course, has been used since the Roman Empire as a prophylactic treatment for malaria. Apparently Brit colonialists discovered it also went well with gin.

Naturally, this isn’t cheap stuff ($5.99 for a four pack of 200-milliliter—6.76 ounces—bottles), but it’s cool to occasionally take your gin and tonic to the concierge level.

Submit your comments

Access to ratings and tasting notes for more than 11,000 cigars
Sneak previews of the best cigar ratings from Cigar Aficionado magazine - weeks before they are released to the public.
Plus: The twice-monthly Cigar Insider newsletter, with exclusive cigar news and extensive cigar ratings, many of which will never appear in Cigar Aficionado magazine.