The Ivy Gin and Fevertree clementine tonic

It’s two for one in the bottle slot today - a terrific new gin and the perfect matching tonic.

The gin is the Ivy restaurant’s new centenary gin, made for them by Chase. It’s a smooth, elegant, aromatic, slightly herbal gin with ivy, spruce needles, and sage as three of the botanicals.

They sent it with a couple of bottles of Fevertree’s new limited edition clementine and cinnamon tonic* which, garnished with a slice of fresh clementine, was the perfect match with just a delicate note of clementine in the background. (Don’t try the same trick with Fentiman’s Mediterranean orange tonic water which tastes like orangina.)

I’m hoping it will work equally well with other gins as the Ivy's is expensive (£50 at John Lewis). I tried it with a bottle of export strength Tanqueray I happened to have to hand and it wasn’t as good. I’m wondering if a simple gin like Gordon’s - or even Aldi’s low cost equivalent would work.

You could also drink it on its own with ice and slices of clementine and maybe a few pomegranate seeds to pretty it up.

Anyway I’m laying in stocks - it would make the perfect Christmas G & T. And the Ivy gin would make a great gift for any gin aficionado.

(Incidentally it went perfectly with some smoked salmon with an orangey gravadlax my friends had brought along)

* The tonic is £1.69 at Waitrose and Ocado.