If you enjoy a sneaky G&T, you’ll likely have a bottle of tonic water tucked away in a cupboard for such an occasion, but do you ever give your choice of tonic much thought?
According to one expert, there’s a very good reason why you shouldn’t simply grab the cheapest bottle in the supermarket: it’s probably ruining the taste of your favourite tipple.
Tim Warrilow, the founder of Fever-Tree, says premium tonics have changed the way people view the humble G&T, contributing to its recent rise in popularity.
Revealing the secret to Metro, Warrilow said artificial sweeteners and processed water can drown out the delicate botanics of your favourite gins. Even ‘aggressive bubbles’ could be taking away from the flavour, apparently.
‘The reason that supermarket own label products became the size that they did in this category is because people stopped thinking about tonic water so they were just simply buying on price rather than being reminded about the importance of the quality and taste of the product.’ Mr Warrilow told the newspaper.
‘If you are going to buy expensive gin why would you drown it with a cheaper quality, poorer tasting tonic water?’
Luxury tonics are generally free of sodium benzoate and modern makers tend to shun the cheap orange aromatics favoured by cheaper brands. Warrilow says the worst offender is the artificial sweetener saccharine.
‘It leaves this bitter back taste in your mouth and we strongly believe that one of the reasons gin and tonic was declining in popularity was because it was this poor tasting tonic water.’ he added.
In short? Spring for a fancy tonic water next time and you might find you grow to love your G&T even more, if that’s possible.
Image: G&T glasses by Baby Yorke Designs.
