The Magic of a Good Mixer

[Ciao Ling]

The Fever Tree products have finally started showing up in California, thanks to the efforts of Beverages and More.

Tonic Water, Ginger Ale, Bitter Lemon, and Club Soda.

I can't wait to try the Tonic Water and Bitter Lemon.

Of course at over $5 (US retail) for a 4 pack of 6oz bottles, they are pretty expensive per ounce.

I'm thinking finally working out that home-made tonic water recipe, might not be a horrible idea.

Stirrings also has a new line of cocktail sodas, including Bitter Lemon, Tonic Water, Pink Grapefruit, Club Soda, Pink Grapefruit, and Tart Cranberry.  My homies over at Married with Dinner were not too keen on the Stirrings Tonic.

Has anyone tried either of these brands?

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I have been reading with great interest how it's not just the gin, but premium tonics that can make a great G&T with tastings of Fever Tree, Q Tonic, and Stirrings, comparing to the old stand-by Schweppes or even Canada Dry. I am in upstate New York and read that Fever Tree was just only getting to the coasts. I checked on-line and Bevmo has it out of stock. Well I couldn't believe it when I saw it on the shelf at our local grocery store Wegman's! Tonight I had G&T with Martin Miller's Westbourne Strength and Fever Tree tonic ($:1 ratio)- I can certainly say they make a great marriage.

[Fritdjof]

I was just at Trader Joe's looking for interesting mixers myself. Don't get me wrong, I love all the fresh fruit muddling (bought some figs when I was there), rare liqueurs, bitters, herbs, spices, etc that can go into cocktails, and I spend a fair amount of time on them. But I can't find anything wrong with using good quality juice-esque stuff from a bottle. I even bought some aloe-blended-with-something-else juice. Sounds kind of disgusting. We'll see.

[Nathan]

I was just at Trader Joe's looking for interesting mixers myself. Don't get me wrong, I love all the fresh fruit muddling (bought some figs when I was there), rare liqueurs, bitters, herbs, spices, etc that can go into cocktails, and I spend a fair amount of time on them. But I can't find anything wrong with using good quality juice-esque stuff from a bottle. I even bought some aloe-blended-with-something-else juice. Sounds kind of disgusting. We'll see.

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I'm not a purist either in the sense that I think it matters whether you're showcasing the juice or not. a citrus forward cocktail needs fresh squeezed if at all possible...(some bottled OJ's are pretty good in a pinch). but I think if it's merely an issue of putting in some lemon or lime juice to balance out some sweetness in a drink that isn't intended to be tart....someone would have to have an awfully sensitive palate to tell.

[Moto]

My fave mixers of late are pomegranate juice(knudsen's) a splash goes great in a g and t or blenheim's ginger ale great with rum. If you have a hispanic grocery in your area try the soursop puree

[bostonapothecary]

i was checking out the 1939 locke-ober cocktail list and noticed while not being particularly large chose to list six different gingerales...

pureoxia golden

pureoxia pale

canada dry

clicquot pale dry

clicquot golden

clicquot sec

there must be more to gingerale than i thought. and what the hell are we drinking now? i still see "canada dry" around but does it still have the same sugar content as 1939?

clicquot pale dry sounds very sexy.

[slkinsey]

These are mostly local bottlings. The Clicquot Club company was in Millis, Massachusetts. It was bought by Canada Dry in 1965, and subsequently closed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliquot_Club

Pureoxia was also a Boston-area company (I think in Lowell, where it was turned out by the same guys who made Moxie).

[cfm]

I have enjoyed Maraschino and Tonic - serve with lemon. Very fragrant. I read this on the back of the Luxardo maraschino bottle, is it a well-known drink?

Catherine