Austin-based Liber & Company trucks in a pretty narrow world: Artisinal, spiced tonic syrup.

Liber & Co. sent us samples of their new product and it’s certainly nothing like your bottle of Schweppes. A ruddy orange, and indeed a tonic syrup, not a tonic “water.” Made with crushed herbs, spices, and cinchona bark, it is filtered down to 25 microns, “the lower threshold that the human tongue can detect,” per the company, to remove particulates. Agave nectar is used for sweetening.

The results are impressive if overwhelming. Tasted alone the syrup is a gut-puncher, full of orange peel and clove character, sweet at first, then fading to bitter in the way you might expect tonic to taste. There’s a vague quinine aftertaste that reminds you what it is you’re drinking.

Naturally this is not meant to be drank solo, and I tried it in the Save the Countess cocktail recipe (below), with great results. Here the tonic syrup works well with its fellow spirits, creating a fun and balanced — if quite flavorful — cocktail. (Do not omit the grapefruit juice and shake it long and hard if you make one. A little melted ice is essential to get this down to the right booze level.)

Overall, this is a fun mixer that will make you think wildly differently about  what G&T night can be.

Currently available in Austin, Dallas, and Washington, D.C.

A- / $10 per 8 oz. bottle / liberandcompany.com 

Save the Countess
3/4 oz. Spiced Tonic Syrup
1 1/4 oz. gin
1 1/4 oz. Lillet Blanc
splash grapefruit juice
2 dashes Peychaud bitters

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.

Liber & Co. Spiced Tonic Syrup

$10

9

Rating

9.0/10