Quinne with a touch of class

AFTER SEVERAL YEARS tinkering in the laboratory, Hendrick’s Gin Master Distiller, Lesley Gracie, has perfected a new quinine cordial for bartenders to create dazzling cocktails for their patrons.
With a first batch of slightly more than 4,000 bottles, the cordial has only been made available to two dozen carefully selected bars, first in London and now in Bangkok.
Combining lavender and orange distillates with extracts of orange blossom, wormwood and holy thistle, Quinetum’s core ingredient of cinchona succirubra bark is balanced for a more rounded and workable liquid. Crafted in Girvan, Scotland, Quinetum has a base of glycerol and a small amount of sugar syrup and citric acid. The new cordial is presented in a bottle modelled after a 1940s poison bottle discovered in an old London bric-a-brac shop.
The word quinine is derived from the Quechua, the Inca word for the cinchona tree bark where quinine occurs naturally. The tree was named after the Countess of Chinchon, the wife of a viceroy of Peru, who, in 1638, was introduced by native Quechua healers to the medicinal properties of cinchona bark. Some 200 years later, Thomas Whiffen did much to develop the use of quinine and its related products at the chemical factory where he worked.
He was responsible for coining the name Quinetum for the “pure alkaloids of east India red bark” at his factory, which was known as the Quinine Works Battersea. This new product follows on from trials of Battersea Quinine Cordial in 2009. However, the recipe of Quinetum is markedly different from its Battersea cousin.
Commenting on her latest creation, Gracie said, “One of the joys of being with a family-owned company is the amount of freedom to work on developing interesting little projects without huge pressure. Quinetum has been four years in the making, but it is only by speaking to the bartenders who come and visit us at the distillery and trying many different recipes of extracts and distillates that we learn what works.
The unusual flavours of our gin appeal to a curiously pernickety drinker and so it is only right we take time before putting the Hendrick’s name to anything else.”
David Piper, Hendrick’s Gin Global Brand Ambassador, who was in Bangkok earlier this month to host a small launch event for Quinetum added, “What most bartenders will immediately pick up on is the orange nose, giving way to subtle lavender notes.
 The taste has a deep green, bitter flavour from the wormwood, holy thistle and, of course, quinine. Bartenders should find this combination amiable for crafting into cocktails with Hendrick’s characteristic floral notes and spicy bitterness, which comes from the caraway seed and cubeb berries.”
Piper invited some of Bangkok’s most talented bartenders to showcase cocktail creations using Quinetum. Thumb, owner and bartender at Perfume Fragrance Bar, came up with a mesmerising cocktail with Hendrick’s Gin, Quinetum cordial and apple, oranges and sweet basil, topped with soda. Cha Cha from Belle’s Room of Whisgar served up Quinetum Fizz with Hendrick’s Gin, Quinetum cordial, and a dash of absinthe, passion fruit syrup and soda.
A simpler version, Quinetum Collins, features the gin and the cordial enhanced by a squeeze of lemon, bitters and soda water. A dash of Gancia Bianco vermouth adds a further touch of class.
With only a limited batch available worldwide, Quinetum will not be found in shops or indeed on wholesalers’ lists. It will only be given to select bartenders to experiment with. There are 12 bars in Bangkok where you can get a Quinetum drink. They are Hyde & Seek Gastro Bar, Smiths Bar and Restaurant, Bell’s Room, Junker and Bar, Bar School Bangkok, Sugar Ray, Lady Brett, Perfume Fragrance Bar, Salt on Aree, Namsaah Bottling Trust and Vesper.