Skip to main content

Stop Using Crappy Tonic Water and Make a Legit G&T with Bradley’s Kina Tonic

We hate to break it to you, but that tonic water you’re mixing with your gin is complete and utter garbage. The stuff you buy at your local grocery store (and the stuff that bartenders squirt into your drink with a plastic gun) is a bastardized version of an age old recipe. Back in the good old days, tonic water was typically a complex infusion of cinchona bark, cane sugar, and various botanicals. Today, it’s a watered-down mixture of powdered quinine, high fructose corn syrup, and carbonated soda.

For a long time, you couldn’t actually buy legit tonic — but it’s making a comeback. Following in the footsteps of Jack Rudy, artisanal tonic makers have started popping up all over the country, and they’re collectively working to bring good, traditional tonic water back from the dead.

gin and tonicBradley’s Kina Tonic is the Pacific Northwest’s contribution to this effort. It’s hand crafted in Seattle with whole spices, real citrus oil, and exclusively imported Peruvian cinchona bark. You won’t find any extracts or artificial flavors here — this stuff is the real deal.

These raw ingredients give it a much more complex and layered flavor profile than the tonics you’ve probably become accustomed to. The Peruvian cinchona bark lends a very warm and earthy bitterness and rounds out the subtle sweetness and acidity of the mixture. It’s also made with real cold-pressed orange oil (no extracts!), which gives the mixture a light, citrusy finish.

And the best part? Bottles go for about 10 bucks a pop. That’s probably a bit more expensive than the $1.79 bottles of Schweppes you can get at Safeway, but Bradley’s bottles go a long way. The tonic is designed as a concentrate, so you’re supposed to mix it with carbonated water to stretch it out. One 8oz bottle is good for about ten G&T’s.

Find out more here.

Editors' Recommendations

Drew Prindle
Drew is our resident tech nerd. He’s spent most of his life trying to be James Bond, so naturally he’s developed an…
The Macallan, Bentley serve up a single malt Scotch whisky worth more than a car
The Macallan and Bentley mean luxury
The Macallan

When it comes to luxury, The Macallan and Bentley are two of the biggest names in the world. While one is a single malt Scotch whisky brand and one is a car company, they both carry a certain, fancy weight. It only makes sense that the two brands would collaborate for a special bottle of Scotch whisky. This is likely because a whisky-powered car is more science fiction than reality.
What does the new whisky look like?

It's called The Macallan Horizon, and its bottle was created in collaboration with British automobile brand Bentley Motors. It was designed to meld the worlds of single malt scotch whisky and the sleek, elegant car brand. The result is a horizontal (hence the name) bottle crafted with a breathtaking 180-degree twist.

Read more
Forget wine — Beer and cheese is an unbeatable combination
Put the corkscrew away and crack open a cold one
Beer and cheese

When one hears the term cheese pairings, wine is the beverage that most often comes to mind, we'd wager. Because, of course, it is. The pairing of wine and cheese is as classic a coupling as peanut butter and jelly, bacon and eggs, or chocolate and strawberries. They're meant to be together. But that certainly doesn't mean that wine is the only adult beverage that can dance an alluring tango alongside everyone's favorite dairy product. Beer, as humble as its reputation can be, is also a beautiful balance to cheese's immense offering of flavors. While some may think of beer as not being as multi-dimensional and varied in its palate-pleasing capabilities as wine, this is not the case - especially now that we live in a world with so many exquisite craft beers, stouts, and lagers.
Of course, another classic accompaniment to cheese is bread or crackers. Why might that be, one might ask. Is it because we're simply in need of a starchy vessel to usher the cheese into our mouths? The answer is actually a bit deeper than that. Starches like bread and crackers are made from the same yeasty ingredients as beer, so their pairing makes perfect culinary sense.
This isn't to say, though, that one can simply pick up a hunk of cheddar and crack open a Budweiser and expect culinary artistry. The science is a bit more nuanced than that, so we're here to help you find the best pairings for your favorite beers and cheeses.

How to pair beer and cheese

Read more
Mijenta has a new cristalino tequila — here’s why bourbon fans will love it
Mijenta has a cristalino tequila perfect for bourbon drinkers
Mijenta Cristalino

If you’re new to tequila, you might not know all the terms. Even if you’re just a beginner, you probably know all about blanco, reposado, añejo, and maybe even joven. But chances are, you’re not familiar with Cristalino tequila. This reasonably contemporary style is simply añejo tequila that’s been charcoal filtered to remove its natural caramel color and various impurities.

The style is more than just a little popular. It’s actually the fastest growing style of tequila according to Nielsen data. The newest brand to get in on the Cristalino trend is Mijenta.

Read more