Fatty’s Organic Gin (and vodka) from London
Fatty’s Organic Gin uses dill as the key botanical. Dulwich (an affluent borough of southeast London) literally means ‘the meadow where dill grows’. There’s also a winter spiced gin with cinnamon and nutmeg.
The low-alcohol version is based on pink grapefruit; serve with lime and pink grapefruit juice with crushed ice, garnished with a wedge of pink grapefruit.
Muddle 50ml of Fatty’s organic gin with four lime wedges, two springs of fresh dill and one teaspoon of sugar. Add to a glass half-filled with ice and 2 slices of diced cucumber. Stir and top with soda water.
Corks are too dense to recycle and are choking hazards, so send off in bulk to Recorked, if your local off license does not collect.
Check medication before drinking tonic water (contains quinine). Also avoid tonic water for pregnancy/nursing (but hopefully you won’t be drinking gin anyway).
Fatty’s also makes good organic vodka
The Best Brands of Artisan Tonic Waters
Tonic water is mostly served as a mixer for gin and vodka, or sometimes alone as a refreshing drink. But it was originally used to help prevent malaria, as it contains quinine (from the bark of the cinchona tree).
It was so bitter that medics added gin, to make it more palatable. Modern tonic waters don’t have as much quinine, and are generally sweeter.
- Fentimans (Northumberland) makes a wide range of botanically brewed tonic waters, made with herbal infusions from lemongrass to Sicilian lemon oil.
- Luscombe (Devon) blends Dartmoor spring water with wild or organic fruits, and Indian quinine. Also in flavoured versions (elderflower and grapefruit) and a Light version (sweetened with fruit sugar, with Japanese yuzu).
- Daylesford makes organic tonic water with dandelion, instead of quinine. Containing far less sugar, it’s bottled on a family farm in Devon. Choose from Light, cucumber, wild elderflower or Damescena rose.
