Recipes: Hemingway's Gin and Tonic

Hemingway's Gin & Tonic 

Circa: 1930's

      Today I am sharing with you my go-to drink for the summer! I must give credit to my husband for introducing this delicious drink to me. As many know, Texas this time of year can only be described as HOT! Therefore, the cooler and more refreshing the cocktail, the better. Knowing that my spirit of choice is gin he shared this recipe with me and I have been hooked ever since. Legend states that this was one of famed author Ernest Hemingway's favorite drinks and hangover cures. Hemingway made the drink his own concoction with the addition of Angostura bitters to the classic gin and tonic.  Since I prefer my drinks a little bit sweet,  I added in a little spoonful of Turbinado sugar. Whether you like yours sweeter or not, the drink is still delicious.  Now, as you sip here is your history for the day! 

         The history of tonic water is fascinating!  In 1638 when the wife of the Spanish Viceroy in Peru fell ill with malaria her husband pleaded with the local Incas for an antidote. They instructed her to drink a potion containing the ground bark of the native Quinquina Tree, what we would call the first dose of quinine. Luckily for the countess, the potion worked and she made a full recovery.  Later in 1825 the British military wished to improve the taste of their very bitter, anti-malarial quinine so they decided to combine it with water, sugar, tonic and gin, a very popular British spirit! Rather than taking their medicine with the troops in the morning, the officers began enjoying theirs at cocktail hour.  The classic Gin and Tonic was born! It would become the quintessential drink of the expansive British Empire. 

  

     Finally, I thought I couldn't leave you without a little information about our own cocktail's namesake, Ernest Hemingway!  He was born on July 21, 1899 in Cicero, Illinois. While he was raised in the suburbs of Chicago, his family's frequent trips to their cabin in northern Michigan fostered the future sportsman's love of hunting, fishing and an appreciation of the outdoors. 

     Hemingway worked as a journalist before serving (and being wounded) in World War I as an ambulance driver in the Italian Army.  His wartime experiences later inspired his famous novel, A Farewell to Arms.  After the war, Hemingway moved to Paris and became a key part of what Gertrude Stein called "The Lost Generation." Some of his acquaintances included F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Pablo Picasso and James Joyce. In 1925 after a trip to a festival with British and American expatriates Hemingway was inspired to pen one of his greatest works The Sun Also Rises. 

     In 1928 Hemingway moved back to America and settled in Key West Florida and continued his writing. When he wasn't working Hemingway spent much of his time chasing adventure and big game hunting in Africa, bullfighting in Spain, and deep-sea fishing in Florida. He went back to the battlefield as a war correspondent reporting on the Spanish Civil War in 1937.  His experiences again inspired a classic; this time, For Whom the Bells Tolls.   He later even used his fishing boat to help look for Nazi submarines in the Caribbean during World War II.

     In 1951 Hemingway received a Pulitzer Prize for his book The Old Man and the Sea and a Nobel Prize for his collection of works in 1954. Sadly as he grew older his mind and body began to fail him. He retired permanently to Idaho and early on the morning of July 2, 1961, Ernest Hemingway committed suicide. 

     Though it's a sad end to an incredible man, his legacy of enjoying life  keeps going.  So seize the day and enjoy your own Hemingway Gin & Tonic while enjoying one of Papa Hemingway's classics!

Sources
www.biography.com 
http://qtonic.com