Gin and tonic recipe
I call it a ‘gin and tonic’. The Spanish call it a ‘gin tonic’. Who needs conjunctions when they taste so good?
In the north east of the country, deep into Catalonia, gin tonics have become the fashionable drink. People sit outside on the street tables drinking them. Some bars serve only gin and nothing else.
One of them is Els Cacadors in the small town of Ribes de Freser. It’s a family business that also has a restaurant and a hotel – but, of course, it’s the drinks I’m most interested in.
The good news is that one of the owners, Ramon Pau, has offered to teach me how to make the perfect gin tonic and let me taste a few different types.
“Ten years ago in Spain people drink wine, now it’s the same with gin tonic,” he explains. “Gin tonic is now a different category and it is a gastronomy.”
He would know. The bar has been in the family for four generations and he’s seen the change in the scene. I settled on to a stool at his bar, gladly accepted the first of the gin tonics and started to ask him to spill his secrets.
Here, now, I share how to make the perfect gin tonic.
The glass
The glass needs to help open up the flavours. The worst thing you can do is drink the gin tonics from a skinny glass. I know it’s the popular thing in most bars and clubs you might go, but the experts prefer the bigger and rounder glasses. It’s all got to do with the ice, apparently. Ramon uses two glasses to demonstrate his point. Have a look at the photo below: The skinny glass held three bits of ice while the larger one held eight.
The ice
Ramon looks at me seriously when he makes this next point. “Water is the enemy of the gin tonic,” he says, as though discussing a lethal toxin that can’t be touched. The aim here is to stop the ice from melting. So the bigger the pieces, the better. The more compact (as in, closer to each other), the better. The more you can fit in, the better.
The gin
“Is there a best gin in the world?” Ramon asks himself. “No, there’s no such thing.” But choosing the right gin for you is very important. He serves 50 types of gin at Els Cacadors and when he opens his new bar later in the year he’ll have about 100 on offer. Each gin has its own strength, its own fruit influences, its own bitterness. My two favourites were a German gin called ‘Monkey’ and a British one called ‘One Key’.
The tonic
The standard for every gin tonic is a plain Schweppes tonic. “That’s my reference,” is how Ramon puts it. It will work with everything… but then you can try some other tonics to see if you like them better. “You can compare it with something more fun, more exotic, more botanic,” Ramon says. For strong and dry gins, he recommends using the ‘azahar lavender’ tonic. For flowery gins (or ‘lady flavours’, as he calls them), Ramon suggests the ‘pink pepper’ tonic. And for cinnamon gins, try a ginger ale.
The ratio
There isn’t too much room for flexibility here. The gin portion of the drink should be between 30 and 50 millilitres and the tonic should be about 200 millilitres. “Not too much gin because the mixer must be friendly,” Ramon says. Originally I had found it a bit weird that he kept personifying the ingredients of the drink. Now it seems quite natural. I’m sure I wouldn’t be the first person who has spent an evening talking into my glass.
The garnish
This is where I’ve always made the biggest mistakes. I’ve traditionally always used a wedge of lime in my gin tonics but Ramon looks at me with disgust when I tell him this. “ The acid of the lime or the lemon kills the gin,” he admonishes. He uses slivers of lemon rind as the main addition to the liquids. If you want to get a bit fancy, he says you can also use juniper berries, strawberries and mint leaves.
We’re on to our third glass of gin tonic by now. Actually, let me rephrase that. I’m on to my third gin tonic… Ramon has maintained a peculiar degree of professionalism through all of this. That’s because, for him, this is something serious. It all makes sense when I ask him to share his most important tip.
He smiles. There’s no hesitation – he knows the answer immediately. “The most important thing is the company and the friends.”
Too true.
* You can find out more about the gin bar and the Els Cacadors Hotel and Restaurant here.
Time Travel Turtle was a guest of the Costa Brava Pirineu de Girona tourism board but the opinions, over-written descriptions and bad jokes are his own.
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Turtle, like the name suggests, likes to take things slowly. Luckily that's one of the best ways to see the world - and that's exactly what he's doing at the moment.
This is the website of travel writer, Michael Turtle. After working in broadcast journalism for a decade in Australia, Michael left Sydney to travel the world indefinitely and write about the places, people and experiences he discovers. This isn't a diary - these are real stories from the world.
25 Responses
Gin and tonics have long been a favorite of mine, along with a dry vodka martini. I’m mostly a wine drinker but when I do order a “drink” while out and about, it’s usually gin and tonic first, dry vodka martini second, and if I’m feeling festive I’ll go for my third choice, mojitos
Good stuff!
T.W. Anderson @ Marginal Boundaries recently posted..Comment on Gift Giving, Tipping and Bribery – A Cultural Understanding by T.W. Anderson
Well, I hope this helped then. Although you might want to be careful giving a bartender advice on how to make your drinks. I’ve discovered they don’t really appreciate that!
MMM I love gin and tonic!! Awesome article–bookmarked and saved for libation time!
Let me know how you go and if you notice a difference from using some of these tips!
You cannot use Schweppes tonic on a Gin and tonic. This brand uses too much sugar. The perfect tonic (for me anyway) is Fever tree tonic. It is super amazing. Mix it with Hendricks, lemon peel and lemon verbena. Awesome
Ooohh… controversial!!
I guess the choice of tonic is a personal decision for some people. It’s probably worth trying a few options to see what works for you.
You have to admire a professional that knows his craft.
thetravelfool recently posted..Planes, Trains, Automobiles and More – Part 2
Especially when that ‘craft’ involves mixing drinks!
I love gin and tonic. We did a gin tasting earlier in the year and I was amazed at how many gins are out there, and also how many different tonic combinations you can use. Interesting about the jar shape, I always assumed skinny was best.
Adela @FourJandals recently posted..Surfing in Samoa – A Ride of a Lifetime
Before this opportunity, I had never thought too much about it either. I’d always assumed all gins were fairly similar and there was only one way to mix things together. It’s opened up my eyes (and made me want to try all the different types of gin…)
Um, yes please
Baby B is asleep so a gin and tonic sounds wonderful.
Nicole recently posted..Dealing with 9-hour time change & Baby Jet Lag
Ha ha – I’m sure you deserve it!!
Mmmm… Excellent post. I’ve become a fan of the gin and tonic in the last couple of years, though I admit to enjoying it with a slice of lime (apologies to Ramon).
Micki recently posted..Jumping Crocodiles on Australia’s Adelaide River
I’ve always had it with lime myself. I always thought that was fine… but you can really taste the difference if you take his suggestions!
I like gin but unfortunately I think it does not like me!!
Natalie recently posted..The Shoe Shine Scam of Istanbul
Oh no – that sounds like possibly the worst thing in the world! How could gin mistreat you so?
I’m actually not a fan of gin tonics, but MJ loves them and I make them for her all the time. I’ll have to remember these tips:)
D.J. – The World of Deej recently posted..A Day Trip From Napa To Sonoma County
I hope you impress her and she notices the difference! It will have made this post all worthwhile!
Great Gin Tonic from “La Cerdanya”, Catalonia. We are the new spanish Tuscany region with many things to discover if you comes.
Thanks to TBEX Congress you know Catalonia and we are enjoying your faboulous articles.
Excellent, thanks for the info! And you’re right about Catalonia having just as much to offer as Tuscany… except for maybe the museums of Florence.
I really like Gin-Tonic, but definitely do not have much of a palette. I am quite happy with cheap gin and whatever tonic is around. I just like the way it makes me feel.
Andrew recently posted..Meteora Monasteries
Oh, don’t say that! That’s how I used to think… but then I had an enlightenment. Now that I’ve tried such a variety of amazing gins, I’m not sure I could ever go back to the simple ones…
Ya no wot, Turts? Every few weeks I catch up on your blogs but every time I log on, I go to the map on the front page and look at all those upside down red teardrops.
You’ve been away for almost 18 months now and the teardrops hardly make a splash. There is still so much green to explore. We really are insignificant, aren’t we?
Here’s to lots more upside down teardrops, adventures, and spreading the word and the world.
Oh, thanks Lisa. You’ve described it so well and make the journey seem a lot more romantic than it actually is!
But, yes, you’re right. There is still a lot of green on that map. Gradually it’s being replaced by red but you can’t rush these things or you don’t experience them properly!!