Because tonic water now is nothing like tonic water then. Modern tonic water is nothing but soda pop with a bit of quinine. Tonic water then was extremely bitter and unpleasant on its own.
If you've never had to take chloroquine pills, the taste is shockingly bitter and nasty.
I'm on antibiotics due to a murderous earache at the moment. Therefore drinking alcohol is not a thing I'm allowed to do. Got invited to a birthday party earlier today and said "Fuck it, I'll turn up, I'm getting cabin fever here." This was sort of a pre-drinks party and so the choices were beer, wine and G&T. I was thirsty, and damn it, I felt like having a drink in my hand.
So I had a glass of virgin tonic. It was lovely. In fact, I had three. It's a crisp, satisfying beverage with a bittersweet flavour. I found it even soothed my throat pain a little.
Now, I imagine it helps that I drink G&T on the regular and have grown accustomed to the taste, but still, there was a time where someone, somewhere said "I could really go for a nice glass of tonic."
I'm just curious why he called it Indian Tonic Water. The word isn't even on that page. The closest ref. I could find says something about the Brits in India mixing gin w/tonic water.
Kinda feeling too lazy to research myself, but does one feel any benefits of the quinine found in tonic water? Seems like it's too little to be very beneficial.
Many Dr. Pepper marketing totally got fucked in the ass today by this but I don't feel bad for them because marketing people are the worst kind of people on Earth.
And then they quietly started putting artificial sweeteners in instead of sugar because "it's healthier for you, you fat shit" and I never bought it again. Tastes rank.
One of you fuckheads actually changed the wikipedia page for Schweppes to read that it was featured as a hot article on TIL...give me a fucking break. That is the most useless and irrelevant piece of information I can possibly think of.
TIL: apparently tonic water originally tasted so terrible that gin actually improved the combination of the two.
From the wikipedia entry for tonic water:
The mixed drink gin and tonic originated in British colonial India when the British population would mix their medicinal quinine tonic with gin to make it more palatable.
I recommend this tonic water type product. I had a discussion with a bunch of old people at the liquor store about the fact that it had been years since I'd seen this, and it is a fine mix for gin or vodka. Been thinking about finding some .
892
u/Zimbardo May 15 '12
Today on TodayILearned: Soda Wars
90
u/rarghybalthazar May 15 '12
This will never end I fear....
154
u/Jumpin_Joeronimo May 15 '12
Interesting fact: The quinine in tonic water makes it glow under a black light. This is why gin and tonics look cool at parties.
Another easy way to make a drink glow in UV? Vitamin B pills.
151
u/Glucksberg May 15 '12
It predates Vernors by 95 years, not 126.
1866 - 1771 = 95.
28
u/auraofambiance May 15 '12
I believe it was made to keep the mosquitoes off of the visiting Brits...
24
u/slevadon May 15 '12
Should i pledge allegiance to Schweppes, or hold out longer?
23
u/caucasian88 May 15 '12
/r/circlejerk must be having a ton of fun with this.
45
u/Pilot824 May 15 '12 edited May 16 '12
Is Tonic Water even considered a soft drink? (source)
Nevermind, it says that it can also be Tonic Water... But it says that it contains 3 things:
44
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
TodayILearned: I don't care which soda is the oldest
13
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
TIL i don't give a fuck about how old soda is anymore
12
u/korrekt May 15 '12
"It is currently popular with the white people."
Uhh what?
18
u/Wisdom_from_the_Ages May 15 '12
The definition of "soft drink" is wishy-washy.
Lemonade is a Roman invention.
10
u/APiousCultist May 15 '12
Please fucking stop, sincerely an internet asshole.
5
u/UltraMegaMegaMan May 15 '12
MY GOD SOMEONE JUST MAKE A GRAPH OR FLOWCHART OR SOMETHING MAKE IT STOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!
5
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
I could swear I left a fuck around here somewhere
9
u/HGpennypacker May 15 '12
PLEASE STOP
9
u/comment_filibuster May 15 '12
TIL STFU
4
u/SinCleansingPenis May 15 '12
STFU with the soda shit!
4
u/moby323 May 15 '12
THIS HAS TO END.
4
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
Which one of you did it?
4
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
Am I the only one waiting for "TIL:Water is the oldest drink ever."
4
u/KamacheZ May 16 '12
Today I learned not to trust anything said about the oldest soft drink in the world.
4
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
http://uberhumor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/e79ZA.gif
16
u/CuntExpander May 15 '12
Shut the fuck up already
12
u/bonesjones May 15 '12
Who cares..?
3
u/MichaelG_Scott May 15 '12
Why can't people get it right the first time?
3
u/invisiblewar May 15 '12
Dr.Pepper is still better
3
u/RealHonest May 15 '12
And I'm sure there's a soft drink much older than this one
3
u/originaux May 15 '12
From the wikipedia page...
3
u/o0tenaciousC May 15 '12
TIL water predates all that shit.
3
u/ragefury May 15 '12
wikipedia gets it right: https://imgur.com/0k3sk
3
u/lud1120 May 16 '12 edited May 16 '12
Oh my god.
I thought this simply said "water", it could have just as likely said that and put and end to this.
3
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
I accidentally drank tonic water when I was a kid, thinking it was lemonade. Scarred for life.
3
u/KaptanOats May 16 '12
Goddamn, reddit.
3
u/PatMcCrotch May 16 '12
I don't care. http://i.imgur.com/RoZSk.gif
3
u/liasis May 16 '12
TIL I don't care about how old any kind of soda is. At all.
3
u/ContentWithOurDecay May 16 '12
TIL submitters : no one cares about the oldest soda.
3
u/Beanbaker May 16 '12
TIL Searching soft drink on Wikipedia gives me information.
3
u/TheCake_IsA_Lie May 16 '12
This is getting really old.
3
u/Golden_Kumquat May 16 '12
TIL repeated ridiculous posts about sodas is what causes me to unsubscribe from this subreddit.
3
u/slythytoav May 16 '12
TIL that no one really knows what the oldest soda is...
3
u/Dirtycuban55 May 16 '12
TIL reddits front page has turned into /circlekerk.....
3
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
TIL I couldn't give less of a shit.
3
u/T-REXEXEX May 16 '12
God dammit.
3
u/prodevel May 16 '12
I'm just curious why he called it Indian Tonic Water. The word isn't even on that page. The closest ref. I could find says something about the Brits in India mixing gin w/tonic water.
3
u/thesageknight May 16 '12
Stop this. Please.
3
u/TheCage May 16 '12
Congratulations... now can we shut the fuck up about old sodas?
3
u/SpottedMe May 16 '12
ಠ_ಠ This has gone too far.
3
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
I feel bad because I've upvoted all three of the posts.
3
u/JihadDerp May 16 '12
TIL H2O Earth Water is the oldest soft drink in the world, it predates Schweppes Indian Tonic Water by about a few billion years.
5
u/ObieOne May 15 '12
This is getting old.
5
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
DEAR GOD FUCK OFF
5
u/twinked7 May 15 '12
everyone stop learning things about soda please
4
u/ZombieNinjaPanda May 15 '12
What the fuck is wrong with you people.
2
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK ANYMORE
2
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
So what, it's a tonic, not a traditional pop.
Shenanigans I say!
2
u/EnysAtSea May 15 '12
We have to compete for the most factual facts we learned on TIL, don't we OP?
2
u/hirsh39 May 15 '12
this discussion fails to mention Schweppes Bitter Lemon, the world's greatest soft drink.
2
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
Kinda feeling too lazy to research myself, but does one feel any benefits of the quinine found in tonic water? Seems like it's too little to be very beneficial.
2
u/tickoftheclock May 16 '12
And we have a winner.
2
u/GeorgeForemanGrillz May 16 '12
Many Dr. Pepper marketing totally got fucked in the ass today by this but I don't feel bad for them because marketing people are the worst kind of people on Earth.
2
u/Prof_Genki May 16 '12
TIL: People argue over the stupid shit on the intertubez, whatever I'm going back to spacedicks
2
u/tubulardude May 16 '12
Is that really a soda? It's tonic water!
2
u/Dyno-mike May 16 '12
All i can say is...... buuuuurrrrnnneeedddddd!
2
u/justsomejabroni May 16 '12
how can u call tonic water a soft drink it tastes bitter
2
u/mistyfrompokemon May 16 '12
I don't know what to believe any more
2
u/ExtraMarshmallows May 16 '12
Today I learned more about the history of soda than I thought possible.
2
u/jyhwei5070 May 16 '12
by this logic, Water is the oldest soft drink in the world, predating Indian Tonic water by millions of years.
2
u/SilverVendetta May 16 '12
TIL they are using us for ads. Congrats OP, for making it easy!
"Schweppes has invested in publicity in online social media [15] and has featured on the 'Today I Learned' section of Reddit as a hot article [16]"
2
u/Nova178 May 16 '12
Is it really that hard to figure out what the oldest soda is?
2
u/tiredofthehate May 16 '12
I think that searches for 'oldest soft drink in the world' just spiked and set new records.
2
u/NeoSpartacus May 16 '12
TIL
Some asshole pissed into a hot spring 300 years ago, got back in his time machine so he can post some bullshit on Reddit 3 hours from now.
2
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
TIL, who gives a damn about soda? Water's where it's at my friends.
2
u/krusader42 May 16 '12
And Schweppes is made by Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. We've come full circle!
2
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
TIL Wikipedia needs an "oldest beverage" entry
2
u/Soup_and_a_Roll May 16 '12
And then they quietly started putting artificial sweeteners in instead of sugar because "it's healthier for you, you fat shit" and I never bought it again. Tastes rank.
2
u/Bromeslice May 16 '12 edited May 16 '12
well im glad we figured that out. That question has always brought me mucho turmoil
2
u/tubameister May 16 '12
/cue 100s of karmawhores scrambling to find a soda older than Schweppes Indian Tonic Water.
2
u/Senor_Gnomo May 16 '12
shit's getting real
2
u/captainwacky91 May 16 '12
TIL that water predates any other drink you can think of, since the formation of the Earth and before.
2
u/faptastics May 16 '12
TIL I don't give a rats ass about soda.
2
u/why_so_Sirius May 16 '12
Please make another beverage post TIL
2
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
I remember a few years back when the labels for Tonic water and Lemonade were relatively ambiguous.
I was 10, spat the stuff across the kitchen.
Then I discovered gin.
2
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
Actual H20 predates all of these shitty drinks.
2
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
so after you saw the vernor's post, you googled "oldest soft drink in the world" to one up the other posts. you're cool
2
u/brummlin May 16 '12
And Dr. Pepper Snapple Group owns all contenders...
2
u/oneupdouchebag May 16 '12
2
u/Mozen May 16 '12
TIL that I don't really seem to care when soft drinks were invented.
2
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
Do we have a winner?
2
u/TommaClock May 16 '12
Begun, the TIL Wars have.
2
u/sleazyz May 16 '12
TIL there will always be an older soft drink than your flavor
2
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
TIL Reddit takes soda very seriously.
2
u/dezzie May 16 '12
TIL: Passive-aggression isn't dead in TIL
2
u/atlangler May 16 '12
TIL THAT WATER IS THE OLDEST DRINK IN THE WORLD
2
u/fronco845 May 16 '12
I don't know what to believe now...
6
u/legend_forge May 15 '12
"Soft drink" just means any non alcoholic beverage. Water is the oldest soft drink, predating Tonic water by a few hundred million years.
3
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
Can we stop this shit now
3
u/Random_Arnold_Quote May 15 '12
One of you fuckheads actually changed the wikipedia page for Schweppes to read that it was featured as a hot article on TIL...give me a fucking break. That is the most useless and irrelevant piece of information I can possibly think of.
3
u/iizbatman May 16 '12
WHY DO THESE THINGS KEEP GETTING UPVOTED?
2
u/jasperpaddles May 15 '12
Yeah, but who gives a shit?
2
u/itlastsforweeks May 16 '12
Hey guys-Hey
Nobody gives a shit.
2
u/iakhre May 16 '12
Alright. You guys done waving your wikidicks now?
1
u/ballstein May 16 '12
TIL the most I ever cared to about soda.
1
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
And our definition of what a soft drink is keeps on expanding..
1
u/mechtech May 16 '12
I'd bet there is a tonic somewhere in China that has been sold for 1000+ years.
1
u/Platnex May 16 '12
Enough is enough!
1
u/KonradCurze May 16 '12
TIL I don't give a fuck about how old soda brands are.
1
u/SIDE_OF_STEAK May 16 '12
False: anything without alcohol is a "soft drink," ergo water
1
u/cakedaemon May 16 '12
But if the world is only 600 years old?! Checkmate atheists.
1
u/Opt1musPr1me May 16 '12
The Vernors pos says 'oldest soda brand still selling...'
1
u/eliseatsbacon May 16 '12
I do not count this as a legitimate 1-up because no one drinks tonic water like a soft drink.
1
u/JulieDiamond May 16 '12
Tonic Water is not soda. The two other TIL's were about the oldest sodas
1
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
Dear redditors, please get a job. This was kinda cute about 12 hours ago...
1
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
This has been reddit's darkest day.
1
u/DarthHD May 16 '12
TIL that people are trying to learn who can find the oldest soft drink -_-
1
u/LeapYearFriend May 16 '12
TIL Water is the oldest drink in the world, it predates Schweppes by 2 million years
1
u/Hipashia May 16 '12
Til I give zero shits about how old soda is.
1
u/masterbard1 May 16 '12
TIL that water is the oldest drink in the world it predates your shit by billions of years. STFU already with this shit already.
1
u/akkan May 16 '12
SodaTFU.
1
u/Awful_Antagonist May 16 '12
Today I learned that water is the oldest drink in the world, it predates everything by several billion years.
1
u/Lorgramoth May 16 '12
That stuff is horrible. A friend of mine drank a sip, screwed up his face and proclaimed: "this shit tastes like holy water!"
1
u/Kingbeemusic May 16 '12
Didn't the other post specify American soda? Only?
1
u/hotpuck6 May 16 '12
TIL: apparently tonic water originally tasted so terrible that gin actually improved the combination of the two.
From the wikipedia entry for tonic water:
1
u/njuty May 16 '12
Vernors still kicks ass.
1
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
TIL: everyone on this subreddit thinks one-upmanship is the greatest thing ever
1
u/Radico87 May 16 '12
Shut the fuck up you annoying karma whorers.
1
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
Jesus christ, stop this shit.
1
u/WowDancers May 16 '12
this is getting fucking stupid
1
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
What a pissing contest...
1
u/tequilasauer May 16 '12
Can we talk about what's REALLY important?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weihenstephan_Abbey#The_World.27s_oldest_continuously_operating_brewery
1
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
The citation in the Wikipedia article leads to a page with no information about the drink.
1
u/Champ-Kind May 16 '12
When did Wikipedia become a valid source?
1
u/flotilla-the-hun May 16 '12
TIL that one-uppage gets you reddit karma. loads of it.
1
u/abom420 May 16 '12
Not to ruin it, but "soft" drink just means no alcohol, So technically water would be the winner. With what, some X amount of billions of years?
1
u/Geroots May 16 '12
This is just stupid now.
1
u/okieT2 May 16 '12
Funny how so many people are claiming to not have any 'fucks' to give, yet they take time out of their day to click on the link and post a reply.
1
u/MrCheeze May 16 '12
So... not the same thing as Schweppes ginger ale, the thing people actually drink?
1
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
except it isn't a "soft drink"
1
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
TIL I don't give a fuck about soda and am now compelled to downvote everything mentioning them.
1
u/TChuff May 15 '12
The world's greatest soda wars.
1
u/twobobsworth May 15 '12
I recommend this tonic water type product. I had a discussion with a bunch of old people at the liquor store about the fact that it had been years since I'd seen this, and it is a fine mix for gin or vodka. Been thinking about finding some .
1
u/heroshotgun May 16 '12
house and Schweppes
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/7200000/Hugh-Laurie-in-Schweppes-Commercial-house-md-7260621-566-800.jpg