The Lush Chef

I'm always on the lookout for new products to include in my baking and shaking endeavors, so when the pretty packaging of Fever Tree caught my eye at BevMo, I just had to try.  I picked up the Bitter Lemon tonic and poured it in with some Grey Goose vodka and a lemon twist on a Monday night.  Yeah, it's going to be hard to go back to regular tonic water now...The flavor had just the right amount of bitter, a slight hint of sweetness and citrus that will kick up your G&Ts and V&Ts several notches.  The best part is, they're all natural.


Fever Tree hails from the UK and was founded in early 2005 by one of the guys who ran Plymouth Gin.  Their philosophy is that if 3/4 of your drink is tonic or soda water, then it better be darn good. I couldn't agree more.  The name stems from the colloquial for the Cinchona Tree, where quinine, a primary ingredient in tonic water, is found in the extract of the bark.  The bark is also a common ingredient found in most bitters, so it's known for its healing properties.  It's a perfect way to make the medicine go down, right?  The particular bark they use descends from a high-yielding quinine varietal first cultivated by a British explorer named Charles Ledger, and which is still grown along the Rwanda-Congo border.  I'm looking forward to trying their other tonics and sodas — such as their award-winning Mediterranean Tonic Water and Ginger Beer.