Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: The Experiment

Happy Friday and welcome back. Building off of last week’s Gibson, we come to the experiment I talked about. I found this drink re-posted by the N0.3 Gin’s Instagram account:

Yes. That appears to be a Gibson martini, with tonic and a lemon peel in with the cocktail onions. I was down for some research and a challenge, and went to find out more about it. Which unfortunately didn’t any more information. So, I just kept it simple. I made a standard Gibson and topped it with tonic. I used the same ratio as last week, and measured out the tonic:

Gibson Martini and Tonic

2 1/4 oz. London dry gin

3/4 oz. Dry vermouth

2-3 oz. Fever Tree tonic water

Lemon peel and cocktail onions for garnish

Combine the gin and vermouth in a cocktail shaker stir as desired, then strain into a collins glass. Top with tonic and garnish with the lemon peel surrounding the cocktail onions

Milder aroma up front. I get hints of the lemon rind, as well as some bitter from the onions and their brine. Mostly neutral overall. Nothing else really stands out.

The taste though, does stand out, but in a good way. The onions and the vermouth add a nice depth to what would be a superb gin and tonic on it’s own. I’m somewhat surprised I get as much onion brine as I do. Last time out, I made it “dirty” by adding some of the brine to the drink. This time however, I held back. I wasnt sure how it would work out so I erred on the side of caution. I think that was the move. Enough of the flavor leeches off of the onion and into the drink to let you know it’s there.

The vermouth works in concert to add some good background flavors. The dryness cuts through the tonic just enough to make it discernable, but not enough to overpower anything else going on. The gin still is the main attraction of the drink, but it’s flavor is straight in the middle between a highball and a martini. Not surprising since that’s exactly what this is. It’s obviously not as strong as a regular Gibson is, but it somehow seems more…potent? Even though it really isn’t. Maybe that’s the vermouth talking and amplifying the gin to a new height to fight through the added tonic flavors.

It finishes like a normal gin and tonic. No real lingering flavors on the palate, and the ice cold tonic topper makes this hard to nurse, unlike a good martini, this one doesn’t last too long.

I wasn’t sure what I was gonna get into, and I’m not even sure I made it properly since I cant find any other references to this drink literally anywhere. Even the restaurant’s website doesn’t even list it. I do like this, it’s an interesting twist on two classic drinks. Though, if I’m honest, I dont know if this one will be a recurring drink. It’s a fun and tasty one off, but if I want a martini, I’m gonna have a martini. If I want a gin and tonic, I’m just gonna make a gin and tonic.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)