Our Origin Story via Our Founder, Faith

Ordered a gin & tonic at a dive bar?

Spent over $35 on gin?

I am one of the people who orders a G & T at a dive bar AND I love fancy gin. In fact, I spent nine years distilling my own gins, hand-foraging wild botanicals from the treetops to the forest floor.

I searched out native plants like sitka spruce, salal berries, and cottonwood buds, with specific flavors that you just can’t get anywhere else. Then I distilled them and bottled them so that when you taste them, you are transported to the forest, no matter where you are.

When I serve my gin, I pick out the glass, the ice, and the garnish, and hold on… is this all there is to commodity tonic water? How can there be so many craft gins and no craft tonic water to pair them with? Up until now, gin has been the main character, and tonic is just the supporting actor.

I knew we could do better. Because for me, gin was never really about the booze; it was about the flavor. It was about presenting  these totally unique ingredients in a way that is delicious, useful, and fun. I realized … I’m a chef and a craft distiller. I can make my tonic dreams come true.

That’s when I started developing Dappled Tonic. As a craft distiller, I created flavors with my spirits and your cocktails in mind. The flavors are sophisticated but easy to navigate and pair with your favorite spirits. Citrus pairs with botanical gins like Freeland or the Botanist. Try our Floral tonic water with a flowery gin like Aviation or Hendricks. And Dappled Aromatic tonic water goes so far beyond gin that it works with bourbon, rum, and tequila, as well as classic gins like Aria, Bombay, or Tanqueray.

Now that we just spent $35 on a bottle of fancy gin, we have a tonic water to pair it with. Dappled tonic is so much more than bitters and bubbles. The name dappled refers to dappled light, and the movement and interplay of light and dark. So now, when you pour your gin, add your ice, choose your garnish, you can pour the tonic that is going to expand your sensory journey.

The effect is so satisfying that it even works without gin. In fact, 40% of our customers drink our tonic water straight, like an adult soda. Because a lot of us are zebras. Zebra striping refers to when folks sometimes drink alcohol, and sometimes they don’t. This movement is growing and the market reflects that.

Craft tonic is ready to boom in this country. There’s a lot of movement right now around tonic water, and folks are looking far and wide for what’s next. But you all are ahead of the game because Dappled Tonic is right here!  We’ve been on shelves for over a year.

Our team has worked diligently and efficiently to achieve repeatable success and scalable production. We are scrappy, tenacious, and we are ready for our closeup. Don’t miss out—try Dappled Tonic today and elevate every pour!

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