It is G&T time

Today was one of those days at work - luckily I wasn't in the front line but a close friend and the nastiness brought it all back to me. So I need to have a gin but of course the next question was which one and I went for a Botanist from Islay with 27 'botanicals' in it.

This cocktail was introduced by the army of the British East India Company.

In India and other tropical regions, malaria was a persistent problem. In the 1700s it was discovered that quinine could be used to treat the disease, although the bitter taste was unpleasant. British officers in India in the early 19th century took to adding a mixture of water, sugar, lime and gin to the quinine in order to make the drink more palatable. Since it is no longer used as an antimalarial, tonic water today contains much less quinine, is usually sweetened, and is consequently much less bitter.

It is always nice to have - it helps me to relax the rubbish away.