Mixology 101: How to Make Your Own Tonic Water

Oh, that bitter, citrus taste!  You either love or hate tonic water.

Tonic water, best known as a harmonious complement to gin and vodka, is an essential to any bar yet usually overlooked and often ignored. High quality tonic water can turn a gin and tonic skeptic into an enthusiast, and transform a ho-hum drink from a hodgepodge of bitter and sweet flavors into a complex and refreshing cocktail. While its possible to buy great artisan tonic water from brands like Q Tonic, Fentimans, and Fever-tree at some liquor and grocery stores, they are much more expensive than Canada Dry or Schweppes, making it tempting to pass them by. But store-bought, mass-produced brands contain corn syrup and preservatives that not only taste sub-par, but also lack in the health department.

Here’s a thought: why not make your own? If you can get a hold of cinchona bark (a malaria-fighting agent found in a South American bark) at a Latin market or online (try the California-based Lhasa Karnak Herb Company) you can make your own tonic water from scratch for a minimal investment. [pagebreak]

“The tonics you find in the store are a little sweet,” says Marcia Simmons, a home bar chef who co-authored DIY Cocktails: A Simple Guide to Creating Your Own Signature Drinks. “If you make tonic yourself, you can make it as bitter as you’d like, and you can use a different sweetener like agave or honey.”

You can also experiment with adding various other flavors and nuances.

“You know what you’ll use tonic for. You know if you want it to have a strong floral flavor or a bitter quinine flavor and make it accordingly,” Simmons says. “Even though it requires an obscure ingredient, it’s not very expensive, and you don’t need very much. If you happen to mess up, there’s not much risk in it. Get your friends involved.” [pagebreak]

Tonic Water

• 1 lemon
• 1 lime
• 2 cups water
• 2 teaspoons cut cinchona bark
• 1 1/4 teaspoons citric acid powder
• 1 stalk lemongrass, sliced (about 2/3 cup)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 6 cups carbonated water

Get the full recipe.