Spirit and Soda

There's no recipe here, which is the point. A spirit and soda is the drink you make when you want a drink and not a project, and the difference between a good one and a bad one is entirely in the handling.

Soda, not tonic

Tonic is a flavored drink. It has sugar in it and quinine, which is bitter, and both of those sit on top of whatever you poured underneath. That's fine when the tonic is the point, as with gin. It's the wrong choice when you want to taste the spirit.

Soda water adds carbonation and nothing else. If you bought a whiskey because you liked how it tastes, soda is the only mixer that lets you keep tasting it.

I use Topo Chico. The carbonation is harder and finer than almost anything else on the shelf, and it holds up: a glass is still lively fifteen minutes in, where a soft soda has gone quiet. It's also mineral water rather than carbonated tap water, which gives it a faint salinity that suits tequila and whiskey both. Small glass bottles, because a big bottle is flat by the second pour.

Tips

• Soda from a fresh, small bottle beats the end of a two-liter every time.
• The spirit choice is the drink. Tequila and soda with lime, whiskey and soda with lemon, gin and soda with grapefruit.
• Blanco tequila, soda and a lot of lime is close to a ranch water, but ranch water means Topo Chico and nothing else does it the same way.