[imagesource: Instagram / @fitchleedesmixers]

There aren’t many better things to sip on during the dog days of summer than a classic G&T.

Add ice to a glass, along with one part gin and another part tonic water, with a slice of lime, and you have a refreshing drink to counter the heat.

You’ll also be sipping on a cocktail that will keep the doctor away, to some extent.

That’s because a classic gin and tonic tipple was created as a medicine during the bygone days of the expansion of the British Empire.

Sailors from those days often had to travel to places where they were at risk of malaria, so they had to take quinine, an anti-malarial alkaloid from the bark of the cinchona tree, colloquially known as the Fever Tree, to prevent and treat the disease:

Image: U.S. Public Health Service poster: “Quinine kills malaria germs”

By the 19th century, quinine was extracted from the cinchona tree’s bark and widely used across the globe.

But quinine tastes really bad, so Indian tonic water was invented to make it easier to drink. At the same time, English-dried gin was typically taken on these voyages because it didn’t spoil as easily as beer.

In 1825, British officers began mixing gin with their daily ration of quinine tonic in India, to create the G&T we all know and love today. At some point, lime was also added to the drink thanks to its high levels of vitamin C, which has anti-scurvy properties.

So yes, we have this cocktail because it was basically medicine for sailors back in the day.

Fitch & Leedes Indian Tonic, with an essence derived from the Fever Tree, is just what your finest gin needs for a truly satisfying G&T moment:

 

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Fitch & Leedes prides itself as the understudy to greatness, accentuating the botanical characters and subtle notes in hand-crafted gins to ensure a true representation of what was intended by the master distiller.

For the gin part, local is lekker with the Malachite Gin from Kinship Spirits:

 

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The Malachite Gin is a wonderous celebration of the beauty and wonder of The Cape Floral Kingdom with a name to honour the Malachite Sunbird, which feeds on, and pollinates, many of these exquisite flowering plants.

Using only hand-picked, sustainable floral botanicals, Malachite is an adventure into the subtle, delicious and delicate aromas unique to fynbos.

Think subtle juniper mingling with hints of elderflower and chamomile, spring blooms and delicate spice, all with a fruity touch of lemon rind lingering on the palate.

Although the humble G&T is continually transformed and re-invented these days with various choices of tonic and garnish to enhance the aroma and flavour of the particular brand of gin, the base ingredients never change.

So, next time you sip a G&T, know that you’re basically drinking a ton of history in one glass.

[source:activehistory&matthewclark]