Today I’m going to talk about another kind of good mixers for rums: The Ginger Drinks.

Here in Spain,the most popular is Ginger Ale, but on the contrary, in many countries this is the Ginger Beer…and I know the reason: there’s a more real and spiced ginger drink. I think that Ginger Ale is only a flavored soda, but the Ginger Beer in most of the cases had his own and peculiar character.

I love the Ginger Beer flavor, but when I tasted some brands I realized that some of this didn’t likes me…and I was collecting some to make an special Ginger Beer VS comparative…but I found some brands, that I think I could fit on this VS, that no calls their drinks “beer”, for that reason, I finally call the comparative “Ginger Drinks VS”.

Without delay, I’m going to present the seven selected drinks and start talking about the tasting, where I punctuated from 0 to 5 the next factors: color (well, color it’s explained but not punctuated), aroma, flavor, sweetness, spiciness and fizziness. The points doesn’t means that it’s better than the others, only means that is low or high on this factor, and you could evaluate if an excessive sweetness is great for you or if you prefer a lower spiciness…it’s on your way!!!

Schweppes  Ginger Beer

Ingredients: Carbonated water, sugar, acidity regulator (330), flavourings, preservative (211), colour (150d).

Format: 330ml Can

Produced in: Hong Kong.

Color: Clear, almost transparent, slightly cloudy.

Aroma: Slightly Ginger. 1/5

Flavor: Soft and artificial ginger flavor. 1/5

Sweetness: Not very sweet. 2/5

Spiciness: Not spicy. 0/5

Fizziness: It’s like a regular carbonated drink. 5/5

Caribia Ginger Drink

Ingredients: Water, sugar, carbon dioxide,natural ginger flavouring with other natural flavourings, acidifier: citric acid, stabilizers (E414,E445).

Format: 330ml Can

Produced in: EU.

Color: Cloudy white.

Aroma: Medium ginger aroma. 2/5

Flavor: Artificial ginger flavor. 2/5

Sweetness: Sweet. 3/5

Spiciness: Moderated spiciness in mouth and throat. Increases a bit on the second sip. 2/5

Fizziness: It’s like a regular carbonated drink. 5/5

Old Jamaica Ginger Beer

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Sugar, Ginger root extract and other flavouring, citric acid, preservative (sodium benzoate), stabiliser (quillaia extract).

Format: 330ml Can

Produced in: UK

Color: Cloudy white.

Aroma: Slightly ginger and citrus. 1/5

Flavor: Spiced flavor but not ginger flavor. Maybe more pepper than ginger. 1/5

Sweetness: Very Sweet. 5/5

Spiciness: Spicy at the beginning that not lasts. 1/5

Fizziness: It’s like a regular carbonated drink. 5/5

Harboe Ginger Beer Root

Ingredients: Water, sugar, carbon dioxide, natural ginger flavouring with other natural flavourings, acidifier: citric acid, stabilizers: gum arabic and glycerol ester of wood rosins.

Format: 330ml Can

Produced in: Germany

Color: Cloudy white.

Aroma: Smells like Aquarius. 0/5

Flavor: Ginger and tonic Flavor. 2/5

Sweetness: Very Sweet. 5/5

Spiciness: Spicy on mouth and throat. 3/5

Fizziness: A bit less fizzy than the others. 4/5

Fentimans Traditional Ginger Beer

Ingredients: Carbonated water, fermented ginger root extract (water, glucose syrup, ginger root, yeast), sugar, glucose syrup, pear juice concentrate, natural flavourings (ginger, lemon, capsicum), cream of tartar, citric acid, herbal infusions (juniper, speedwell, yarrow).

Format: 275 ml Bottle

Produced in: UK

Color: Totally clear and transparent.

Aroma: Slightly ginger and herbal aromas. 1/5

Flavor: Smooth ginger and herbal. 3/5

Sweetness: Not very sweet. 2/5

Spiciness: On the second sip the spiciness appears only in mouth. 3/5

Fizziness: It’s like a regular carbonated drink. 5/5

Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Beer

Ingredients: Natural mineral water, cane sugar, ginger root, natural flavours, ascorbic acid.

Format: 200ml Bottle

Produced in: UK

Color: Transparent but a bit cloudy.

Aroma: Ginger aroma. 2/5

Flavor: Intense ginger flavor. 4/5

Sweetness: Not very sweet. 1/5

Spiciness: Very spicy in mouth and throat. 4/5

Fizziness: It’s like a regular carbonated drink. 5/5

Pimento Ginger Drink

Ingredients: Carbonated water, sugar, acidifier: citric acid, natural flavours, sweeteners: acesulfame K, sucralose, colour: caramel E150d.

Format: 250ml Bottle

Produced in: France

Color: Transparent gold color.

Aroma: Soft ginger. 1/5

Flavor: Ginger, citrus, chili…it smells spicy but smooth. 5/5

Sweetness: Sweet. 3/5

Spiciness: Very, very spicy in mouth and throat. Very long. 6/5 (yes it’s correct 6/5)

Fizziness: Low carbonated. 2/5

 

I dislike the very sweet drinks and in a Ginger Beer I prefer the spiciness, the aromas and flavors of the natural ginger…and taking my taste and my personal opinion I think that the best Ginger Beer is Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Beer!But…one moment…we are not judging Ginger Beers…we are tasting Ginger Drinks and in my personal opinion after that taste of 7 drinks:

 

Pimento Ginger Drink Wins the Ginger Drinks VS

 

Of course, think that I taste all this drinks neat…you are free to taste all of these with rum if you love it (well…I’m guilty…I also do it with some of these and a bit of Kraken!!!). Do you know more brands that I could try to find and taste for a future VS? Please, tell me!!!

 

This post is also available in: Spanish