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Writer's pictureFibonacciMD
Nov 8

The Creation of the Gin and Tonic; a Medical Odyssey

The Medical Origins of the Gin and Tonic

Discover the surprising origins of the classic gin and tonic. From a medicinal marvel to a beloved cocktail, this drink's journey is as fascinating as its taste.


MEDICAL HISTORY


Legend has it that a Native American accidently discovered that the bark of the cinchona tree (Cinchona officinalis) was a treatment for malaria, when ill with a fever he drank from a pool of bitter stagnant water with cinchona trees around it and got better.  The bark contains quinine and other alkaloids which can treat malaria. 


The Journey of Quinine from Peru to Europe

The Spanish discovered that indigenous inhabitants of Peru were using cinchona bark in the 1600s.  It then became also known as “Jesuit’s bark” and became a European favorite medicine for treating malaria.  The bark was dried and ground down to a powder to produce quinine.


Quinine’s Vital Role in the British Empire

In the late 1700s, the British East India Company controlled trade and governed India.  More soldiers were lost to malaria than to battle, and by the 1800s quinine powder was considered vital to the health of Englishmen in this tropical climate.  By 1840 they were using 700 tons of cinchona bark in India annually.  While quinine could be used to treat malaria, using it to prevent malaria was intermittently done until 1854, when an army physician ordered his men to take it while exploring the Niger river region.  None of them contracted malaria and at that point quinine prophylaxis started being used regularly.


The Birth of Tonic Water

The taste of quinine is very bitter and unpleasant, so the question was how to get people to drink it regularly.  In India, members of the British army were trying to find a way to make quinine more palatable, so their soldiers would actually drink it every day.  They devised a homebrewed tonic water drink with some sugar, soda and quinine.


Dutch Courage and the British Gin Craze

Gin was initially produced in the Netherlands, and during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) was provided to soldiers for its calming effects before battle and became known as “Dutch Courage”.  When gin was brought back to Britain it became so popular that it set off an era, from the late 1690s to early 1700s, known as the “Gin Craze” with hundreds of distilleries, inexpensive gin, and a large amount of people drinking it.  It was associated with vice and social decay of the lower classes in Britain, but by the mid-1800s gin was regaining respectability.


How Gin and Tonic Became a Health Habit

Someone, probably an army officer in India, decided to combine his tonic water with gin and thus was born the gin and tonic, a popular drink, which came from a need to encourage people to take malaria prophylaxis. 


The British army and the British East India Company allowed and encouraged members to drink the gin and tonic for their health and even recommended adding lime to it to prevent scurvy.


The Bottled Legacy of Tonic Water

Carbonated tonic waters containing quinine for malaria prophylaxis started to be produced in 1858, and by 1870 “Indian Quinine Tonic” created by Johann Jacob Schweppe of the Schweppes company was the leading brand.  Tonic water sold today contains much less quinine than it did back then.



 

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