G&T WITH A TWIST

06 Oct 2014 By David Fuhrmann-Lim

A global take on a classic drink: Did you know that just this year alone, 100 new gins have been launched? Or that Spain is the biggest market in the world per head of population? Nope, we didn’t either. Read on.

From Germany to Colombia, everyone is drinking gin and tonic. But forget a splash of Schweppes and a slice of lemon – these tipples are served with basil, marmalade or the smoke from burning thyme …

It is London Cocktail Week (6-12 October). In the capital, bearded mixologists are creating mad-hatter libations with liquid smoke, ambergris and the petals of a flower that blooms but one day a year. If that sounds a bit much, take refuge in a simple gin and tonic. We know where we are with mother’s ruin. Or do we? While Brits like to think of the G&T as our own (and it was indeed first made by the British East India Company in the early 1800s), in recent years it has become hugely popular across Europe and beyond, with takes on the classic drink that would have the Queen Mother turning in her grave.

“We are in the throes of a global gin craze,” says Felix von Hurter, the international sales manager for Sipsmith gin. “There have been more than 100 gins launched this year, including Russian, Swedish and South African ones.” According to Von Hurter, this is because of a trend for gin-based cocktails, which has trickled down from expensive cocktail joints to regular bars and pubs. “At each step, the gin and tonic swiftly becomes the cocktail of the masses,” he says.

Read the rest at The Guardian