There are so many delicious ingredients to combine with gin and tonic water that I decided to focus this post on a theme rather than a specific recipe. The theme? It’s the berries. All kinds of berries. Berry harvesting begins in early summer around the Northeastern United States, and who wouldn’t love to toss some fresh, locally grown berries into a G&T? 

The Berry Berry Berry Gin and Tonic highlights the availability of some excellent berry-forward gins. In this case, I used Bombay Bramble—a blackberry and raspberry infused gin from the iconic Bombay distillery)—along with Fever Tree’s Mediterranean Tonic (sadly, not available locally—we order ours from Amazon, but other Fever-Tree tonics and Q tonic are great options, too) and lots of fresh strawberries. 

Other berry-rich spirits include Sipsmith’s Strawberry Smash, Frankly Organic Strawberry Vodka (yes, vodka can be great with tonic, too, and Frankly’s flavored vodkas are luscious!), and Snoop Dogg’s Indoggo Gin. But look around and see what’s available where you are. 

THE BERRY BERRY BERRY GIN AND TONIC
2-3 oz Bombay Bramble or similar gin
5-7 oz Fever-tree or Q tonic water of choice
Fresh strawberries for garnish

Fill a large-bowled wine glass with ice and add a couple of ounces of tonic water. Then add gin to taste and top off the drink with more tonic. Stir once gently to integrate the fluids, and garnish with strawberries (skewer them on a long cocktail pick if you like)

Moving on …

Our second recipe in this post requires a muddler and a mixing glass or tin, and it’s a marriage of traditional G&T ingredients (particularly lime) with less traditional ones (blueberries and mint).  Please note for this drink that frozen (and slightly thawed) blueberries actually work better than fresh for coloring and flavoring the mix. If you have fresh blueberries on hand, they would be good for garnishing.

MUDDLED BLUEBERRY, MINT, AND LIME GIN AND TONIC
2-3 oz Gin of choice (I prefer over-proof gins such as Sipsmith VJOP)
5-7 oz Tonic water of choice
Fresh lime wedges
2 tbsp Frozen blueberries (slightly thawed)
2 Mint sprigs

In a mixing glass, shaker base, or other container, muddle 2 tbsp of frozen blueberries and a sprig of mint leaves, until you feel no resistance from the blueberries. Then pour in your preferred gin to your strength of preference and muddle some more. Fill a serving glass (again, I prefer large-bowled wine glasses for G&Ts) at least half full with ice, and then fine-strain the muddle into the serving glass over the ice. (Double-strain if necessary, to remove all visible blueberry and mint-leaf bits).

Squeeze a wedge or more of lime (again, to taste) over the ice and top off the glass with a quality tonic water. Garnish with a few more frozen blueberries and another sprig of mint.

You get the idea

Brilliant, tasty, refreshing tonic cocktails are very, very easy to create in your own home if you just think beyond the lime and allow yourself to be creative. Go to your favorite grocer or farmer’s market and wander around asking yourself what looks like it would be fun to use in your gin- or vodka-and-tonic. 

Note: You may also wish to review my Ten Commandments of Gin and Tonics, posted earlier this year.