The Perfect Gin and Tonic (Again)

Video by Katherine Guanche.

Katherine, Sam and I made this video in May looking forward to summer while in quarantine. Now it’s the middle of August, we’ve found a rental in a lovely, quiet, untrammeled patch of Massachusetts, on a river near a beach, and the Gin and Tonic with a wedge of lime has never tasted so good. Over a cribbage board on the porch or playing bocce in the yard in the low evening sun, the sparkling, bitter-sweet elixir soothes and refreshes. The real world approaches soon, but for now, these are Gin and Tonic days. And this video show how I try to perfect them.

Perfect a G&T? Put gin and tonic in a glass with ice and a wedge of lime, no? Even here there are nuances. It’s all about temperature and melting ice.

While I use the standard Beefeaters in the Video, my wife, Ann, splurged on a shipment of our absolute favorite G&T gin, Dingle gin, from that sweet little town on a southwestern peninsula of Ireland (I wrote about the place for Saveur, which made a great video to go with it), and Fever Tree tonic water, a most excellent tonic and now widely available.

I encourage variations. Last summer when we arrived in Dingle we were served a gin and tonic in a big goblet, with lime, orange, grapefruit and juniper berries. Fan-tastic.

Mix it up and enjoy the final days of summer! Happy Friday, all!