How Does One Make a Gin and Tonic?

I had a lovely time last night at the Rosemary Branch for “Romeo & Juliet”.

Before the show I went to the bar and had an extraordinary exchange with a young woman.

She asked me, “How do you make it? How do you make gin and tonic?”

I leant against the bar at the Rosemary Branch and offered a smile usually reserved for ticket inspectors on trains and the MD at work.

“How?”

“Sorry, I just started here and I don’t drink.”

“Oh, right. Um, gin. That’s the green bottle right there. Yep, that one. Measured, I think, with that little steel cup. Or you could just splash a bit around over ice if you were feeling generous.”

She scanned the bar in search of the liquor. She found Tanqueray Malacca beside a vase of limes and a pitcher of orange juice. She cautiously poured gin into the measuring cup.

“Put ice in the glass first, before you pour the measure.”

She thrust the tumbler into the mound of ice and offered it for my inspection.

“Perfect.”

She doused the ice with gin. “Is this supposed to taste good?”

“Well, it’s a very popular drink here, where are you from?”

“Prague.”

“So you don’t drink at all?”

“When I was a child, I drank so much milk my mother told me I’d marry an alcoholic.”

“And that put you off the stuff?”

The clamour of jostled plates sent her head turning toward the kitchen and away from my question.