Gin & Tonic
Traveling to a new location exposes your taste buds to a whole new range of diverse flavors and cuisines that you would have otherwise missed.
Exciting? Yes.
But while finding new cuisine in a different nation is amazing, so is trying a familiar meal or beverage and discovering a completely new flavor and meaning in it. This is how I feel about the Gin & Tonic. It seems like the classic G & T is on the menu practically everywhere, and it’s been my go-to since uni. I knew that if I asked for the drink in any pub downtown, they couldn't stray too far from what I expected, and that pretty much stayed my mindset for years.
According to the Tasting Table, the gin and tonic dates back to the 1800s, when the concept of making a tonic water (from all the cinchona bark shipped to India) came to be to protect British soldiers from contracting malaria. And to make the early version of "tonic water" smoother, the troops began to add gin, which they preferred because of the inebriating effects.
Being alcohol-free has a number of benefits, but was I willing to give up one of my favorite beverages? Nope, so here's a non-alcoholic alternative of the classic G & T.
Ingredients:
Tonic water
1/4 cup lime juice
1 cucumber
1 cutlet of rosemary
Ice
Peppercorn (optional)
Instructions:
Put ice cubes in your glass of choice
Add in the peppercorn and lime juice, then top up with tonic water
Add a cutlet of rosemary as a garnish
Peel the length of the cucumber and twist the cucumber peel creating a spiral and add it as a garnish
Stir and serve immediately
This one, with or without gin, will always be a classic in my opinion. Please let me know what you think and enjoy! :)
Author: Leslie Lung 