Quaffed the Raven

For more info on the brand, see my review of their original tonic.

This flavoured version uses blood orange oils and a bitter orange tincture as the base to which is added a distilled essence, created by steeping and gently heating elderflowers.

According to the website, the tonic “…complements the ever-expanding range of juniper heavy gins, grape or rye based vodkas and, more innovatively, reposado tequilas.”

The London Essence Co. Original Indian Tonic is available in 200ml bottles, and 150ml cans.

Tasting Notes

When first pouring there’s a good fizz that erupts and falls away, leaving plenty of medium bubbles, with a good amount floating to the surface.

The aroma is a lovely floral, tangy citrus on top of a dry, faint quinine. It’s nowhere near as strongly scented as I’d imagined and smells delicious.

To taste, it’s lovely and clean, bitter and dry but not overly so. There’s a really good bitter orange flavour, with the focus very much on the bitter! The elderflower comes through really well, tasting beautifully fresh and not at all sweet or syrupy (which is probably a more common way to drink elderflower). It’s well balanced, and has good length.

With gin (3:1 Beefeater with fresh orange peel), it works really well. It remains dry, crisp, and bitter, and still lets the gin show through nicely. The flavours most certainly don’t overpower the gin, and in fact I feel like I can taste them a little less now, making it a very subtle experience. The trouble with that is that it’s not got quite enough quinine to balance that element, so it’s a little weak overall.

Overall

The London Essence Co. Bitter Orange & Elderflower Tonic is surprisingly good in that it is very much a dry tonic with hints of flavour, not a flavoured drink that’s a little dry. It’s lovely and crisp, very fresh, and works well in a G&T. I’d definitely try it with a good vodka too, and the tequila pairing sounds very interesting. For a ‘flavoured’ tonic I think it’s excellent.

The London Essence Co. Bitter Orange & Elderflower Tonic Water is available in shops and online

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All reviews are of the author’s personal collection, bought and paid for by the author, unless otherwise stated.