Drinking The World

Sence Rare European Rose Nectar is a interesting and unusual new drink made from the centuries old strain of Kazanlak roses grown in Bulgaria. The Kazanlak rose is known for its high levels of anti-oxidants and has been used in gourmet food for ages. This rose originated in Egypt and Syria and was brought to Bulgaria in the year 1256.

In making this drink the rose petals are harvested during a three week period in early summer during the hours of 3am to 10am when the dew levels are highest. This leads to a fresher and more floral nectar that is extracted from the flowers. Then the petals have to be processed within two hours of the harvest. For thousands of years this nectar was then added to crisp and clear spring water to make a lovely, rose flavored drink or used in other food and fragrance products. Leonardo da Vinci drank rose nectar regularly both hot as a tea, and chilled.

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Q Tonic Water is for when only the best is good enough. There are very few premium mixers on the market, especially tonic water. Now Q Tonic Water is joining the select ranks of premium tonic waters. I got some pre-production samples a few months ago and tried it and found it was very good, but a little on the sweet side. I spoke with the creator, Jordan Silbert, the President of Q Tonic, who spent over four years developing Q Tonic, at first in his New York City kitchen and then later with the help of a food scientist. Jordan said that the final version would be less sweet and have more tang and tartness and he was right.

Recently I received the final product and it was excellent. The taste is very clean, dry, and simple. It's a real tonic water made with natural ingredients and no synthetics. It has a the nice bitterness of real extract of ground cinchona tree bark from Peru (not a synthetic quinine), with a hint of sweetness from organic agave syrup from the Jalisco region of Mexico (none of that nasty High Fructose Corn Syrup), and a tang of tartness from lemon extract which brings it all together.

When mixed with gin it brought out more of the gins flavor than mass market tonic waters, and is great to use with one of the super premium gins I enjoy so much. Why use a lousy tonic water when you use a premium gin? Now you can have both for a much more clean tasting and refined Gin & Tonic.

Q Tonic Water has only been available in 4 charter locations in NY for the past few weeks: Gramercy Tavern, Milk & Honey, Little Branch, and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Westchester, NY. Jim Meehan, a bartender at Gramercy Tavern says, "We're excited to offer our customers Q Tonic. They've come to expect that Gramercy Tavern carries the highest quality food and beverages available anywhere." As of now, the beginning of July, it should be available at a larger number and range of places in the NY area including grocery stores, and as time goes on it will be available in other regions. Q Tonic Water is a bit pricey, but worth it.