"I don't believe in using artificial ingredients," [Todd Thrasher] said. "If you're going to have a drink, you may as well use the best ingredients you can find."

To test the cherries in action, I made Manhattans. "I can't tell you exactly whether it's the cherry or not," my friend Jim said, "but I can tell you this is the best Manhattan I've ever had."

That was until I tasted Thrasher's gin and tonic at PX. Thrasher said it took six months and 20 versions before he settled on the tonic that he serves. "This isn't like the tonic you'll get out of plastic bottles," he said. Thrasher said that's mainly because mass-produced tonic waters are often sickly sweet from the addition of high-fructose corn syrup.