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Recipe Detail Page
Gin and Tonic
Winter 2012
You can use your favourite gin for this but Stern recommends a London dry such as Plymouth, Beefeater or Tanqueray.
2 oz gin
1 oz Tonic Syrup (recipe follows)
½ oz freshly squeezed lime juice
Club soda
Lime wheel for garnish
1 Fill a rocks glass with ice. Add gin, Tonic Syrup and lime juice and top with club soda. Garnish with a lime wheel and serve.
Makes 1 drink
TONIC SYRUP
Quinine, which comes from cinchona bark, is the main flavour component of tonic water. Stern created this syrup using cinchona bark to highlight and complement the classic flavours of a Gin and Tonic. He buys the bark in chunks at a specialty herb store and breaks it up with a hammer before using. Citric acid is available in the canning section of most supermarkets. This syrup will be at its prime for 2 weeks. To extend its life, add a couple ounces of overproof vodka.
¾ cup cinchona bark
4 cups water
1 tsp citric acid
Zest of 1 grapefruit
Zest of 1 lime
Zest of 1 lemon
1 stalk lemon grass
2 cups sugar
1 Combine cinchona bark and water in a pot and simmer for 1½ hours, stirring constantly—do not let it boil. Add citric acid, grapefruit zest, lime zest, lemon zest and lemon grass, stir together and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in sugar and remove from heat. Let cool.
2 Strain syrup through a coffee filter and keep refrigerated.
Makes enough syrup for 30 Gin and Tonics
