It costs $20 and it doesn't even look like a real gin and tonic—instead of
crystal-clear, it's cloudy, almost milky. Plus, in order to order it, you have
to dress up (coats for the men, no denim or sneakers for anyone) and ride an
escalator up three floors in a mall. But the gin and tonic in the bar at Per
Se is worth both the dollars and the inconvenience. To begin with, Brian
Van Flandern, the Head Mixologist (yes, there really is such a
position) at Per Se, uses Junipero gin, a California brand made by Fritz
Maytag's Anchor Distillery. Fashioned after 1600s-style Dutch gin, it has a
heavy emphasis on juniper, with a deliciously floral, aromatic flavor. And then
there's the tonic. Van Flandern starts with raw quinine powder, made from the
bark of the chynchona plant, that he imports from Brazil. Then he adds pure
sugar cane simple syrup, fresh lime juice, and finally Ty Nant sparkling water
from Wales which, he says, "has a much lighter effervescence than
commercial tonic waters" because its bubbles are much smaller. It may seem
like a ridiculous amount of work, but what you get from this process as opposed
to screwing off the lid on a bottle of standard tonic water is a different
animal entirely. Closely resembling the drink that British soldiers devised
during the height of the Empire to counteract malaria, this G&T makes you
understand why it became one of the world's most popular drinks.
Pinterest
