Sparkly Showdown: Ginger Beer Addition
November 7th, 2008 | Published in mixers | 11 Comments
My tireless quest to chronicle every single ginger beer I can find continues!
On a recent trip to CostPlus I stumbled upon two more ginger beers hitherto unencountered: The Ginger People’s Ginger Beer and Maine Root’s Ginger Brew. Both are naturally sweetened with sugar (no HFCS), and the Maine Root brand is also organic and certified fair trade. I’ve been favorably impressed with Ginger People products in the past, and I’m a sucker for small producers like Maine Root, especially when their products are produced ethically.
So, how did these two new contenders stack up?
The Ginger People Ginger Beer | Marina, CA | cane sugar – 36g – ginger juice, ginger extract
Moderately cloudy with a light yellow color, akin to lemonade. Moderate carbonation. Earthy, fresh ginger flavor with light spice. Sweet and tasty, but more akin to ginger ale.
Maine Root Ginger Brew | Scarborough, ME | organic, fair trade evaporated cane juice – 40g – ginger extract
Moderately cloudy with a golden color. Moderate carbonation. Spicy, earthy, strong ginger flavor with a kick. Not too sweet with a very distinct ginger flavor. Category champion!
Of all the ginger beers that I’ve tasted, the Maine Root may well be my favorite. Aside from the fact that I appreciate their use of fair trade sweetener, it strikes the perfect balance of spicy ginger flavor and sweetness. We put both beers in a Moscow Mule and found that while the Ginger People Ginger Beer was excellent on its own, much of the ginger flavor was lost when mixed. Maine Root, on the other hand, kept an excellent spicy note even when the drink was watered down toward the end. I can’t wait to put this in Dark & Stormy and see how it performs there.
Ed. note: While my spokesmodel certainly is cute, shortly after this photo was snapped he was so taken with the Maine Root Ginger Brew that he cuddled it…right into the bricks below. So much for the bottle I was going to use in that Dark & Stormy!
Like this? We also suggest:
- El Centro Cooler — cocktail, falernum, ginger, ginger beer, lime, MxMo, rum
November 7th, 2008at 1:52 pm(#)
boy howdy! maine root is so good. it’s more or less local ’round these parts and even i, not a big soda fan, cannot resist its powers every once and while. the rootbeer, jeez that’s good.
sorry to hear that your spokesmodel let you…or uh, the ginger beer down.
November 7th, 2008at 2:24 pm(#)
I actually had three little “helpers” today who contributed to the ginger beer’s sad demise. They’re unfortunately cute for such little demons.
Next time I’m out shopping I’m definitely picking up the root beer—I’m not a soda person, either, but I have a major root beer weakness.
November 8th, 2008at 12:25 am(#)
My favorite Ginger Beer is Fentimans. Their Botanical Brews are from the UK, but they’re starting to brew and ferment their sodas in Pennsylvania starting this month. You can check them out at drinkfentimans.com or on their British site at fentimans.com. They’ve also got some other intriguing flavours in their line, including Victorian Lemonade, Curiosity Cola, Mandarin & Orange Jigger, Shandy and Dandelion & Burdock.
November 24th, 2008at 5:02 am(#)
Thanks for the kind words on our ginger brew. It goes great with Goslings black seal rum and lime, or Tito’s vodka, oh yeah.
My chef friend Rose marinated a pork loin in ginger brew overnight and put that pappy on the grill. There was a cage match to get the last piece .
Cheers,
Mark Seiler
Maine Root
November 24th, 2008at 6:56 am(#)
Mark,
Thanks for stopping by! I’m happy that we can get Maine Root products out here—usually the good stuff from back East doesn’t get all the way out to California.
Cheers!
December 3rd, 2008at 11:08 pm(#)
Not the biggest fan of the Maine Root, last time i had it I recall it being overly sweet for my taste… maybe I’ll give it another try, although I must say, I was drawn to it as you were, partly because of the appeal of smaller brewing groups.
I can vouch for Fentiman’s, as it is most absolutely definitely one of my favorites. As for Dark’n'Stormy mixer though, not my favorite.
That would have to be Regatta.
http://www.regattagingerbeer.com/
Funny that I lived in CT, right near Westport for 18 years and never saw it, but can find it quite easily in Hoboken, NJ. It’s definitely on the sweeter side, but has a beautiful cloud and a strong ginger taste without a harsh afterburn. Worth finding a 4-pack, if at all possible.
December 5th, 2008at 11:40 am(#)
Jaxon,
Thanks for the tips. I’ll keep an eye out for Regatta and Fentiman’s, though I haven’t found them out here in Cali yet.
July 6th, 2009at 7:36 pm(#)
Maine root is somethin’ fierce with the Ginger Brew. I mix it with a Geary’s (pale/summer/imperial ipa) ale for a nice Portland Shandy.
August 2nd, 2009at 11:16 am(#)
[...] SLOSHED!’s Sparkly Showdown [...]
October 15th, 2009at 12:13 pm(#)
Anybody ever mixed Maine Root with real beer? It is awesome! I call it Dark and Sloppy. I mix 2 parts Ginger beer with 4 parts oatmeal stout. It sounds gross but its amazing. Looks like one of the Maine Root presidents lurks on this site and I wonder how he knows why it tastes so good with Titos vodka. Have you ever actually had one Mark? Thats what I thought. A lot of big drinking talk. Nothing to back it up though.
October 15th, 2009at 12:34 pm(#)
I should let you all know that Fentimans Ginger Beer (as well as Curiosity Cola, Dandelion & Burdock & Shandy) are all available in Cost Plus World Market now. Shandy is actually a mixture of beer and lemon juice (though the fermentation is controlled on our beer so that when added to the lemon juice it’s less than 1/2% alcohol, and thus a soda). So I think that Ginger Beer and beer mixed together could be quite interesting. There is an alcoholic (over 1/2% alch)ginger beer sold in the UK called Crabbies. Haven’t gotten my hands on it yet, but sounds quite interesting. I’ll have to try the GB/Beer combo. I think you need a dryer GB that has a higher amount of ginger to work well with this. Look forward to hearing suggestions on the blend between them from your readers.
Cheers!
Greg