One of the recent warm evenings, I decided to pit the two boutique tonic waters now on the market head-to-head. Fever-Tree has been available for more than a year, but Q is just coming into the market and I was sent a sample last week.



Both are trying to make the experience of that classic drink, the gin and tonic, better by improving the oft-neglected role of the mixer. Fever-Tree is made in England, with ingredients sourced from around the world. Q is made, best I can tell, in New York. The gin?



I used my one and only bottle of the tragically no longer produced Tanqueray Malacca (thanks, Jeff Pogash, for giving it to me), a gin that was made "according to the 1839 recipe originally developed during the days of the Company's Far Eastern trade...[and] is infused with selected botanicals from the East Indies and Europe."

Anyway, the reaction from the wife just about sums it up.

Gin and tonic with Q: "Yummy!"
Gin and tonic with Fever-Tree: "Super Yummy."



Both are very good and miles better than the standard fare. By the way, my ratio for the drink is 2 parts gin to 3 parts tonic, with about half a small lime squeezed in.