Highball · 1820s
Gin & Tonic
The most ordered drink on earth. Almost always served too warm.
Specification
| London dry gin | 50 ml |
| Tonic water | to top, ~150 ml |
| Lime wedge or lemon twist | 1 |
| Ice | to the brim |
Method
- 01Fill the glass completely with ice — half-full melts twice as fast.
- 02Pour the gin over the ice.
- 03Add cold tonic slowly down a bar spoon.
- 04Garnish and do not stir more than once.
Where it comes from
British officers in India mixed gin into quinine tonic to make the anti-malarial palatable, and by the 1820s it was a habit rather than a medicine. It survives because it is nearly impossible to get badly wrong.
If you change one thing: Use a small bottle of tonic, never a large one poured over several drinks. Tonic loses its carbonation within an hour of opening and flat tonic tastes bitter.