Choosing a good tonic to go with your gin isn’t mandatory but can mean the difference between an awesome drink or an average G&T that may be a clashy disaster. Not choosing a good tonic to pair with a good gin is a huge missed opportunity – especially for those who like lots of tonic with their gin!

To keep it basic, you can’t go wrong with pairing a gin that is complex, or has subtle complexities, with a simple, clean tonic. You’ll have more success pairing a strong, more complex tonic with a punchy gin that has one or two dominant flavors. If you’re looking for even more balance, pair a bitter tonic with gins that have natural sweetness (bright, sweet citrus, floral or licorice) and sweeter tonics with drier gins.

Here is a list of the available tonics local to the PNW, ordered from bitter/complex to sweet/simple. I know there are other good tonics out there and as I try them I’ll add them to the list. I’ll also add gin recommendations when I come across good pairs. I don’t recommend choosing tonic by calorie count, but I’ve provided nutritional info for those interested. Finally, tonic syrups are a great alternative to tonics, but this list only covers tonics.

Tonics (in order from bitter to sweet, most flavorful to least)

Fentimans

Very herby/botanically, tart and bitter. Makes a robust and interesting G&T with the right gin.

Recommended gins: Best suited to gins that have less complex, cleaner flavor profiles, such as Ampersand Gin. Also ok with gins that are bold and have a natural sweetness to them, such as Noteworthy or even Victoria Spirits gin. I would use it cautiously with gins that have really strong juniper or pine characteristics, or those that are already full of complex botanicals for fear of it either clashing or drowning out the gin.

Nutritional info: 27 cal/100 mL; Ingredients: Carbonated water, sugar, citric acid, tonic flavor (water, lemon oil, ethanol, lemon grass oil), quinine

Q

Dry without being tart and has very little, if any citrus, but it has a unique fruity character – similar to passion fruit or guava without the sweetness.

Recommended gins: If you’re ok with the unique flavor this tonic’s bitterness pairs well with London dry gins as well as those that have a level of both sweet and complex aspects, like Noteworthy. I haven’t set out to do this yet but it may also work well with the more complex fruit-based spirit gins such as Okanagan Spirits and G’Vine (I will update when I try this).

Nutritional Info: 17 cal/100mL; ingredients: Carbonated water, organic agave, natural bitters, handpicked quinine, citric acid.

Phillips Fermentorium Artisanal Dry

Complex with a dry fruity finish, and light, bright citrus notes. Nicely balanced and unique.

Recommended gins: The dry, fruity citrus pairs really well with strong evergreen gins, like St. George’s Terroir or Fermentorium’s Stump gin (this tonic was made to pair with Stump). Hoppy gins (yes, if that’s not already a descriptor I’m making it one), which is also a quality of Stump, and also Loyalist Gin (sixty-six Gilead), also pair well.

Nutritional info: 47 cal/100mL; Ingredients: water, cane sugar, white grape juice, citric acid, bitter orange peel, lime peel,orange peel, sodium benzoate, quinine sulfate

*Note – Fermentorium also produces 3 other tonics that pair well with Stump Gin, but I’ve only included the Artisanal Dry here as it I find it more versatile than the others.

Canada Dry

Canada Dry is a tonic that is easy to find. It doesn’t have the complexity of flavor of the other tonics – it has a straightforward bitter quality, and you can tell that it misses out on some of the natural flavors that add character.

Recommended Gins: Chose this tonic over Schwepps for the sweeter gins, regardless of complexity.

Nutritional Info:  37 cal/100mL; Ingredients: carbonated water, sugar/glucose-fructose, citric acid,sodium benzoate, quinine hydrochloride, natural flavor

Fever Tree Premium Indian

Bitter taste is obvious at the front with sweetness following, and a very subtle botanical base. The sweetness is not for everyone though, and depending on your taste preference it may be better to stay away from licorice-y or cinnamon-y gins that already have some natural sweet characteristics.

Recommended gins: Quite versatile; does well with any London dry; other gins with medium to strong/punchy character and less sweetness seem to pair best (examples: Sipsmith’s, Long table or Bombay Sapphire London Dry gins, any of the strong evergreen varieties).

Nutritional info: 36 cal/100 mL; ingredients: Spring water, cane sugar, citric acid, natural flavors, natural quinine

Fever Tree Natural Light Indian

More lemony and less sweet, but also less bitter/dry and overall a bit more like soda water than other tonics. The nice aspect of this is that it does a better job of letting more subtle characters show in a G&T, and does better with naturally sweet gins than FT Premium Indian.

Recommended gins: More contemporary gins with more subtle yet complex flavor profiles (for example the Botanist, Botanivore, Edinburgh, Victoria Spirits, Okanagan Spirits, Odd Society Wallflower)

Nutritional Info: 18 Cal/100mL; ingredients: Carbonated spring water, pure fructose (fruit sugar), citric acid, natural flavors, quinine

Schwepps

Schwepps is a good standby tonic – available just about anywhere, unlike the others listed above it takes little effort to find. It does taste more bitter than the others, but has very few other discernible flavors (less fruity/citrus).

Recommended gins: Due to its subtle flavor profile it seems pretty versatile with gins; it is more versatile than Canada Dry for this reason.

Nutritional Info: 36 cal/100mL; ingredients: Carbonated water, sugar/glucose-fructose, citric acid, natural flavor, sodium benzoate, quinine