Quinine, tonic water, simple syrup and bitters

Hi all!

As promised, here is a recipe for simple syrup. Many basic drinks, such as an Old Fashioned and a Tom Collins use simple syrup as a sweetener. Some people also use it to make ginger ale or even homemade cola. It's essentially a basic beverage sweetener. You can also use it to candy fruit.

Here's the recipe:

Bring 2 cups of plain cold tap water to a boil. Stir in 2 cups of plain granulated sugar. Turn the heat to low and stir constantly until the sugar dissolves completely. To test if the sugar is completely dissolved, use a metal spoon to scoop up a small bit of the syrup. Tilt it over the pan and watch carefully. You shouldn't be able to see any crystals in the liquid. At this point you can add flavorings; add about a tablespoon of any liquid extract. You can also stir in 1 tablespoon corn syrup to help ensure the syrup stays smooth. Let the syrup cool to room temperature, then pour into a clean glass jar and store in the refrigerator.

Now, a few words about bitters.

Basic Angostura bitters, you find them everywhere. Named for the town of Angostura, Venezuela. Doesn't actually contain any Angostura bark--was used as a digestive. to aid digestion. An apertif. Used in a Pink Gin, a popular British concoction in which a glass is "pinked" with bitters and then gin is added.

Also used in an LLB--Lemon, Lime, and Bitters. Very popular in Australia as a traditional drink after a round of golf, but hardly heard of in the United States.

In Great Britain, a pitcher of lemonade and bitters is called a "Campbell".

The LLB and the Campbell are "mocktails"--non-alcoholic drinks that serve the traditional purpose of alcoholic ones. Examples of mocktails are virgin drinks, Shirley Temples, and an Arnold Palmer (iced tea and lemonade). These are non alcoholic drinks that have traditions around them.

To the left: Peychaud's bitters. Mostly found in drinks in the American South, and specifically, New Orleans, where it forms the basis of a Sazerac cocktail. A Sazerac is made with Sazerac rye whiskey, and you prep the glass with an absinthe mixture. It's a complex drink to make well, but, I am told, one well worth the travel to NOLA for.













Old style-bottles of Quinine water, Canada Dry brand, circa around 1968. Quinine was originally valued for its medicinal properties, although too much of it can make you quite ill. But a splash in your gin never hurt anything. Quinine water was replaced by tonic water, which is essentially the same thing except there's more water and less quinine.

Quinine was originally used to prevent malaria and incidentally, glows under an ultraviolet light as it is UV sensitive.









Modern Canada Dry tonic water. You can mix with gin or vodka, neat or on the rocks. Less quinine than quinine water, and usually flavored with extract rather than raw quinine.

If you really want to get European and artsy about your tonic water, these guys, Q Tonic, make a great tonic water.






So that's bitters, Quinine, simple syrup, and tonic water. I didn't have room for the other thing I promised--grenadine. I'll get to it tomorrow. Did you know you can make your own grenadine if you really want to? And the Shirley Temple is not the only mocktail that uses it. For instance, the Afterglow and the Canadian Pride both use grenadine and are nonalcoholic. Check us out tomorrow for details and recipes. See ya!