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Gin-and-tonic

G&T with a twist: global takes on a classic British drink

While Brits like to think of the G&T as its 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 vonHurter, 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.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in Spain. If you’ve been to the Iberian peninsula in the past five years, you’ve probably been handed a “gin-tonic” in a glass the size of your head. “Spain is gin paradise, and the biggest market for gin in the world per head of population,” says Geraldine Coates, the editor of Gintime.com.

The most marked difference between a Spanish G&T and a British one is the glass – in Spain’s case a large, balloon-shaped stemmed glass, the copa de balon. This craze started in northern Spain’s Michelin-starred restaurants, says Jorge Balbontin, the global brand ambassador for Gin Mare.

“Seven to eight years ago, the chefs at El Bulli and Arzak started drinking gin and tonic in a bordeaux wine glass,” he says – to keep their drinks cool in a hot kitchen. “If you were in one of those restaurants, at the end of your dinner the chef would come out with a big gin and tonic. People were writing about this, and the gin brands saw an opportunity.”

The Spanish have taken gin-tonics to their hearts: “Even in the smallest bar in the smallest city, they’ll have anywhere between 30-60 bottles of gin and 10-15 different tonics,” says Balbontin.

But the Spanish aren’t the only ones. Worldwide, the biggest gin markets are the US (by volume), Spain (per head), the UK, India and the Philippines. The latter nation consumes huge volumes of “juniper-based spirits that technically qualify as gin”, explains Olivier Ward of Ginfoundry.com, even though they wouldn’t necessarily be recognisable as such to a western palate.

Other nations are catching up fast. Gin and tonic is becoming popular in the Netherlands, Germany, Greece and Italy, among others, and is making inroads into Latin America and Australia.

Forget a splash of Schweppes and a twist of lemon, here’s how they’re serving G&Ts around the world…..

The Guardian: Read the full article