The New Rules For A Perfect Gin & Tonic
From citrus oils to warming spices, the classic G&T is being reimagined at home as a more thoughtful, seasonal ritual for modern entertaining.
5 min
There is a shift happening in the way we entertain. As more gatherings move back into the home, simple drinks are being elevated into considered rituals.
The classic G&T, once a default pour, is now being revisited with fresh attention to balance, aroma, and seasonal flavour.
As Never Never co-founder Sean Baxter says: “It’s about getting the fundamentals right: proportion, temperature and aroma. Once those are in place, you don’t need much else.”
For autumn gatherings, the focus is on structure and subtlety, from crisp citrus oils expressed over the glass to mineral-driven profiles that pair well with food.
Here, Kanebridge News sat down with Sean to explore the return of classic serves and the art of building a better gin and tonic.
Q: We’re seeing a return to classic drinks in 2026. Why do you think the gin and tonic is having a moment again?
A: I don’t think the G&T has necessarily gone anywhere; people have just been experimenting more and more when it comes to finding the style of drinks they enjoy.
G&T is the perfect apéritif; it fills that moment in the late afternoon or early evening before dinner and is easily customisable to fit a wide range of garnish styles and tonic varieties.
It’s also pretty resilient when it comes to current economic pressures because it’s a very affordable mixed drink that can be prepared at home very easily.
Q: What are the key differences between styles of gin? How do juniper-forward, citrus-driven or coastal styles differ in flavour and structure?
Juniper forward gins are the style of gin that has been around for hundreds of years.
They are built using juniper, which is a small, round ‘berry’, but it’s actually a type of cone (similar to a pinecone).
These are usually complemented by root-like flavours such as liquorice and angelica root, with citrus notes from coriander seeds.
These sorts of gins (think Gordons and Tanqueray) have dominated the landscape up until the last few decades.
Some slightly more contemporary gins have started driving a more citrus-forward approach all while delivering a juniper backbone (think Bombay, Tanqueray 10 and Beefeater).
The ultra-contemporary category was born of the popularity of brands like Hendricks, which began exploring completely non-traditional flavours. The vast majority of Australian gin sits in this section.
Q: How much does juniper still define a gin today? Has that shifted with modern distilling trends?
A: Juniper still defines gin. It’s the anchor point in terms of flavour from a traditional sense, and there should still be a representation of juniper in the flavour profile, even when making a contemporary style.
Without juniper, you’re really making a botanical spirit rather than gin, and there are certainly a fair few of those knocking about.
What has shifted is the dominance of juniper in the final blend of ingredients.
Traditionally, it was the loudest instrument in the orchestra, like the bass drum or tuba.
Ultra-contemporary gin styles tend to treat it more as a component rather than a lead, supported by citrus, spice, or floral flavours.
In a good example of gins out there, it’s more like the occasional ping of a triangle rather than anything booming in its presence.
Q: You’ve spoken about “proportion, temperature and aroma”. What are the most common mistakes people make when making a gin and tonic at home?
It usually comes down to those three things that are pretty easy to manage when making a drink.
Proportion: People often under-pour the gin and drown the drink in tonic or vice versa. A good G&T should taste clearly of both.
A great G&T should be a perfect balance and not overly bitter.
Measure your ingredients. I always aim for a 3-to-1 ratio of 3 parts tonic to 1 part gin (also using your fingers doesn’t count, buy a jigger). It’s also a good thing to know how many standard drinks you’ve consumed.
Temperature: Not enough ice or a warm tonic will flatten the drink. Fill the glass properly and start cold. Always try to use cold tonic water; it affects the size of the bubbles in the drink and is often the difference between an ok G&T and a spectacular one.
Aroma: Garnish isn’t just a decoration; it adds flavour and aroma. Your nose hits the glass before your palate.
A fresh citrus peel or herb can completely change the drink. Equally, a 3-day-old brown lime wedge can ruin a perfectly acceptable mixer. Fresh is best.
Get those three right and the drink improves immediately.
Q: How do seasonal ingredients influence gin? Are there certain flavour profiles better suited to autumn and winter entertaining?
Seasonality certainly influences how we enjoy gin (and how often we head out).
In the Aussie summer months, people gravitate toward bright citrus and fresh herbs as garnishes in drinks. Think bright thyme and zesty lemon or lime leaf and mint.
As the weather cools down, we tend to shift towards warming botanicals like cinnamon, cardamom, star anise or even roasted citrus.
Some players work the whole way through like orange. You can also consider how to add seasonal modifiers to your G&T to make it work better.
I like playing with certain types of soda (blood orange in particular), paired with warm spices and a classic Indian Tonic, to add a little more winter character to a G&T.
Q: For someone building a home bar, is it better to invest in one versatile gin or several different styles?
At Never Never, we’ve always prided ourselves on creating super versatile gins that hit every occasion.
My recommendation is to always feature a classic juniper style (like our Triple Juniper Gin) as it would certainly satisfy most ‘gin fans’ in the room if they are into classic juniper character.
That being said, with the rise of contemporary gins, it’s nice to include one or two other heavy hitters if it’s something you can afford (our Oyster Shell Gin is a great citrus-forward alternative to our classic styles).
Q: Finally, if someone thinks they “don’t like gin”, what are they likely reacting to, and what style would you suggest they try instead?
Try it again. One of the most common things we get at the distillery is “Sorry, I don’t like gin, it’s too bitter.”
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but all this time you haven’t enjoyed gin; it’s actually the tonic you’ve been averse to.
Try it with a fresh citrus soda or spicy ginger beer and lime, and see if it’s more to your liking.
Also, if your first example is one your aunt made for you at Christmas time, it probably didn’t exactly adhere to everything covered in the 4th question, so it’s worth having another go.
If you still don’t like gin after all that, we make a pretty good vodka that is winning awards all over the world.
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Artificial intelligence is making it easier than ever to build a business without building a team. As AI takes over coding, customer support, marketing, administration, and other day-to-day tasks, a growing number of solo founders are scaling startups to millions in revenue with few—or even no—employees. While the trend is lowering barriers to entrepreneurship, it is also reshaping hiring, raising questions about the future of work and how businesses will grow in the AI era.
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Ben Broca launched a company last December that offers AI tools to entrepreneurs. He’s already added 10,000 paying customers and is on track to bring in $10 million in revenue this year.
One thing he hasn’t added: any other employees.
The 40-year-old is part of a class of entrepreneurs who are launching, and then often running, new companies on their own. Artificial intelligence tools answer Broca’s emails, help write and debug code, field requests from customers, sign up new subscribers and grant refunds when issues arise.
Broca relishes his ability to make whatever decisions he wants on his own, often from his sun-drenched Sausalito, Calif., living room. “I think compromises make lukewarm results,” he said.
Once upon a time, running a business of a certain size required a team. AI is turning that assumption upside down, and more aspiring entrepreneurs are going it alone.
An analysis by the payments company Stripe shows there are thousands of solo operators on the company’s platform that are generating over $1 million in revenue, with their ranks doubling between 2023 and 2025. The number of solo operators crossing the $10 million threshold nearly tripled in that same span.
In the past, people without business contacts or particular savvy might not have known how to get their ideas off the ground, said Ernie Tedeschi, Stripe’s chief economist. “Now, AI can be a built-in business partner,” he said.
AI’s ability to handle various administrative tasks makes it potentially useful for launching solo businesses in many fields. But the technology’s ability to also handle key tasks in tech, like coding, make that field a particular hot spot.
Analyzing Census Bureau data, Bank of America Institute economist Taylor Bowley found that among all industries, new business applications in the information sector have seen the biggest percentage increase—nearly 45%—over the past year. At the same time, the rate of information-sector applicants saying they plan to hire workers has experienced the sharpest decline of any measured industry.
This Census dataset doesn’t track solo-operated businesses. But the numbers broadly show—in tech and beyond—that applications are flat among businesses likely to hire workers, but generally rising elsewhere. Economists say that’s a strong sign that solo operators are on the upswing.
“The bar for getting started has never been lower,” said Julian Weisser, who runs a San Francisco-based accelerator for solo founders working in tech. The accelerator—which offers founders seed money and mentorship in exchange for an equity stake—attracted 4,500 applicants for 10 slots made available in its most recent cycle, nearly five times the number it drew when it launched last May.
Going it alone with AI can still be surprisingly expensive. Broca said he was losing money on many customers’ accounts while paying to access Anthropic’s Claude to run his clients’ requests—that AI company, as well as others, charges based on usage. He has since switched to free open-source AI models from China.
Broca said he has raised $30 million from investors and, at the same time, has saved millions in salary since he hasn’t needed a team of software engineers.
Another risk: If it’s easy for one entrepreneur to launch an AI-assisted business, copying them can be easy, too. This creates anxiety for founders like Troy Johnston, who runs an AI-assisted business alone in Orlando, Fla.
“Everybody has the sword and we all have the ability to unsheathe Excalibur now,” said Johnston, 40, who used AI to code an app that helps people get the most out of credit card benefits. The company makes around $3,000 a month in profit, with no employees, and is continuing to grow.
What one-person businesses will mean for the labor market remains to be seen. Polling has shown Americans are worried that AI will replace jobs, and top economists are wrestling with that possibility, too. But AI is also creating lots of new jobs, and the go-it-alone entrepreneurs show how the technology can both open doors and limit employment opportunities.
“If everyone’s hiring less, but you get four times more firms, what does that do to head count?” said Rembrand Koning, an associate professor at Harvard Business School who studies entrepreneurship. He co-authored a recent study that found that among 50,000 startups the researchers examined, those focused on AI tended to operate with 25% fewer employees.
Koning also believes a soft hiring environment that’s left some people mired in long job searches has encouraged more to try their hand at launching businesses.
Some founders cite different motives. “It’s a perfect storm of post-pandemic burnout and a re-evaluation of one’s priorities, and also booming AI and a sense of what’s possible,” said Samir Ahmad, 39, who lives in Breinigsville, Pa.
Two years ago, Ahmad decided to leave the corporate job he had worked at Verizon for almost two decades to start a solo coaching and consulting business. He had been seeing social-media posts touting the ease and virtues of AI, which he used to chart a business plan and help with marketing. “It was like my chief of staff, a second in command,” he said.
The business ultimately petered out within months, though, and Ahmad is now back to a full-time corporate role with a utility company.
For Claire Vo, 41, AI helped her turn a passing impulse into a business. She was working full-time as a tech executive when she tapped AI in late 2023 to help code an app that would help her manage documentation and design for new products, with customers ranging from financial services to healthcare firms.
“I was copying and pasting from ChatGPT,” said Vo, who lives in San Francisco.
She put the app online for $1 a month, and within weeks people downloaded it thousands of times. Nearly three years later, Vo’s company—which she ran solo for nine months before hiring an engineer—now has 100,000 users and is on track to make seven figures in profit this year. AI handles the company’s marketing, sales and customer support.
While AI is a shortcut, Vo said her network and credibility in the industry were key. “I think people over-index on how easy AI is and under-index on how much I did to get to this point,” she said.
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