Vodka Tonic

Here’s how to make the best vodka tonic, one of the easiest mixed drinks of all time! This two-ingredient cocktail is bubbly, citrusy, and refreshing.

Looking for a refreshing cocktail that goes down easy? Try the vodka tonic! This variation on the Gin & Tonic is less about the booze and more about citrusy bubbles. Gin is botanical and booze forward, but vodka melds right into the tonic water. It makes for a drink where you might not be able to taste the alcohol at all (so beware!). While it’s simple, there are a few tips on making the very best vodka tonic. Here’s how to make this two-ingredient cocktail!

What’s a vodka tonic?

The vodka tonic is a highball cocktail, part of a family of drinks that pair liquor with a larger portion of a non-alcoholic mixer (like tonic water or soda water). The most popular highball drinks are the Gin and Tonic and the Whiskey Highball, but there are many others (the Americano, Tequila Sunrise, Vodka Cranberry, Sea Breeze, etc). The ingredients for a vodka tonic are:

• Vodka
• Tonic water
• Lemon wedge and lime wedge

While the ingredients are simple, there are few tricks to the best vodka tonic. Here’s what we recommend!

Tip 1: Use good tonic water (and vodka!).

Tonic water is a carbonated water that also contains quinine and is lightly sweetened. Its flavor is bubbly, bitter, sweet and a little sour all at once. Classic cocktails used tonic water not only to dilute liquor with bubbles, but for its nuance in flavor. These days there are lots of tonic water brands out there. Our favorite brand is Q Tonic: it has great flavor and is sold in small cans, just enough for a few drinks.

Of course, you’ll also want to use great vodka! Because this drink is so simple, it needs quality vodka (though not as important as in other cocktails). Try to find a mid-price range vodka; the price is generally indicative of the quality inside the bottle.

Tip 2: Add both lemon and lime juice.

To get the best flavor in a vodka tonic, use both lemon and lime! Please don’t go minimalist on us and think that one is enough. OK, we’ll forgive you if you do! But there’s something about using both citrus together that gets the perfect zingy flavor. Try it with just one or the other, and something’s missing. Give a wedge of each one a good squeeze into the drink, then throw them in as a garnish too.

Tip 3: Pour the tonic water over a spoon.

One last tip to making the best vodka tonic! When you’re adding the tonic water, pour it over a spoon into the drink. This is known to make it more bubbly. Now, we don’t have any scientific proof of this! But why not.

When to serve a vodka tonic

The vodka tonic is a classic and carefree vodka cocktail. It’s perfect for sipping as a:

• Happy hour drink
• Dinner party drink
• Summer drink
• Late night drinks drink
• Guys or girls night drink
• Cocktail hour drink

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More vodka cocktails

This vodka tonic is one in a list of the best vodka cocktails to try! Here are a few more to use up your bottle:

• Vodka Gimlet A variation on the classic gin gimlet with a smoother flavor! It’s got just three ingredients: vodka, lime and syrup.
• Vodka Sour A classic sour cocktail: refreshingly sweet tart with a frothy egg white foam on top!
• Lemon Drop Martini, Pomegranate Martini, Cucumber Martini, or Vesper Martini Four different flavor spins on the vodka martini: each unique!
• Berry Vodka Smash A seriously refreshing cocktail with muddled blackberries or raspberries, mint, and lime.