As much as we enjoy cocktails, making our own at home is never quite the same as when done by a mixologist. At The Amazing Blog we always like to impress our guests by making cocktails. So, the idea of creating our own tonics with syrups, playing with the flavours and strength to suit, certainly intrigued us. Which is where we discovered the drinks brand ¾oz Tonic a clever concept for customising our favourite drinks.
The names came from ¾ of an ounce (approx 25g in metric), which is the amount of syrup needed for each glass to make your perfect tipple! ¾ oz Tonic was born in Montreal, Canada where these syrups are handmade with only 100% natural ingredients, they are non-alcoholic and offer a delicious array of tastes and aromas.
There are five flavours in the range, but we only tried just three: Ginger Ale, Spritz and Tonic syrups. Ginger Ale Syrups is one we’ll never tire of. Made with fresh ginger juice, hops, sugar cane and citric acid, this syrup is so refreshing to drink just mixed with sparkling water. Or to create an ‘Irish Buck’ prepared with a glass full of ice, poured with ¾ of Ginger Ale Syrup, 1 ¼oz of your favourite spirit (Irish whiskey in our case), finished with 2-3oz of sparkling water, stir well and enjoy. We found that unlike shop-bought mixers, this bursts into life tasting zesty and fresh with its sweet warming ginger. This was our favourite of the three.
Next, we have The Spritz Syrup is a non-alcoholic version of the classic Italian-style bitters aperitif. Key ingredients are with cinchona bark infused water, cranberries, grapefruit and orange zest, cane sugar and natural quinine. Your palate will experience some pleasant sourness at the beginning, ending with a dry finish. We also tried Spritz with sparkling wine which were an ideal match. If that’s not your drink, try mixing it as suggested for a Negroni or top it up a notch as a Manhattan! For the classic Spritzer add 1 part of Spritz, 2-3 parts of sparkling wine, 1 part sparkling water and an orange slice (for Instagram purposes obviously!) with lots of ice to finish.
Last but not least, is the signature Tonic Syrup. Unlike other tonics, Tonic Syrup has an attractive amber colour that caught everyone’s eyes. It is similar in its ingredients as The Spritz Syrup; however, with this we noticed had a slightly more distinctive bitterness, which is probably due to the more undiluted Cinchona bark ingredient. There is also sugar, lemongrass and orange zest too making that quite a dominant taste; NB it’s not for mixing with your more subtle flavoured gins. It tastes raw and punchy with a feeling of apothecary goodness. They suggest adding ¾ oz of the Tonic Syrup, 1 ¼ oz of gin (or vodka) and 2-3 oz of sparkling water on a glass full of ice. Whether you want cocktails or mocktails, these delicious and handy bottle syrups make great drinking partners. We recommend getting your ¾ Tonic syrups 240ml bottle at £7.99 from Waitrose here.