Is your mixer premium enough for your craft gin?

At a time when spirits lovers are spending up to $20 a shot for premium artisan vodkas, are you paying enough attention to the mixers accompanying your craft spirits?

StrangeLove, a Victorian-based soft drink company, has just released a range of super-premium tonic waters.

The mixers have been developed in a way that has as much in common with spirit distilling than soft drinks, with some variants containing up to seven different botanicals.

And the premium mixers are catching on quickly with on-trend eateries such as Attica, Quay, Vue De Monde, Longrain, Town Mouse, Embla, Billy Kwong, Automata and Bacash joining the ranks of stockists.

“People are paying upwards of $20 for a shot of gin, so to even contemplate using post-mix on a spirit like that should be grounds for a hefty fine, public shaming or possibly a lifetime ban from the hospitality industry,” jokes StrangeLove co-founder James Bruce. 

“Seriously, there are some truly amazing, inspiring gins coming out of Australia, it’s about time there was a locally produced tonic water that did them justice.”

StrangeLove mixers are currently available in five variants -Tonic No. 8 (an Indian tonic water that went very well with my Dasher + Fisher Tasmanian gin), Light Tonic (which at 2.9g sugar/100ml contains the lowest sugar of any all-natural tonic water on the market), Dirty Tonic (a bespoke, cloudy tonic that contains wild cinchona bark), Bitter Lemon Tonic (a citrus tonic that pairs impressively with my Grey Goose) and Dry Ginger (a super-dry ginger ale with Sichuan pepper and two varieties of ginger).

Stafford Fox, StrangeLove’s national sales manager, says there has been global interest in StrangeLove, which retails in four packs at retailers including Dan Murphy’s for $9.99. 

 “I think export will be huge for us," he says. "These mixers represent a huge step up in quality for mixers in general. To be honest I am just looking forward to going somewhere that is not Albury-Wodonga on my next business trip.”

Full details online at www.strangelove.com.au