Gin and Tonic Recipe ｜ The Easy 2-Ingredient Classic Cocktail

Name: Gin and Tonic Recipe: The Easy 2-Ingredient Classic Cocktail
Prep time: 3 min
Total time: 3 min
Yield: 1 drink
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: Dry gin - 1 1/2 oz (45ml); Tonic water - Full (fill glass 80-90%); Lime wedge

A gin and tonic garnished with a lime wheel, served in a highball glass on a wooden bar counter

Japanese version・日本語版へ

Order a Gin and Tonic today and it feels like pure pleasure — it wasn’t built for that. This drink began as medicine in British India, where bitter anti-malarial quinine was cut with sugar and soda just to make it drinkable, and gin joined the mix almost by accident. Two ingredients, endless variation: pour it tonic-heavy and gin vanishes, pour it gin-heavy and it turns into a Martini in disguise. Get the ratio and the gin right, and a former medicine becomes the easiest classic to fall in love with tonight.

Table of Contents

Recipe

Ingredients

Multiple rows of spirit bottles on backlit bar shelves against an exposed brick wall

Recipe no.022

Dry gin — 1 + 1/2 oz (45ml)
Tonic water — Full
Lime wedge

Note: “Full” means filling the glass to about 80–90% capacity.

Instructions

A bartender in a black apron stirring a cocktail in a mixing glass with a long bar spoon

Step

Prepare

Prepare 1/8 of a lime.
Chill the tonic water and glass beforehand.

Step

Combine the ingredients

Give the lime wedge a light squeeze into the glass, then add ice and the dry gin.

Step

Stir in the tonic

Pour in the tonic water gently to avoid excess foam, then stir slowly and lightly.
When mixing in a carbonated ingredient, one to two slow rotations while lifting and lowering the ice is all it takes to combine everything.

How to Stir

・Technique ｜ Stir
・Glass ｜ Collins glass / Tumbler glass
・ABV ｜ Roughly 9–10%
・Best Enjoyed ｜ Daytime / Before dinner

Gin and Tonic in Detail, with Recipe Video

Origins

A bottle of aged Dutch genever displayed against a backdrop of traditional windmills and a canal

Photo ｜ Genever

It’s easy to assume the Gin and Tonic was invented for pleasure — it wasn’t. This drink started as medicine in British-controlled India. Quinine, used to prevent malaria, was bitter, and residents cut it with sugar and soda water to get it down. Gin, tied to Dutch genever and already popular medicinally, joined in, striking a balance that outlasted its purpose.

Carbonated water spread widely in the late 1700s, and in 1858 businessman Erasmus Bond patented the first commercial quinine tonic water. By 1870, Schweppes launched its own Indian Quinine Tonic for expatriates needing daily quinine. An 1868 Indian magazine holds one of the earliest references to gin paired with tonic, and by 1880 the pairing was popular locally.

The drink’s lime habit traces to a separate naval tradition — sailors carried lime rations to prevent scurvy, and that squeeze became part of the recipe. After World War II it spread worldwide, and Schweppes building a U.S. plant in 1953 cemented it as a modern classic.

Flavor & Character

A bottle of gin sits beside tonic water bottles and empty glasses arranged on a copper tray.

The Gin and Tonic is deceptively simple: two ingredients, endless variation in how they’re balanced. Tonic’s quinine bitterness meets gin’s botanical character head-on, and the ratio between them is what actually defines the drink — pour it too tonic-heavy and gin’s botanicals disappear, too gin-heavy and it drinks more like a martini than a long drink.

The first sip brings tonic’s crisp bitterness and carbonation forward, followed by gin’s juniper and citrus botanicals unfolding underneath. A lime wedge, squeezed rather than just dropped in, adds real acidity that keeps the bitterness from feeling flat.

Different gins genuinely change the drink: a classic London Dry leans piney and sharp, while a more citrus-forward gin softens the whole thing considerably. I always tell people the gin matters more here than in almost any other cocktail, since there is nowhere for it to hide.

Points, Twists & Food Pairings

A smoked salmon appetizer garnished with salmon roe, radish, and mixed greens, topped with a crispy beet chip

Best Pairings・・・Pair with olives, smoked salmon, or salty nuts — juniper loves briny, savory bites.
Mixing Tip・・・Pour gin over ice first, then add tonic gently down the side to keep the chill and fizz.
Easy Twist・・・Swap lime for grapefruit or cucumber, or try a flavored tonic for a botanical twist.
Drinking Note・・・It sips easy, but gin runs strong — pace yourself with a heavy pour before dinner.