Noah Swanson and Mary Pellettieri, who founded Top Note Tonics in 2014, are very patient people. I don’t mean this in the sense of the patience required to start a small business in the competitive mixer market, though they certainly have that in spades. I mean in terms of explaining the whys and hows regarding their tonic, which comes in concentrated, as opposed to carbonated (or, in beverage business terms, ready-to-drink) form.
For those unfamiliar with this type of mixer, as I was, it’s equally tasty and simple. Just mix a bit of their concentrate with an unflavored seltzer, and boom, you’ve got your own tonic. Pellettieri and Swanson have great reasons for choosing this European style: The product stays fresh longer after being opened, it doesn’t have to be refrigerated on the shelf in stores and, perhaps most crucially for a small business, it skips the messy and expensive step of finding a facility that would carbonate their product. Those of you who homebrew, as Swanson did, might be familiar with how much of a pain it is to hand-carbonate even a couple of cases worth of beer; especially given the way demand has increased for Top Note’s product, that’s just not feasible for the two-person operation.
Pellettieri and Swanson are looking to change the way the majority of Americans think of tonic—as just a mixer, something to cut the hot alcohol burn of vodka and maybe squeeze a lime into for some acidity. As it stands, tonic is neither something the majority of people consume on its own nor a featured ingredient in many drinks. The word “tonic” also conjures up old-timey cure-alls, inexplicable remedies for all sorts of maladies. Top Note Tonics doesn’t shy away from the ways in which its all-natural ingredients, like gentian root and cinchona bark, can help alleviate heartburn and general gastrointestinal distress, but they also are constructed to enhance the flavor of liquors rather than just clumsily cover them up or dilute them.
Their Gentian Lime tonic, for instance, with its earthiness and bright acidity, would pair beautifully with an elderflower liqueur or a cucumber-heavy gin such as Hendrick’s, while their Ginger Beer, with its Belgian Candi sugar and spice from the fresh ginger root, makes a killer cocktail when mixed with some dark rum. And their Indian tonic’s dry, bitter profile opens up with some sweetness when added to a bit of dry English gin.
Though all five of their flavors—those three along with Bitter Orange and Bitter Lemon—make for drink enhancers more than mixers, they also stand alone sans alcohol. The Lemon unfolds neatly, doesn’t knock you over the head with brightness and isn’t so sour as to be puckering. It is a very well-balanced and pleasant standalone beverage.
Top Note’s beverages blow away your garden-variety sodas and carbonated waters on the market. In Swanson’s words: “You look at the soda shelf and you’re kind of stuck with how narrow the sweetness range is … [They’re] not refreshing. Our stuff is an alternative.”
Top Note Tonics provides a refreshingly unique approach to beverages. The price—$8 for 10 ounces; $10 for 12 ounces; $19 for 25 ounces on their website—may initially throw you, but remember that it will shake out to about 10 drinks per bottle, which is well worth it.
For more information, call 888-396-3432 or visit topnotetonic.com.
