Bonnie: One summer night when founder Jordan Silbert and his friends were enjoying both the summer breeze and gin and tonics, he happened to look at the ingredient list of both the tonic and his friend’s can of soda. (Something I habitually do!)

“Do you know that tonic water has as much high fructose corn syrup as Sprite?” he asked the group. “I thought it had no calories, like club soda.”

Wrong. Tonic water is mostly sugar. Correction: In this country it’s generally high fructose corn syrup plus a preservative.

That evening’s discussion led Jordan to making Q Tonic, a lightly agave-sweetened tonic water with handpicked Peruvian quinine. (The agave makes it less sweet and gives it a lower glycemic index.)

For me, tonic water’s been a topic of discussion over the years, from which I learned both drinks and facts.

David Ransom introduced me to rum and tonic while vacationing in Barbados earlier this year for his wife’s big birthday. Until then, I was a pure vodka-tonic gal, but admit enjoying many a flavorful rum and tonic while soaking in our outdoor hot tub under the stars.

To make Rum and Tonic, pour a jigger of dark Mount Gay rum over ice in a tall glass, squeeze in the juice from at least one fresh lime, add the limes and top with tonic.

In thinking about tonic-based drinks, I recalled my friend Nick Price singing the virtues of Cognac Schweppes, his favorite light amber-colored aperitif — a standard one in France, where he spends part of his time. I emailed Nick for details.

“Cognac is a multilayered complex distilled product,” wrote Nick. “The water opens up the flavor and the effervescence in the tonic … carries the Cognac flavours to the nose. With a good tonic water — that properly effervesces — you can appreciate the flavours in the Cognac just from the smell of the drink.”

To make Cognac Schweppes: Fill a tall, slim glass (best taken directly from the freezer) half to a third full with ice, add 1 jigger of your favorite VS/VSOP Cognac, top with a good tonic water, stir and and drink immediately without garnishes. Meaning: Don’t add lemon or lime. And never use diet tonic, as according to Nick (and I so agree) it “imparts an overwhelming synthetic taste to an otherwise delicate and rewarding drink.”

This drink, though, needs to be made with EU (European Union) bottled Schweppes Tonic Water or Q Tonic, as they both have less sugar than the Schweppes found in the states. (Schweppes in the EU is owned and bottled by a different company than in the states.)

Some tonic facts I learned…

  • That it’s a late-spring and summer drink mixed with gin or vodka (or even dark rum) and a squirt of fresh lime, to be enjoyed on the deck watching the sunset.
  • That it should never be added to your choice of libations from a gun, the bartender tool that holds many common drinks in a hose for easy pouring.
  • That Schweppes was the preferred brand — until recently, that is.

The ingredients in Schweppes from the US include: carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar, citric acid, natural flavors, sodium benzoate (preservative) and quinine. One 10-ounce bottle contains 110 calories, with 27 grams sugar.

The ingredients in Q Tonic are triple purified water, organic agave, handpicked quinine, lemon juice extract and natural bitters. One 6.3-ounce bottle contains 24 calories and only 7 grams sugar.

The choice is obvious.

Bryan: It’s funny to think how some of our most revered beverages got their starts. Coca Cola, the world’s most iconic drink, was initially sold as medicine for five cents a glass; mixed with carbonated water, it was claimed Coca-Cola cured many diseases, including morphine addiction, headache and impotence. If that’s what I’m drinking with my cheeseburger, why should it be so odd to find that tonic water traces its roots back to British officers stationed in India? The soldiers went about improving their malaria medicine (quinine) by mixing it with soda water and sugar to produce their “tonic.” This, in turn, was mixed with gin, and well… the rest is history. The essential ingredient in this cocktail was the medication, the quinine, a very specific extract with very exotic roots. Quinine is processed from the ground bark of the Quinquina (sometimes called the cinchona tree), in the Peruvian Andes. The Mayan Indians actually used this substance as a treatment for malaria, something the Spanish picked up during exploration of the New World.

With the medicine eventually imported to Europe, the bark became highly prized. Peru, the only nation with these indigenous trees, outlawed the exportation of the seeds of this very valuable tree. Prices skyrocketed and the bark was over-harvested, with the Quinquina tree nearly becoming extinct, until seedlings eventually made it out of Peru and Holland set up large Quinquina plantations in Java, Indonesia.

Indonesia went on to supply almost 95% of the world’s quinine by the time Japan attacked and took control of the islands in 1942. With malaria raging, the Allies pressed and eventually discovered a synthetic substitute for the bark in order to produce their own malaria medication. To this day, all commercially produced tonics have switched to this cheaper, artificial quinine, and tonic water has all but lost its only authentic ingredient. That is, until now.

There is something beautifully pure about basics, and that’s what Q Tonic is all about. Q has returned to making tonic with handpicked Peruvian quinine (unheard of in the modern beverage) amongst a handful of other all-natural ingredients, including organic agave, lemon extract and bitters. Q Tonic is a powerful taste and definitely an amazing twist on your everyday gin and tonic. If you’re a G&T purist, I highly recommend taking a stroll down yesteryear….

Eric: Tonic water is an acquired drink taste, and just like certain foods in this world, it is one that I can gladly live without. It’s bitter, it’s tasteless and it doesn’t mix well with my favorite spirit, Bourbon. That aside, I can understand why some people live by it, either straight up, on the rocks or as a mixer with their favorite spirit. I know this because during the last two years I was in college, I started and successfully operated (with the help of a few friends) a cocktail bar named “The Alchemists.”

Part of the appeal of standing behind the bar was having myriad bottles in front of me, and the ability to mix, shake and blend whatever my mind concocted. From frozen Irish coffees to fire-and-ice cocktails, I could always depend on my eyes when my imagination was in focus. Then the challenge arose when a lecturer asked, “What can you do with tonic?” “What can I do with tonic?” My mind went blank. My shaker ceased to shake.

Q Tonic is a unique approach to an otherwise bland drink. Add a little vodka or gin – and you’ll be impressed by the subtle taste and flavor. Whether you’re an experienced tonic drinker or just curious about the taste, pony up the extra cash and indulge, because this type of quality is rarely achieved in such a unique

drink.