Congratulations are in order for Nick Kokonas, who won the award for best self-published cookbook from the International Association of Culinary Professionals this month. If you’ve ever sipped a gin and tonic and wondered why you’re drinking something that once was used to ward off malaria, “Something and Tonic: A History of the World’s Most Iconic Mixer” is for you.
Of course, you might be thinking of the Nick Kokonas who co-owns multiple restaurants with Grant Achatz and who also publishes cocktail cookbooks. Instead, this Nick Kokonas has been a bartender and manager at a number of bars and restaurants around the city and suburbs, including Michelin-starred Longman & Eagle.
He got the idea while working as beverage director at The Heritage in Forest Park. “It started as a weekly rotating tonic-based cocktail,” Kokonas said. “The owner at the time said, ‘After we get a year of recipes, we’ll put out a book.’ I had never considered or thought about writing a book.”
But once he started reading about the history of tonic, he got obsessed. “That led to three years of research because I just found it absolutely fascinating,” Kokonas said. “I realized that almost everybody has a positive or negative feeling about tonic water. It’s a universal string that connects people around the world.”
Kokonas digs deep, starting with the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in the 16th century, before ending with the craft cocktail movement of the late 20th century into today. In between, he covers how the bark from the cinchona tree in the Andes Mountains was found to contain quinine, which helped treat malaria, a disease that was wreaking havoc on populations all over the globe.
Kokonas also doesn’t shy away from the complicated history that tonic has had in the world, as he writes in the introduction: “Much of its history is steeped in centuries of imperial colonization, religious prejudice, denial of science, corporate greed, and extreme nationalism. In short, the story of cinchona is the story of the development of modern civilization.”
According to Kokonas, he thought he wanted to work with a traditional publishing house, and even had a literary agent for a while. But no one was interested in the kind of book he wanted to write. “I got a few requests to do just a cocktail book without the history part,” Kokonas said. “But the history part is incredibly important to understand.”
You’ll still find 60 original tonic cocktails. If you’ve only ever tried a gin and tonic, Kokonas proves you can play with everything from sherry and Cynar to matcha powder and tequila.
The IACP cookbook awards ceremony took place on Nov. 18. You can purchase the book at somethingandtonic.com, on Amazon or at Avondale Bowl (3118 N. Milwaukee Ave.), the delightfully retro bowling alley and bar where Kokonas works.
nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com
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