Quarter Light G/N

Why does it sometimes take so long to create a perfect solution to an everyday niggle?  The paint roller, wheels on suitcases:  inventions that could have been made centuries earlier if someone had only thought of them.  And now quarter strength gin, the perfect solution for those of us who love the taste of a good gin and tonic but don’t really want to begin an evening with a hit of 40% proof alcohol. The taste of the alcohol at that strength is inevitably harsh, and the effect often far too much of a knock out.  And yet we continue to subscribe to the idea of the gin and tonic as the perfect start to the evening, often purely because we like the taste.  The clever people at Quarter have realised this, and come up with the brilliant solution of a quarter strength gin. Now we can have a gin and tonic, with just 12% alcohol, giving you a drink the strength of a spritzer. That’s the sweet spot:  just enough to give you the distinctive alcohol complexity and oiliness in the mouth, married to beautifully balanced flavours of citrus, especially orange, juniper and a touch of coriander for an undernote of spice.  It’s a superb idea, expertly executed. This drink was so popular with me and my friends that we’d almost finished the bottle before I managed to photograph it. We mixed up some delicious gin and tonics, and then some negronis and more and more people were putting their hands up for the low alcohol version rather than going for the full strength.  Is this the way drinks are going in the future?  I certainly hope so.