Let us get refresh in Summer : GIN and TONIC MANTRA

Gin and Tonic is a cocktail which was introduced by the British Army officers stationed in India in eighteen century. The British never faced mosquitos in England, in India due to mosquito bite they were affected by Malaria, at that point of time quinine as a potent cure for the disease was available, but it used to be very bitter, so solution came in the form of tonic water. Tonic water was made by dissolving quinine tablet in water, adding sugar and lemon juice. to make this concoction more tempting gin was added, thus Gin and Tonic became popular. Gin is achieved by distilling alcohol with juniper berries.

. Soldiers in India were already given a gin ration, and the sweet concoction inevitably made sense.Since it is no longer used as an antimalarial, tonic water today contains much less quinine, is usually sweetened, and is consequently much less bitter.

I was invited at a Mixologist Conference organised by BBC Good Homes magazine at The Club, Andheri sometime in 2009, on this occasion, they had a cocktail making competition, surprisingly i got an award for my cocktail 'Gin And Tonic with a twist'. I was surprised that the younger one in the crow were not aware about the origin of this iconic concoction.

In Spain, a variation on the drink called Gin Tónica has become popular. This differs from a traditional gin and tonic as it is served in balloon glass or coupe glass with plenty of ice and a garnish tailored to the flavours of the gin. The drink could be fruit-based but the use of herbs and vegetables, reflecting the gins botanicals, are increasingly popular.^[22] The balloon glass is used because the aromas of the drink can gather at its opening for the drinker to more easily appreciate.

The popularity of this variation of the gin and tonic has led to the establishment of Gin Tónica bars, in which customers can choose their preferred gin, tonic, and garnish from a menu.

The trans galactic nature of the gin and tonic is discussed in Douglas Adams' novel The Restaurant at the End of the Universe :

It is a curious fact, and one to which no one knows quite how much importance to attach, that something like 85% of all known worlds in the Galaxy, be they primitive or highly advanced, have invented a drink called jynnan tonnyx, or gee-N'N-T'N-ix, or jinond-o-nicks, or any one of a thousand or more variations on the same phonetic theme. The drinks themselves are not the same, and vary between the Sivolvian "chinanto/mnigs" which is ordinary water served at slightly above room temperature, and the Gagrakackan "tzjin-anthony-ks" which kills cows at a hundred paces; and in fact the one common factor between all of them, beyond the fact that the names sound the same, is that they were all invented and named before the worlds concerned made contact with any other worlds.

James Bond specifies a recipe of how to make a gin and tonic while in Kingston, Jamaica in the book Dr. No. Unusually it involves the juice of a whole lime

In the movie The Year of Living Dangerously, Colonel Henderson, when he first meets Guy Hamilton, complains when his gin and tonic is served with ice, explaining that only Americans drink it like that.

Ian Gillan mentions the cocktail in the song "Sleeping On The Job": "Ultrasonic, gin and tonic, sleeping on the job".

Oasis also mention the cocktail in their song "Supersonic": "I'm feeling supersonic, give me gin and tonic".

On the popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother, character Barney Stinson played by Neil Patrick Harris is often heard ordering a gin and tonic. On one occasion where he serves as a bartender, the audience learns that he does not know what the drink consists of.

In the 1973 single, "Piano Man" by Billy Joel, one of the drinkers at the bar was "Making love to his Tonic and Gin."