Round table on Gin Tonic: the best-selling cocktail in the worldA Padova, in occasione del 71° convegno nazionale AIBES dello scorso 13 ottobre, si è tenuta la presentazione del libro Anthologin di Samuele Ambrosi, che ci vede protagonisti con le nostre acque toniche

Maestro di cerimonia alla tavola Rotonda è stato Roberto Pellegrini, famosissimo bartender d’hotel di lusso e oggi autorevole formatore. Un pomeriggio di alta formazione per addetti ai lavori e amanti del Gin Tonic del quale ripercorriamo ora, con voi, alcuni dei principali temi trattati, tra cui l’importanza di scegliere e proporre sempre un’acqua tonica premium.
To make a Gin Tonic you need to basically have 4 things: a glass, ice, tonic water and of course Gin..

Is there the perfect glass for a perfect Gin Tonic?

Questo è uno di quegli spinosi argomenti sul quale non si arriverà mai ad una verità assoluta.

Samuele Ambrosi, nell’antologia del Gin che ha recentemente pubblicato grazie anche al nostro contributo, chiamata appunto Anthologin, gli dedica svariati paragrafi e ne propone un esame a tutto tondo di cui ora cercheremo di estrapolare alcuni concetti base.
Il bicchiere che più viene associato al Gin Tonic e ai long drinks in generale, è il cosiddetto Tumbler.

This glass comes in two types: high (HighBall) or low (Old Fashioned) and, unless you are doing a tasting, it is better to focus on the first category of tumbler.

Especially in recent times the famous Baloon or "Copa de Balon", as the Spaniards define it, great lovers of Gin Tonic who have largely contributed to the diffusion of this type of glass which cannot be defined as easily manageable, but which on its side has two great advantages: it is very wide, therefore it allows you to contain a good amount of ice, and, at the same time, its thin stem allows you to avoid hand contact with the surface containing the drink.

Regardless of the type of glass, it is in fact a common idea that we must always try to keep the temperature of our Gin Tonic low, for this reason the glass in question must also be used cold (it can be kept in the freezer or filled with ice for a few minutes and then emptied ).

Ingredient not to be underestimated… ice!

"A Gin Tonic, thank you, but don't forget, with a little ice", "You know how it is, they fill it with ice to save on alcohol".

Have you ever said, heard or even thought one of these sentences? Probably to the average Italian habitual consumer of cocktails, at least once, certainly yes.

We have always stigmatized the presence of "abundant ice" in our drinks, without however realizing that it is actually a baseless belief.

Ice is an essential component for maintaining the already much praised perfect temperature of our Gin Tonic and Samuele Ambrosi, supported by Roberto Pellegrini, also enlightened us on which is the preferable "cut" of the ice to avoid the "diluting" effect of our cocktail. The shape to prefer to make our "perfect serve" are not in fact the famous single ice cubes, but a single large cube called a chunk.

In Anthologin it is explained in depth: this type of shape offers less contact surface with the liquid and therefore lengthens the melting times.

As with all the other elements of our Gin Tonic, our ice must also meet high quality standards: it must be pure, compact and unperforated and we must make sure that it is stored in the correct way, i.e. cool and dry. .

Tonic water… better if CORTESE or S-CORTESE

The first advice provided by Ambrosi was to prefer the use of tonics stored in aluminum or glass packs.

Behind this choice there is a real scientific motivation. In fact, plastic is a very bad preservative of CO2 and in a short time the pressure would tend to decrease, making the drink lose its liveliness.

Regardless of the material of the casing, it is also important to keep the tonics in a cool place, in order to help maintain the optimal temperature of the Gin Tonic, which should not be served hot, much less at room temperature, but cold.

Ambrosi then puts the accent on another fundamental point, which perhaps non-experts in the sector sometimes tend to overlook.

Tonic water is the element that will make up ¾ of your Gin Tonic, therefore, given that it is certainly important to make the choice of your distillate fall on a quality product, your tonic water certainly cannot be outdone.

It is true, the tonic is nothing more than the simple mixture of water, carbon dioxide, sugar and flavourings, but it would be wrong to consider them all the same.

Often the added flavourings, in this case quinine, could only prove to be substitutes for the substance itself, rather than coming from a natural origin, thus making the drink lose the benefit of the authentic flavour.

A little trick to verify that the product used has natural ingredients is to expose the tonic water to an ultraviolet light: if the drink becomes fluorescent (thanks to the effective presence of quinine) it means that your tonic will be composed of quality elements .

Cortese, pure, strong, light, bio and botanical tonic waters will make your Gin Tonic different and unique using the same gin. Italian, elegant, natural, without dyes and preservatives with real natural cinchona extract.

How to combine Gin with Tonics?

Anthologin will help you with a nice diagram to make the right combinations: certainly the tonic must not cover the gin, but emphasize it. Our tasting of tonic waters was very useful, which allowed the participants to classify the tonics as neutral, aromatic or perfumed.

How to present the Gin Tonic: the garnish

The garnish has the purpose of further enhancing the aromas contained within your cocktail since, once placed on top of the latter, it allows the retro-olfactory receptors to activate more quickly and in a deeper way. Just bring your lips to your Gin Tonic and, even before appreciating its flavor on your tongue, you will already have a pleasant taste of what you are going to taste.

In this regard, it would therefore be important to avoid the use of straws, as they hinder the role played by smell in the appreciation of your drink (remember that it is the nose that makes you discover the flavours!).

In short, at this point we just have to wish you a good reading of Anthologin, which you will find for sale on our e-shop together with our tonic waters, and invite you to let us know how your Gin Tonics will turn out!