Wajos Rhubarb, Apple & Thyme - Tonic Syrup. Rhubarb juice, apple, and thyme with quinine, fruity and tart – the tonic syrup you use to mix your own tonic.

Wajos Rhubarb, Apple & Thyme - Tonic Syrup is a syrup for making a quinine-containing soft drink, made from sugar, rhubarb juice, apple juice concentrate, thyme extract, natural flavors, and quinine, 200 ml from Dohr on the Moselle. Not a ready-made tonic water, not a liqueur, and not a fruit syrup for children, but a concentrate with a bitter note that only becomes a tonic when mixed with sparkling water. Vegan.

Rhubarb, Apple & Thyme - Tonic Syrup by Wajos is the opposite of tonic from a bottle. The latter always tastes the same, is always just as sweet, always just as bitter, and the bottle is empty after one evening. The former is a syrup that you dose yourself: more sparkling water for a light tonic, less for a robust one, a splash for the gin, a spoonful for the sparkling wine. Our small bottle is often ordered – and it also works on its own with sparkling water, as a better tonic for dinner.

Rhubarb and apple upfront, thyme behind, quinine at the very end

Straight, the syrup is thick and sweet – but no one drinks it that way. When topped up with sparkling water, the rhubarb comes through first, tart and slightly green, then the sweetness of the apple, which rounds it out. The thyme lies on top, spicy and herbal, and at the end, the bitterness of the quinine lingers – the note that turns a lemonade into a tonic. It is a tart, adult beverage, far removed from a rhubarb spritzer.

Honestly, it must be said: sugar is the primary ingredient, 94 grams per 100 milliliters – this is a syrup made for diluting. Since you dilute it heavily, much less ends up in the glass. The fruit comes from rhubarb juice and apple juice concentrate, the thyme from extract, and to this are added natural flavors and quinine as a flavoring agent. Anyone who must avoid quinine should skip the syrup – it is part of it, just like in any tonic.

For those looking for a classic, neutral tonic for a London Dry, this syrup is not suitable – the rhubarb has a say. In that case, the Botanical Tonic Syrup from Wajos with juniper and lemongrass is closer to a classic tonic.

With sparkling water, with gin, with sparkling wine – and as a syrup for desserts

The simplest tonic: two to three centiliters of syrup in a glass, ice, cold sparkling water, stir once. We start with one part syrup to five parts water and adjust to taste – the syrup is potent, so less is often more. A sprig of thyme or a slice of apple in the glass, and you have an alcohol-free evening drink that tastes adult.

With gin, it becomes a Gin & Tonic where the tonic has an opinion of its own: four centiliters of gin, two centiliters of syrup, ice, sparkling water. A fruity gin like the Summer Gin takes the rhubarb well; a herbal gin brings the thyme to the fore. In a glass of sparkling wine or Secco, a teaspoon of syrup makes an aperitif that falls somewhere between a Hugo and a rhubarb spritzer – great for guests who find plain sparkling wine too boring.

The syrup also has its place beyond the glass: a tablespoon over vanilla ice cream, in yogurt for breakfast, over strawberries, or in quark dishes. The bitter note is barely noticeable there, but the rhubarb-apple note is distinct. And as a base for a sorbet made from syrup, water, and lemon, it is the perfect dessert for a summer evening.

The syrup is not suitable as a children's drink – quinine and the bitter note are intended for adults. And it is not suitable for cooking: in warm dishes, only the sweetness remains, while the bitterness becomes unpleasant. Cold, diluted, with plenty of ice – that is how it is meant to be.

Our tip: Pour two centiliters of syrup, a sprig of thyme, and ice into a glass, top up with sparkling water, and add a splash of lemon – the tonic we drink for dinner on the terrace.

A tonic syrup from a house that comes from wine

Wajos is a gourmet manufacturer in Dohr near Cochem on the Moselle, with roots in a winegrowing family from Ediger-Eller. Walter Josef Oster, whose initials form the name, came from 15 generations of viticulture and founded a liqueur manufactory next to the winery in the 1980s. His son Peter Oster and Ulf Schwichtenberg built the Wajos brand from this starting in the 2000s – the first store in Trier in 2008, today over 80 employees in Dohr and stores throughout Germany.

At Wajos, the bar is the second pillar alongside the kitchen: gins, liqueurs, rum, and precisely these tonic syrups, with which the house lets you mix drinks yourself instead of selling ready-made tonic. The syrups are created in Dohr, where most of the approximately 900 items are produced and tested in their own laboratory. You can taste in the rhubarb syrup that a house with winegrowing roots values acidity and bitterness – it is built on balance rather than sweetness.

The syrup for gin evenings, terrace evenings, and everyone who drinks alcohol-free

The rhubarb-apple-thyme syrup is the bottle for anyone who wants more variety in their Gin & Tonic than just a new gin variety. And for everyone looking for a drink in the evening that, despite being alcohol-free, tastes like the end of the workday. As a gift, it fits into any package with a gin, or as a trio with the Pink Grapefruit Tonic Syrup and a third from the series. All tonic syrups and gins can be found on our Wajos page.

Unopened, the bottle keeps for a long time in a dry, dark place; once opened, store it in a cool place; 200 ml is enough for about ten tonics at two centiliters per glass. The syrup is not suitable for those who avoid bitterness in a drink – the quinine is the whole point here, far more than just a background note.

Rhubarb, apple, and thyme with quinine, in a small bottle from the Moselle – the tonic syrup you use to mix your tonic just the way you like it.