Soft Drinks

Soda water and club soda are carbonated water with a small quantity of mineral salts added, and they bring no sugar at all. Lemonade in South Africa is a clear, sweet, lemon-flavoured fizz rather than the cloudy pressed drink sold under that name in other countries, which catches out visitors and recipe books alike. Dry lemon is sharper and less sweet than lemonade. Ginger ale is light and dry. Ginger beer is heavier, cloudier and hotter on the finish, and the two are not interchangeable.

Brandy and cola in a tall glass with ice is a South African standard, and it works because the acidity of the cola cuts through a spirit that is rich and faintly sweet on its own. The same logic explains cane spirit with cream soda and vodka with lemonade. In each case the soft drink is doing two jobs: lengthening the drink, and supplying an acidity or a sweetness the spirit does not have.

Drinks sweetened without sugar have less body, and that thinner texture is more obvious once a spirit is added than it is when the drink is on its own. The sweetness also arrives and leaves the palate faster. Neither is a fault. But if a familiar mix suddenly tastes sharp and short after you switch to a zero version, that difference in body is the reason.

Ginger ale is light, clear and mildly spiced. Ginger beer is fuller bodied, often cloudy, and far more assertive on ginger heat, and traditionally it was brewed rather than simply flavoured. In a glass, ginger ale sits back and lets a whisky lead, which is why the classic highball is built on it. Ginger beer pushes forward and is better matched to rum or to a dark, spiced spirit.

Start from what the spirit is missing. Whisky and brandy are rich and low in acid, so they take cola, dry lemon or ginger ale well. Vodka has very little flavour of its own and will take anything, which means the soft drink becomes the drink, so choosing it carelessly gives you a drink that tastes of nothing. White rum sits well with cola or ginger beer. Gin is the awkward one, because most sweet sodas fight its botanicals, which is how it ended up with tonic.

Spirit first, over ice, then the soft drink poured slowly down the inside of the glass. That order combines the two without stirring, which preserves the carbonation. Pour the soft drink first and the two sit in layers, so you have to stir, and stirring is what knocks the gas out.