Carbonated Waters – Clearing Up a Murky Topic

This past weekend, as I was stretching after a grueling training session with my fiancé’s cousin, he asked me if tonic water was the “healthiest” alcohol mixer.  Apparently, his student athletes (he’s the assistant strength and conditioning coach at a local university) were wondering what the healthiest way to get drunk was! 

My first response naturally was “ Ew. Tonic water is gross!”, but I quickly followed up with “I think tonic water has sodium in it…or is that soda water?”  Point is, I could not remember for the life of me which water was which and it drove me nuts.  So nuts, that I went straight home and looked up the answer.

The fact is, this topic has always confused me.  For instance, when a customer at the restaurant I work at asks for sparkling water, is it ok to bring them soda water?  Can I use mineral water as a drink mixer?  And what exactly is tonic water anyways?

So here it is broken down for you (and for me).  Hopefully this makes it clear as….well, water (not well-water)!

Tonic Water – Artificially carbonated water, in which quinine (a pharmaceutical) is dissolved, giving it its bitter taste.  It’s called tonic water because it was originally used as medicinal drink to ward off malaria.  Today’s tonic water has much less quinine in it, so it is less bitter and it’s often sweetened with corn syrup or sugar.  It is widely used as an alcohol mixer and its bitter taste pairs best with gin.  An 8oz glass of tonic water has about 95 calories, 33 milligrams of sodium and 25 grams of sugar.

Sparkling  Water – An all-encompassing term used to describe any carbonated water (except tonic).  It includes the following:

Club Soda – An artificially carbonated soft drink that has trace amounts of potassium bicarbonate or potassium sulfate (salts) added to it.  It is also widely used as an alcohol mixer.  An 8oz glass of soda water contains 0 calories, 50 milligrams of sodium and 0 grams of sugar.

Seltzer Water – Not widely consumed, seltzer water is simply artificially carbonated water that does not contain any added minerals or salts.  It is named after the German town Selters, which was famous for its springs.  It can be used interchangeably with club soda.  An 8 oz glass of seltzer water contains 0 calories, 0 grams of sodium and 0 grams of sugar.

Mineral Water – Water that contains naturally-occurring carbonation and minerals such as salts and sulfur compounds.  Perrier, San Pelligrino and La Croix are popular examples.  It is bottled directly from a natural source, which makes it less fizzy than the artificially carbonated waters.  Also, because it is natural it tends to be more expensive and its mineral taste makes it unsuitable for mixing with alcohol. An 8 oz glass of plain mineral water contains 0 calories, 5 milligrams of sodium and 0 grams of sugar.

I hope this clears up any confusion and answers the question of those athletes and anyone else who is looking for a healthy alcohol mixer.  Club soda is the sparkling winner!  Cheers!