Author: Will Lovell
I’ve little shame in admitting that I am a beer guy– I brew it, I drink it, I write about it. I love the stuff! But that doesn’t stop me from enjoying other boozy beverages, particularly various types of cocktails, though for the better part of my adult life, I shied away from anything made with gin. This all changed when I ordered a unique take on a gin and tonic during an anniversary dinner with my wife, it was garnished with cilantro and jalapenos, and it completely changed my view of this classic spirit.
After picking up a bottle of gin for at-home experimentation, I quickly realized I far prefer it as a mixer, especially when combined with tonic water. Initially marketed as a medical remedy due to containing quinine, an anti-malaria medicine extracted from the cinchona tree, tonic water remains popular today among those who enjoy its unique bittersweet flavor. It wasn’t until the early 19th century that British soldiers in India began blending tonic water with gin and other additives as a means of making the medicine more palatable, thus leading to the birth of the gin and tonic.
These days, tonic water is a staple in every bar, used as a mixer for myriad cocktails, though my personal favorite remains the humble gin and tonic. Having tried numerous tonic waters over the years, I began researching what goes into making it and found it to be rather similar to homemade root beer. Wanting to create a unique personalized tonic water to experiment with in my own mixology, I did some research and came up with something I thought would fit the bill.
| Making Schwept Away Tonic Syrup |
After reviewing numerous recipes for tonic water, I settled on making a condensed syrup that can be blended with sparkling water or mixed directly into a cocktail.
Schwept Away Tonic Syrup
3 cups water
28 g cinchona bark
62 g citric acid
Zest of 3 limes
Zest of 3 lemons
Zest of 1 large ruby red grapefruit
14 g juniper berries
3 whole cardamom pods
2 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs rosemary
1 g kosher salt
Rich Simple Syrup
3 cups table sugar
1.5 cups water
I started off by gathering all of the main ingredients.
After measuring out the cinchona bark and citric acid, I crushed the cardamom pods with my mortar and pestle.
Next, I zested the citrus.
I then thoroughly combined 3 cups of water with the citric acid in a 1 quart mason jar, after which all of the listed spices and citrus zest were added to the jar.
The jar was placed in my refrigerator for 4 days, during which I intermittently gave it a gentle swirl. Following this resting period, I poured the tonic mixture through a sieve to remove the larger bits.
Next, I poured the tonic concentrate through a coffee filter to remove any smaller particulates.
While the liquid was slowly dripping through the coffee filter, I prepared the rich simple syrup by dissolving 3 cups of table sugar into 1.5 cups boiling water.
Once the tonic concentrate was fully filtered, I combined it with the rich simple syrup in a clean jar to create approximately 6 cups of tonic syrup. To make using the syrup easier, I perefer pouring portions into a squeeze bottle.
At this point, the tonic syrup can be combined with sparkling water to create a tasty non-alcoholic tonic water, but that’s not what I made it for. With so much syrup on hand, I did some experimenting and came up with a couple spins on classic cocktails that I felt worked beautifully with the unique flavors of this tonic.
Ruby Empire
I put a spin on the classic Paloma cocktail by swapping in gin and my homemade tonic syrup for the traditional tequila and agave nectar.
2 oz Empress Gin
2 oz fresh grapefruit juice
2 oz sparkling water
0.5 oz lime juice
0.25 oz tonic syrup
Add ingredients to shaker and dry shake for 30 seconds before pouring over ice in a glass rimmed with course sea salt and garnishing with a grapefruit wedge.
Dominated by a refreshing burst of grapefruit, Ruby Empire is balanced by a subtle gin earthiness and vibrant herbal notes from the tonic, which also contributes a familiar quinine kick. I recommend Empress Gin primarily because of its purple color, which when combined with the other ingredients, turns a pleasant shade of periwinkle. I’ve made the same cocktail with other gins and it comes out equally as good.
Tom Holland
It wasn’t long after developing a love for Gin & Tonic that I discovered the Tom Collins, a cocktail that consists of gin, lemon juice, sugar, and club soda. Inspired by this classic, I came up with something that swaps the lemon for lime and relies on my Schwept Away tonic syrup to add sweetness and a unique flavor.
2 oz Dry Gin
1 oz fresh lime juice
0.5 oz Tonic Syrup
Shake dry for 30 seconds before pouring over ice, preferably in a highball glass, then topping off with club soda and garnishing with a lemon wheel.
Similar to a Tom Collins, my Tom Holland cocktail tastes much more complex than it might seem based on the ingredients, with the tonic syrup contributing both balancing sweetness and layers of flavors. For a fun twist, consider adding 1 egg white to the shaker before the dry shake to create a velvety mouthfeel and meringue-like cap of foam. For the curious, I initially intended to name this cocktail after the great musician and singer, Phil Collins, but realized he already has a cocktail named after him. As a fan of Spiderman, I ultimately settled on an actor who has played him and will likely never know he’s been paid such homage.
| IMPRESSIONS |
It may require some time, but based on my experience with this Schwept Away Tonic Syrup, it was well worth it! The blend of citrus and spices provides a depth of flavor I’ve not tasted in commercial tonics, which contributes an element of uniqueness to any cocktail made with it. While Ruby Empire and Tom Holland are a couple cocktails I thought really stood out, I’ve enjoyed what Schwept Away adds to other cocktails made with different spirits, and it also tastes good blended with just sparkling water.
One of the great things about making your own tonic syrup is that you can add whatever you prefer, and experimenting with different spice combinations won’t break the bank. As much as I enjoyed Schwept Away, I already have some ideas for things I’d like to try in the future, namely using different fruits. To note, quinine poisoning is a risk with dealing with cinchona bark, so one should be careful when making tonic syrups to avoid developing flu like symptoms.
Overall, I feel like Schwept Away elevated the cocktails I made with it, regardless of the spirit. The aromatics were more pungent and the flavors were more unique, leading to an experience I’m confident could not be had with store-bought tonic. I definitely plan to keep tonic syrup around and think any cocktail lover would enjoy what it brings to their mixologist toolkit.
If you have thoughts about this recipe or experience making something similar, please feel free to share in the comments section below!
Support Brülosophy In Style!
All designs are available in various colors and sizes on Amazon!
Follow Brülosophy on:
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM
If you enjoy this stuff and feel compelled to support Brulosophy.com, please check out the Support page for details on how you can very easily do so. Thanks!
3 thoughts on “Brü It Yourself | Schwept Away Tonic Syrup”
Interesting. I regularly make syrups from things in my garden. Need to check this out, because my wife and me also like a gin-tonic on Sunday.
Wow, thanks for sharing. I really want to try this. I need to find an affordable Canadian source for cinchona bark. Amazon.ca carries it, but at $35 for 100 grams it seems like a very expensive endeavour.
That sounds great, and I’d like to see more things in this vein.
If you do, can I suggest you standardize measurements by metric? Switching between grams and ounces and cups gets awkward.
Speaking for myself, the easiest way to do these things is to stick on a scale and go by weight, but regardless some kind of standardization makes things easier.
Anyway, great writeup.