With the number of mixers now available, how do you know which one is best? Well, luckily I’m here to take one for the team and to try them all. Netherlands born and raised Double Dutch have won an award from Richard Branson for their innovative brand. I’ve tried their Indian tonic as part of my tonic taste test blog – which can be read here – which also has a slim version. But they also have a number of slightly different flavours… Continue reading
Tonic Water
Peter Spanton Mixers
As part of my ongoing quest to make sure my gin is as good as it can be, I’ve started looking at tonics and the range that is now out there. A unique player in the market is Peter Spanton who like to do things a bit differently. I’ve tried their original No. 1 tonic in one of my tonic taste tests (which you can read here), but in this post I’m going to explore some more of their flavours. Continue reading
Regency Tonic
In case you didn’t know this about me, I live in Brighton. Well, Hove actually. Regency Tonic come from three roads away from me (and after chatting to co-founder Rich, it turns out he used to live just three doors away from me, small world). Regency’s aim was to create a tonic low in sugar so that you can #tasteyourgin – their original gold tonic contains just 1.3g per 100ml which is less than the Fever Tree Naturally Light tonic. Rich admits himself that this is quite divisive for consumers – the dryness of the tonic doesn’t compliment every single gin and needs to be paired with a slightly sweeter one to balance it out. So, to widen their reach they have just launched their new blue tonic. This has a higher sugar content to make it taste more like a traditional tonic and hopefully to appeal to a wider market. Continue reading
The Tonic Taste Test – part 3
We’re made it to the third, and final (for now), part of my tonic taste tests. After testing the market leaders and the large ranges, today we try the one off brands. Namely, Regency Tonic, Distillers Tonic and BTW Tonic.
The Tonic Taste Test – part 2
For those that missed it, I conducted a blind taste test of Fever Tree, Fentimans and Franklin and Sons tonic waters (in the name of science of course). After checking out the three market leaders, today I’m focusing on what I’m calling “the tonic ranges”. So called because they each have a wide range of flavoured mixers to their name, today I’m still only trying their original tonic’s (there will be later blogs about the whole range). So, what are we trying?
The Tonic Taste Test – part 1
Hello! With the explosion of the gin market, people soon realised that Britvic is gross. While Schweppes is fine, it doesn’t have the nuances to pick out the flavours that make gins unique and enhance it. So luckily, lots of people have really upped their game. I’m taste testing nine tonics to see which is best. Well, that’s a very bold statement. Obviously tonics are catered for different flavours so really I’m going to drink a lot of gin and tonic in the name of research to see which tonic makes which flavours stand out. The gin I am using as my test gin is 6 O’Clock Gin. I chose this because it’s quite a simple gin but has citrus and floral notes to it so we can see if the tonic’s enhance or drown these. This gin is around the £25 mark so is reasonably priced, meaning you can afford a fancier tonic! Now, a good tonic should work with any gin, so I’ve deliberately picked a middle of the road gin to see how they fare.