André Sousa: “Gin and Tonics”
André Sousa gives us a “then and now” look at ordering and making the very simple gin and tonic…
More than a little reminiscent of Portlandia’s “Mixology” episode where Carrie is given a “ginger-based bourbon drink infused with honey, lemon, and charred ice” (that has also been finished/garnished with tomatoes, homemade bitters, eggs, lime zest, and… rotten bananas).
Of course, it’s over the top for a drink that contains just two ingredients and ice. Still though, I’ve read some cocktail descriptions well over a paragraph long on menus before and was more fascinated in watching them being made than I was drinking them. So I guess sometimes over the top is called for, but I’d love to see the 2005 and 2015 in the video above compared with two more decade steps back. I know I’d order vodka or gin and tonic in the 90s all the time because I didn’t really know cocktails then and it was either that, rum and coke… or Zima1.
Yes, I know, times were tough for us drinkers in the olden days before craft cocktails, “mixology” and every spirit under the sun and moon being aged in barrels. Now you can get home kits and appliances for molecular mixology, smoking spirits and just this past week I saw a stovetop still for making your own moonshine.
It all seems a little silly but at the same time makes me wonder what the next trend in cocktails and mixology will be. Will we finally have those robotic bartenders I’ve always dreamed of in 2025? Who can say? 
1 Which is apparently still sold in Japan. Who knew?
