Gin & Tonic
A Gin and Tonic is 50ml of gin and 100ml of chilled Indian tonic water, one to two, in a copa or highball filled to the top with ice, with a lime wedge squeezed over and dropped in and a single stir. About 2.0 UK units. Tonic began as medicine. The Oxford Companion says the drink dates from the later nineteenth century, from most accounts in British colonial India, where soldiers mixed gin with their antimalarial quinine water, and that it first appears in print in 1868. It says Erasmus Bond patented the first aerated tonic liquid, soda water spiked with quinine, on 28 May 1858, and that most modern tonic waters hold far less quinine than the nineteenth-century kind. With two ingredients, the ice and the tonic decide the drink as much as the gin. A glass packed with ice stays cold and dilutes slowly; fresh tonic from a small bottle keeps the fizz that carries the gin’s aroma.
Glassware: Copa Glass
Garnish: Lime wedge squeezed over and dropped in
Ingredients
50ml
London Dry or any gin with clear botanical character, around 40% ABV. Tonic amplifies what the gin has and covers nothing it lacks.
100ml
Chilled, from a freshly opened small bottle. It is two-thirds of the glass, so a flat or cloying tonic spoils a good gin.
Instructions
Fill a copa or highball glass to the top with ice.
Pour in the gin.
Add the chilled tonic slowly down the inside of the glass.
Squeeze a lime wedge over the top, drop it in and stir once.
Our version
There is no official specification for the drink. Ours is 50ml of gin to 100ml of tonic, one to two, over a glass filled with ice, with a lime wedge.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Fill the glass to the top with ice. A full glass chills faster and melts more slowly than a few cubes, which give way to the warm glass and water the drink down halfway through. Buy tonic in small bottles and open one per round. Carbonation starts escaping the moment the cap comes off, and a large bottle is flat long before it is finished. Pour the tonic slowly down the inside of the glass, then stir once. Every extra stir knocks out bubbles the drink cannot get back.
Behind the Gin & Tonic
Flavour Profile
The Origin
Quinine, from the bark of the cinchona tree, was the British defence against malaria in India, and its bitterness was the problem. Taken in soda water, and, as the Oxford Companion has it, with gin mixed in by British soldiers, the daily dose became a drink.
The Oxford Companion says Erasmus Bond patented the first “aerated tonic liquid”, soda water spiked with quinine, on 28 May 1858; its tonic water entry says the Schweppes partners patented a commercial “Indian tonic water” that year, and that most modern tonic waters hold far less quinine and far more sugar than the nineteenth-century kind.
The Tonic
Tonic is two-thirds of the glass, and quality varies more between tonics than between ordinary gins.
Fresh, well-carbonated tonic with a clear quinine bite makes an everyday gin taste good. Small bottles beat large ones, because the fizz begins to leave the moment one is opened.
The Ratio and the Ice
One to two, 50ml of gin to 100ml of tonic, gives enough gin to lead and enough tonic to lengthen. One to three, 150ml of tonic, makes a longer drink with the same alcohol.
Fill the glass to the top with ice. A packed glass stays colder for longer, while three cubes in a warm glass melt fast and leave the second half watery. Pour the tonic down the inside of the glass to keep the bubbles that carry the aroma.
Three Pours
The Gin and Tonic at different ratios
Single, one to two
- Gin
- 25ml
- Tonic
- 50ml
- UK units
- About 1.0
- How it drinks
- Short and gin-led; best in a small glass
Ours, one to two
- Gin
- 50ml
- Tonic
- 100ml
- UK units
- About 2.0
- How it drinks
- Gin leads, tonic lengthens
Long, one to three
- Gin
- 50ml
- Tonic
- 150ml
- UK units
- About 2.0
- How it drinks
- Lighter and longer, same alcohol
| Pour | Gin | Tonic | UK units | How it drinks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single, one to two | 25ml | 50ml | About 1.0 | Short and gin-led; best in a small glass |
| Ours, one to two | 50ml | 100ml | About 2.0 | Gin leads, tonic lengthens |
| Long, one to three | 50ml | 150ml | About 2.0 | Lighter and longer, same alcohol |
For a pink version with Angostura, see the Pink Gin and Tonic; for gin lengthened with soda and lime instead, the Gin Rickey.
The Spanish Serve
VinePair says a Gin Tonic ordered in Spain will almost certainly arrive in a bulbous wine glass called a copa de balón, which holds roughly double a highball and takes more ice, tonic and garnish. VinePair says the style is thought to have emerged in the early 2000s in the Basque region, and that Spanish serves tend to be decorated with herbs, citrus wedges, juniper berries or edible flowers rather than a slice of citrus.
VinePair says the wider bowl lets aromas and flavours develop before the narrow opening pushes them to the nose, and that the stem holds the drinker’s hand off the bowl.
How to Serve It
A cold glass filled to the top with ice, 50ml of gin, 100ml of tonic from a fresh small bottle, a lime wedge and one stir.
Make it at home
The Spirit
GinGin is a spirit flavoured with juniper berries. Under the retained Regulation (EC) 110/2008, juniper must lead the taste, the floor is 37.5% ABV, and the route the flavour takes sets the grade: plain gin, distilled gin or London gin. Our recipes count it at 40%, and it carries the Martini, the Negroni and the Gin and Tonic.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the right gin to tonic ratio?
Why was the Gin and Tonic invented?
Does the tonic matter as much as the gin?
Why fill the glass with so much ice?
What garnish should I use?
How strong is a Gin and Tonic?
Sources.
Correct as of 19 October 2026.
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Anistatia R. Miller and Jared M. Brown), “tonic water” (secondary source: the Schweppes partners patented commercial “Indian tonic water” in 1858; quinine isolated in 1820; most modern tonic waters hold greatly reduced quinine and augmented sugar).
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Philip Greene), “The Gin and Tonic” (secondary source: gin mixed with antimalarial quinine water by British soldiers in colonial India; Bond’s patent of 28 May 1858; first in print in 1868 (Sealkote races); twice as much tonic as gin).
- VinePair (Olivia White, 24 July 2025), “What’s the Correct Glassware for a Gin & Tonic? Depends on Where You Are.” (named-author drinks site: the copa de balón in Spain, the bulbous wine glass with a stem; emerged in the early 2000s in the Basque region; garnished with herbs, citrus, juniper berries).
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Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 19 October 2026