Fever-Tree tonic
Transporting the lemons from Sicily
Ivory Coast - Charles with fresh green ginger
Province - Lemon thyme & rosemary
Congo - Quinine harvesting
Gloucestershire - Transport
Gloucestershire - Elderflowers
Tim negotiating with Cochin Ginger producers
Recently gin and tonic mixes are extremely popular. There was a Gin & Tonic festival, there are special restaurants and (pop-up) bars, there is a GINformatiecentrum and at every fancy food festivals you can get yourself a gin and tonic mix.
Quality of tonic
Usually the focus at the mix drinks is on the gin and the quality of the tonic if often neglected. This while a mix drink like a gin-tonic consists for ¾ out of a tonic and is thus crucial for the flavour. In recent decades the soft drink market is largely dominated by a few multinational companies that more focus on profit rather than quality. This changes now, more and more producers approach the market differently with more unique and qualitative products. Fever-Tree is one of them and since November 2014 the company is privately held and competing with the big boys at the London AIM stock market.
Quinine in the tonic
In 2004 Charles Rolls and Tim Warrillow decided tonic and mixers for cocktails in general could use a quality upgrade. One of the major components of tonic is quinine, that’s where the bitterness comes from. After months of research they discovered that there is a Fever Tree plantation that produces the purest quinine in the world and it’s located in Congo. They travelled to the rough Democratic Republic of Congo and visited this plantation. The ingredients for the rest of the tonic are collected in the same manner. Research, travel and conversations with ‘plant hunters’ a part of the development of new products. Fever-Tree tonic contains high-quality ingredients and natural cane sugar.
Ginger Beer and Ginger Ale
For Fever-Tree’s Ginger Beer and Ginger Ale three kinds of ginger are used, each from a different area. It’s fresh green ginger from Ivory Coast for the freshness, ginger from Nigeria for depth and intensity of the flavor and ginger from Cochin for an earthy, chocolate-like flavor.
Mediterranean tonic
The Mediterranean Tonic is our favorite. It contains citrus oil and herbs from the coastal areas around the Mediterranean. Lemon Thyme and rosemary are two of the ingredients that come from Provence and give the unique flower-like character to the tonic, which makes it an ideal mixer for vodka and lights gins.
Website: Fever-Tree
