In Praise of the Gin and Tonic
Ah, the gin and tonic! My favorite drink. I'm what might be termed a "light" drinker, as opposed to a non-drinker, but I'm hardly an alcohol connoisseur. I like a glass of wine, but I never drink more than two, and I generally have only a few drinks a month. And yet I love this festive mix of serious hard alcohol, tonic water, and (absolutely necessary) limes.
I also add lime juice to mine, because the first one I ever had was made that way. I've tried to find out if that makes it a different drink, but no dice. However, I can drink it without the lime juice, so I guess that counts.
For me, I like minimal gin and maximum tonic; a gin headache is no joke, and I HATE the boozy taste of a 1:1 ratio. Cheap date: I only drink one. Still, I'm picky: I like Tanqueray gin and Schweppes tonic water. I could go with other gin, but the quality of the tonic makes a big difference, and woe to him who tries to give me DIET tonic. Ugh.
Being the over-punctuator that I am, I always want to write it with hyphens: gin-and-tonic. I don't know if that's correct in any capacity. But I have a hard time saying "G-and-T", not because I have a problem with other people saying it, but because I feel too precious and cutesy when it comes out of my mouth: "Let's have drinky-poos! Make mine a g-and-t." Or else the phrase assumes a casual familiarity with alcohol that I simply do not have, as if to say "I've drunk so many cocktails in my time that I can't even be bothered to use the whole name; too damn much effort. Mix me one, will you darling?"
Gin and tonic is, of course, quintessentially a summer drink, though I'll drink it in any season. It brings to mind sitting on a porch or in a lawn chair. But most of all it makes me think of the 1920s: Jeeves and Wooster, The Great Gatsby, cricket games or lawn tennis or croquet, with women in white summer dresses and men in linen suits and everyone wearing hats.
That's a lot of connotation for one drink to carry. But I never tasted a gin-and-tonic that wasn't up to it.
I also add lime juice to mine, because the first one I ever had was made that way. I've tried to find out if that makes it a different drink, but no dice. However, I can drink it without the lime juice, so I guess that counts.
For me, I like minimal gin and maximum tonic; a gin headache is no joke, and I HATE the boozy taste of a 1:1 ratio. Cheap date: I only drink one. Still, I'm picky: I like Tanqueray gin and Schweppes tonic water. I could go with other gin, but the quality of the tonic makes a big difference, and woe to him who tries to give me DIET tonic. Ugh.
Being the over-punctuator that I am, I always want to write it with hyphens: gin-and-tonic. I don't know if that's correct in any capacity. But I have a hard time saying "G-and-T", not because I have a problem with other people saying it, but because I feel too precious and cutesy when it comes out of my mouth: "Let's have drinky-poos! Make mine a g-and-t." Or else the phrase assumes a casual familiarity with alcohol that I simply do not have, as if to say "I've drunk so many cocktails in my time that I can't even be bothered to use the whole name; too damn much effort. Mix me one, will you darling?"
Gin and tonic is, of course, quintessentially a summer drink, though I'll drink it in any season. It brings to mind sitting on a porch or in a lawn chair. But most of all it makes me think of the 1920s: Jeeves and Wooster, The Great Gatsby, cricket games or lawn tennis or croquet, with women in white summer dresses and men in linen suits and everyone wearing hats.
That's a lot of connotation for one drink to carry. But I never tasted a gin-and-tonic that wasn't up to it.
posted by Violet at 10:22 PM
2 Comments:
Did you notice you punctuated that gin-and-tonic?
Are you bringing some to Darl's?
Yes, that was a punctuationally self-indulgent moment. (I could definitely bring some to the party! Good call!)
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