Be-ton

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (16 ratings)
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    Be-ton

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Be-ton image

Photographed in a Ginza Highball

Ingredients:
1 2⁄3 oz Becherovka liqueur
3 1⁄2 oz Thomas Henry Tonic Water chilled
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Collins glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of lemon wedge.
  3. POUR both ingredients into chilled glass.
  4. FILL glass with ice.
  5. Garnish with lemon wedge.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 6/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 7/10
More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

The delicately spiced Beton is the Czech Republic's answer to the Gin & Tonic and is considered the national drink.

View readers' comments

History:

First made for the Montreal EXPO exhibition in 1967, the cocktail takes its name "Be-ton" from its two ingredients: Becherovka and tonic water. Beton is also the Czech word for concrete, suggesting it is strong, like concrete.

Nutrition:

One serving of Be-ton contains 158 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.2 standard drinks
  • 11.14% alc./vol. (11.14° proof)
  • 17.3 grams of pure alcohol

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Peter McCarthy’s Avatar Peter McCarthy
24th February at 00:53
FWIW, the Becherovka website (https://www.becherovka.com/en/cocktails/original-beton/) uses 40 ml Becherovka & 100 ml Tonic, so that would be 150 ml Tonic for 60 ml Becherovka... They're also using lemon for the garnish, instead of lime, and they claim that this *is* the Czech national cocktail.
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
2nd March at 10:21
Thanks, Peter. I'll rephotograph garnished with a lemon wedge.
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Adi Shavit’s Avatar Adi Shavit
15th October 2022 at 19:07
Very refreshing. The cloves come out really nicely with the tonic’s subtle bitterness.
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Hunter Newsome’s Avatar Hunter Newsome
16th September 2021 at 20:50
A great autumn/winter highball that'll please the crowd. I like to garnish with a rosemary sprig and lemon peel.
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