The Gin and Tonic Is a Cocktail With a Storied History. Don’t Overlook Scotland’s Connection to the Classic

 

The country’s scientists, doctors, merchants and distillers all played significant roles in transforming the simple combination that packs a complicated mythologygin and tonic

The true story of the gin and tonic is less about a singular invention and more about the convergence of science, medicine, commerce and empire over several centuries. Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Historians debate who first combined gin and tonic water—and where. The now-classic cocktail is often tied to the story of British colonial India: officers and soldiers stationed abroad during the second half of the 19th century mixed bitter quinine tonics with gin to make the malaria medicine more drinkable. But Scotland also frequently appears in that history, for good reason.

The true story of the gin and tonic is less about a singular invention and more about the convergence of science, medicine, commerce and empire over several centuries. Scotland is not necessarily where the drink was “invented,” but Scottish physicians, merchants and distillers all contributed to the world that eventually produced it.

“Scotland was certainly at the center of much of gin’s development,” says David Wilkinson, head distiller at Edinburgh Gin, a distillery in the nation’s capital since 2010.

Early days for the ingredients

Long before tonic water existed, Scotland was closely tied to the European trade routes that shaped early gin culture. Philip Kingscott, the “gin experiential ambassador” for the distiller traces that relationship back to the 15th century, when Scotland strengthened commercial and cultural ties with the Low Countries (present-day Netherlands and Belgium) following the marriage of Mary of Guelders to King James II of Scotland in 1449. “The Low Countries are considered to be the birthplace of the juniper-based spirit genever, the forerunner to gin,” Kingscott says. Scotland, he explains, maintained centuries-long trade and cultural relationships with the region. Over time, imported genever became common in Scottish ports and taverns, and Edinburgh became “a major center in the trade and eventual production of ‘Dutch gin.’”

Edinburgh Gin opened in the nation's capital in 2010. Edinburgh Gin

By the 18th century, Edinburgh had emerged not only as a major trading hub, but also as one of Europe’s intellectual capitals during the Scottish Enlightenment. The city’s universities attracted students from across Britain and continental Europe, and physicians and scientists in Scotland were making discoveries that would later impact mixology.

Two Edinburgh doctors in particular—George Cleghorn and James Lind—helped shape medical understandings of ingredients now synonymous with the gin and tonic. “George Cleghorn was the first to scientifically prove the medicinal benefits of cinchona bark [the source of quinine] in preventing malaria,” Kingscott says, “while Lind conducted the first-ever medical trial to prove that citrus fruit could be used to combat scurvy.”

Those discoveries helped establish quinine and citrus as important parts of Britain’s broader medical and naval culture. Quinine would eventually become tonic water’s defining ingredient, while citrus became closely associated with British maritime health practices.

Another Scottish figure, merchant Lachlan Rose of Leith, would later commercialize preserved lime juice through Rose’s Lime Cordial, further connecting Scotland to the citrus side of the drink’s flavor profile.

Scottish merchant Lachlan Rose of Leith commercialized preserved lime juice through Rose’s Lime Cordial. Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Still, the gin and tonic as we know it could not exist until another scientific breakthrough arrived: carbonation.

During the late 18th century, European scientists began experimenting with artificially carbonated water. Swedish chemistry professor Torbern Bergman and English chemist Joseph Priestley independently developed methods for infusing water with carbon dioxide during the 1770s. At the time, carbonated water was not considered recreational so much as medicinal. Sparkling mineral waters were thought to aid digestion and improve health, and scientists hoped to recreate them artificially.

German-born entrepreneur Johann Jacob Schweppe refined the carbonation process in the 1780s and commercialized bottled soda water in London. Schweppe initially marketed the product as a therapeutic beverage rather than a cocktail mixer, selling different strengths of carbonation intended for various digestive ailments.

Meanwhile, quinine was becoming increasingly important in European medicine. Derived from the bark of the South American cinchona tree, quinine had long been used to treat fever-related illnesses.

“The source of quinine—the cinchona tree—is native to South America,” says Anistatia Miller, historian and director of Mixellany Limited, a consultancy and publishing company in the United Kingdom focused on spirits and mixed drinks. According to Miller, Spanish Jesuit missionaries helped spread awareness of cinchona bark throughout Europe after observing Indigenous Peruvians using it medicinally.

Derived from the bark of the South American cinchona tree, shown here, quinine had long been used to treat fever-related illnesses. Guido Cozzi/Atlantide Phototravel/Getty Images

In 1820, French scientists Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Caventou succeeded in isolating quinine chemically, making it easier to manufacture commercially. Quinine products soon appeared throughout Europe in lozenges and medicinal tonics marketed primarily for fever treatment and digestive complaints.

But tonic water, in the modern sense, still did not exist.

What we now recognize as tonic water emerged commercially in Britain during the mid-19th century. One of the earliest known advertisements for quinine tonic water appeared in 1858 for Pitt’s Aerated Quinine Tonic Water. Schweppe’s company soon followed with its own “Indian tonic water,” combining soda water, quinine and sweeteners into something much closer to the beverage consumed today. The name reflected the drink’s association with British colonial India, where quinine was used to combat malaria, rather than indicating the product was created there.

Debunking a longstanding myth

That timeline complicates the familiar image of British soldiers casually inventing the gin and tonic in the mid-to-late 19th century somewhere in colonial India. “The gin and tonic was not invented in India as an anti-malarial,” says Miller. “British troops did not drink it as part of their rations.” According to Miller, many of the stories surrounding the drink’s military origins became exaggerated over time, particularly during the 20th century as cocktail histories increasingly leaned into romantic imperial narratives.

Still, colonial India likely played an important role in popularizing the drink. Miller points to references appearing in London newspapers during the 1870s describing travelers returning from India seeking the “gin and tonics” they had grown accustomed to abroad. One possible early mention of the cocktail appeared in connection to the Sealkote races, or the colonial-era horse races held in Sealkote (present-day Sialkot, Pakistan) in 1868, though Miller notes that the account remains difficult to verify conclusively.

What is clear is that the gin and tonic emerged during the height of the British Empire, when medicine, trade and alcohol circulated rapidly through colonial networks. Quinine traveled from South America to Europe, then on to British colonies. Citrus became central to naval provisioning. Gin production relied on imported botanicals sourced globally.

Scotland’s role in the evolution of the cocktail extended beyond medicine and carbonation. By the 19th century, Scottish distilleries had become increasingly important suppliers of neutral grain spirit used in English gin production. According to Miller, English companies eventually relied so heavily on Scottish new make spirit, or unaged whiskey, that Parliament intervened, tightening excise laws and licensing rules governing the production and movement of spirits across Britain.

Quick fact: The invention of tonic water

• Erasmus Bond, owner of Pitt & Co., a beverage company in Islington, London, patented "tonic water" in 1858. The drink combined quinine with fizzy water.

The cocktail today

Scotland’s ties to gin would continue long after the colonial era ended in the mid-20th century. In recent decades, Scotland has become one of the major centers of the modern craft gin revival, helping reshape global perceptions of the spirit.

According to Wilkinson, a significant turning point came in 2009, when the U.K. government repealed a regulation requiring gin stills to hold a minimum of 1,800 liters.

“This was a huge bar to entry in the gin industry,” Wilkinson says. Removing the requirement “allowed startup distilleries to begin with smaller stills and premises and build their brand over time.”

The policy change triggered an explosion of small gin distilleries throughout the U.K., particularly in Scotland, where producers began experimenting aggressively with botanicals and regional flavor profiles. According to the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, the number of U.K. distilleries more than doubled between 2014 and 2019, while annual gin sales climbed to roughly £2.6 billion (about $3.5 billion).

That expansion helped transform gin from a spirit once associated primarily with London Dry styles into a far broader global category encompassing floral, herbaceous and fruit-forward variations.

Modern Scottish producers often emphasize both local identity and gin’s inherently international character. “It’s important to remember that gin is a very international beverage,” Wilkinson says. Edinburgh Gin incorporates Scottish ingredients such as milk thistle seeds, Perthshire raspberries and strawberries into certain products, while still sourcing botanicals globally.

At the same time, tonic water has undergone its own premium transformation. Once viewed largely as a utilitarian mixer, tonic is now marketed with the same artisanal attention once reserved for wine or craft spirits. Wilkinson says the pairing of gin with tonic remains central to contemporary gin development.

“When developing a gin recipe, we’re very aware that 90 percent of consumers will have their gin with tonic,” he says.

Globally, the tonic water market has continued expanding alongside premium gin culture. Industry analysts at Grand View Research valued the tonic water market at more than $2 billion in recent years, driven heavily by the continued popularity of gin-based cocktails.

Despite the drink’s ubiquity, the ambiguity of its exact origins may partly explain why stories linking the cocktail to British soldiers—and, by extension, Scotland—have persisted so strongly over time. The narrative neatly combines medicine, empire and ingenuity into a single anecdote.

The reality is less straightforward, but arguably more revealing. Scotland did not singlehandedly create the gin and tonic. Still, Scottish scientists helped advance early understandings of quinine and citrus remedies, Scottish merchants and distillers became deeply tied to Britain’s gin industry, and modern Scottish producers helped drive gin’s contemporary global resurgence.

Today, whether served traditionally with lime or elaborately garnished in a Spanish-style copa glass, the drink still carries traces of layered history in every pour.

Editor's note, June 4, 2026: Previous versions of this story included an incorrect conversion for annual gin sales.