Mixers are an often overlooked component in the bar. Far more exciting are the hard to find spirits, the ryes from some weird corner of backwater USA or the gin from some bloke’s bathtub in Shropshire, right?
But the history of mixers — of sodas and carbonation — and the way they bring out the flavour of the base spirits you mix them with, is just as interesting.
Sodas back in the day
The Gin and Tonic is so commonplace, it’s recipe so standardised, that you might think it warrants little attention. But that tonic water — the major component of the drink — wasn’t always made the way it is today. Developed as a means of warding of malaria, and a necessary medicine back in the 1800’s when Britain ruled India, it was an infusion of quinine extract and soda water. Made of quinine powered, sugar and water, it would have tasted all kinds of bitter — and it wasn’t until 1870 that Schweppes Indian Quinine Tonic made its first appearance.
But how did carbonated soda come about in the first place?
It was a gent named Joseph Priestley who first found a way to incorporate carbon dioxide into water by suspending a vessel of water over fermenting mash in 1767. Prior to this, the only way to get the sensation provided by the mineral waters famous in Europe was to mix different compounds like sodium bicarbonate and tartaric acid in water.
This wasn’t always a great idea. Because mineral waters and sodas were thought to be healthful, aiding in curing whatever ailed you, enterprising chemists — in the USA in particular — would add all sorts of additives.
Take for an example, an ad for Bromo-Seltzer from the 1880’s. It’s not a soda water per se — they were pills, or as the advertisement notes, a “granular effervescent” — and promised to cure headaches, “mental exhaustion”, and “alcoholic excesses”. Which is no small wonder, given that along with the sodium bicarbonate and citric acid that created the effervescence there was a healthy dose of bromides, a class of tranquillisers (which, by the way, are pretty toxic — they were outlawed in 1975 in the US).
It took the German-born Swiss watchmaker Jacob Schweppes to capitalise on Priestley’s discovery and invent the first device to carbonate water though — you may have heard of his company, Schweppes, right?
That invention helped fuel a carbonated beverages bubble throughout the world.
The Soda Fountain
The soda fountain has all but disappeared these days, but it once reigned supreme.
Often found in chemists in the early days, the soda fountain gained popularity through the 1800’s as it offered an alternative to the saloon. There was often a wide array of flavours available, all mixed up with a dash of this and that, even the odd hint of a narcotic on occasion. You know, too fix what ails ya, right?
The soda fountain’s popularity grew worldwide, and Australia was quite fond of it, too. In 1922, a story in Brisbane’s The Daily Mail noted the popularity of the soda fountain in the USA and the plans of two local chemists who would “on Saturday next open a pharmacy and soda fountain at the Valley corner,” one of whom “visited the United States for the purpose of gaining first-hand knowledge of the soda fountain business.”
The vogues for soda fountains extended all the way south to Tasmania, with Launceston’s Examiner writing in 1923 of the Majestic Cafe’s new system:
“The latest soda fountain is installed and all classes and flavours of drinks served from glass decanters, which is the latest addition to up-to-date soda fountains may be had. This is a great improvement on the old tube system which is verified by anyone having a drink.”
An improvement indeed.
And just as anyone who has had a keg explode on them — it’s happened to us — there were inherent dangers working with a soda fountain system.
In 1920, Adelaide’s Observer wrote about “persons in the vicinity of the square at Henley Beach at about 2.30 o’clock on Monday afternoon were surprised to hear a sound resembling a gas explosion.” What exploded was a soda fountain, the damage of which was significant: “The roof and the walls were blown outwards, and the floor was strewn with debris.” A shop assistant suffered cuts to the face, and a traveller “was unconscious for a few minutes, and also received sever lacerations to the face and eye.” This was a more common occurrence than you’d like to think.
The Soda Jerk and Prohibition
Our former editor, Simon McGoram, touched on the subject of sodas — and the reign of the soda jerk — back in 2012. Here’s what he wrote:
“In 1906, America’s Pure Food and Drug Act was implemented and saw the medical profession start to clean its act up. It put a dent in the soda business for pharmacists, but carbonated beverages were still in high enough demand that most drugstores had to employ a ‘soda jerk’ to dispense these beverages. Before Prohibition most of these soda jerks were young teenagers often called ‘squirts’ after all the syrups they squirted into their sodas. When Prohibition hit in 1920 the country’s barkeeps were all made redundant in one foul swoop. Those that didn’t expatriate themselves or work in a speakeasy could often be found at a soda fountain – they were mostly more mature, more skilled and more charming than teenage soda jerks. They also had the ability to stay cool under pressure and maintain control of crowds and were much more appealing to the female clientele than spotty teenagers.”
The popularity of the soda fountain went into decline eventually, for a number of reasons— chief among them, however were advancements in packaging.
Ever wondered where the crown seal — that bottle cap that you’ll find on mixers like Fever Tree and beers — got its name from? Before its invention, bottles of soda would have needed to be capped with cork — a la champagne, or delivered in soda siphons that were filled at a depot (this was well before the make it at home option arrived).
The crown seal was invented by William Painter in Baltimore in 1892, leading to the formation of the Crown Cork & Seal Company of Baltimore. It was used primarily on beer, but with the coming of Prohibition in the United States they switched their focus to sodas. The rise in popularity of pre-mixed bottled soda from then on was one component in the decline of the soda fountain.
The next big wave of innovation to shake things up, though, would be the can.
Today, canned soda and beers are everywhere, but they’re a relatively new phenomenon. The first canned beer only made an appearance in 1935 when Krueger’s Finest Beer and Krueger’s Finest Cream Ale went on sale in Virginia, USA.
The cans in those days were tin cans (a special coating was applied inside the can to keep the effervescence happening) and were far heavier than today’s aluminium cans. Canned soda would only grown in popularity, though, once the pull tab can was invented in 1959 — prior to this you needed a ‘church key’ to stab open the can.
Why Carbonation?
You’ve heard that there’s five tastes that humans pick up before — salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami. There are sites on the tongue called receptors that are activated when we taste drinks or food containing these elements. However, according to a 2009 paper in the journal Science, it seems that we taste carbonation as well.
Scientists used to think it was a mechanical action — that tingling, buzzy sensation in the mouth — that caused us to perceive carbonation in drinks. However, when tests were carried out that saw carbonated drinks tasted in pressurised environments (which allowed for no bubbles and hence, a flat tasting drinking), the drinks were identified as carbonated.
So what gives?
Well the paper in 2009 identified the taste receptor responsible for picking up sourness as the same one that picks up carbonation, that’s what, and it’s a particular gene in the receptor that encodes an enzyme that senses carbon dioxide.
So given all that information, perhaps it makes sense that carbonation aids in delivering flavour as well. That’s certainly the point that Fever-Tree’s Andy Gaunt makes.
“People who drink champagne and know champagne often talk about the flavour enhancing benefits of champagne because of this very small bubble [it has]. A lot of soft drink companies look at carbonation from a pleasure point of view — as humans, when we consume CO2 there is a sort of natural euphoria that’s created inside our bodies. Sometimes the enhancement of that — with really big fizzy bubbles, can be quite pleasurable, but it doesn’t carry flavour quite as effectively.”
With that in mind, Fever-Tree is one brand that focuses on carbonation and getting a very fine bubble. Gaunt explained how they go about doing that.
“When we carbonate soft water form the north of England — very soft water is another part that allows the spirit to shine — [and] we also carbonate at very low temperatures. When we put the carbonation into the water, it sticks,” he said.
“But most importantly, by using natural ingredients, natural oils and essences, the effect is that we get these very soft, very small bubbles, but with this very high carbonation of 4.5 bar and [which] we believe delivers a great tasting drink that really carries the flavour, has the right level of carbonation, to enjoy that euphoria, refreshment and effervescence but without overpowering the spirit and delivering an ultimately better quality and better tasting drink.”
Mixers Today
Today there is no shortage of options available for sodas. You’ve got the ubiquitous post-mix option, a variety of bottled mixers at all price points, and numerous do-it-yourself options.
There’s even been a push towards tailoring the mixer to the particular spirit in use — Fever-Tree, for example, has three different tonic waters suited to different styles of gin. And it’s this variety that allows you the ability offer premium options in addition to the standard house pour and mixer. Fever-Tree’s Andy Gaunt suggested that running a Gin and Tonic
menu, for instance, can net you more profit, according to their research.
“Not only is there an additional increase in [the venue’s] cash profit because of the additional cash margin that a premium drink can deliver,” he said, “what’s most interesting for me is that the increase in Gin and Tonic sales and their premium gin sales is about 40 percent on average when we’ve tested this.”
It looks like it can pay — quite handsomely, apparently — to give more thought to your mixers.
Cascade Tonic Water
Cascade is a drinks brand that’s been around for a long time. These days, for the on-premise they’ve got easy to store, 200ml cans which can be useful if you want to avoid the post mix route, but are pressed for space.
CCA
Quina Fina Tonic Water
This New Zealand-made tonic water is a drier-style tonic. They use Ecuadorian cinchona bark, organic lemon and a local artesian water to put together a perfect Gin and Tonic mixer.
Vanguard Luxury Brands
Fever-Tree Cola
Fever-Tree Cola is created using a blend of 11 hand selected ingredients from nine different geographical locations across the globe, including Argentine lemons, Mexican creole lime, Indonesian ‘korintje’ cassia cinnamon, fresh green ginger from the Ivory Coast and Madagascan vanilla.
Southtrade
Fever-Tree Premium Indian Tonic Water
This 200ml classic tonic water is ideal for a variety of top quality gins. Made from only natural ingredients, it is a blend of botanical oils, spring water, and the highest quality quinine from the ‘Fever Trees’ of the Eastern Congo.
Southtrade
Pimento Ginger Beer
This is a ginger beer from France, created by Eric Dalsace, a guy who gave up drinking alcohol but missed the strong taste of them liquors. So what did he do? He crafted a full flavoured non-alcoholic drink incorporating chili peppers for a good strong bite.
Cerbaco