The perfect gin & tonic: our bar's guide

The gin & tonic is the most ordered drink in Spain and, paradoxically, one of the worst made. With two ingredients it shouldn’t be possible to get it wrong… and yet. After serving thousands of them at our bar on Pedro Antonio, this is our ritual. It works just as well at home as it does for judging the bar that puts one in front of you.

1. The glass: balloon, and cold

The balloon glass isn’t for show. Its wide mouth concentrates the aroma of the botanicals and the rounded crystal keeps the cold longer. At Margot the glasses hang upside down over the bar and are chilled before every serve: a warm glass kills the first sip, and the first sip is the one you remember.

2. The ice: plenty, solid, and don’t water down the gin

Mistake number one: too little ice “to fit more drink in”. It’s exactly the opposite. The more ice, the slower it melts and the less it dilutes your drink. Fill the glass to the top with ice, stir for ten seconds to chill the glass and drain the meltwater before pouring the gin.

3. The proportions: 1 to 4

50 ml of gin to about 200 ml of tonic. More gin isn’t more generosity, it’s less balance. And the tonic, always freshly opened: a flat tonic turns the best gin in the world into sad water.

4. Pour the tonic with care

Tilt the glass and let the tonic slide down slowly along a bar spoon or the wall of the glass. The goal is to keep the bubbles, which is what carries the aroma. Pouring it from a height in one go is the liquid equivalent of slamming a door.

5. Botanicals: one well chosen beats five

• Citrus gins (classic London Dry): lemon or lime peel, expressed over the glass.
• Spiced gins: a slice of orange or a few juniper berries.
• Floral gins: grapefruit peel, gentle.

The glass with half a garden inside stayed back in 2015. A botanical should accompany, not cover.

The quick test to judge any bar

1. Did the glass arrive cold and full of ice?
2. Did you see the bottle when it was served?
3. Was the tonic opened in front of you?

Three yeses: you’re in good hands. At our bar all three are law — check it out on the menu, with whichever gin you pick from the shelf.

Fancy something fresher for the summer? Take a look at our guide to the best mojito in Granada.

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