Taste Test Lab: Alcoholic Ginger Beers

There was a time when if you asked for a ginger beer at a bar or café you’d get a confused look and be offered a ginger ale. Legit ginger beer could only be found in the pages of Famous Five novels in which they were served by the “lashing” or, if you were lucky, in Uncle Fred’s garage (provided the latest homemade batch hadn’t gone all Michael Bay. KABOOOM!). But in the last few years more and more ginger beers have appeared. The range available is no longer limited to Bundaberg, and lo, this greater demand for ginger has finally made it’s way into the boozy end of the market.

Here at Taste Test Labs™ we pride ourselves on taking a scientific approach to all things. It’s also really hot because the aircon is marginal so we often find ourselves with a healthy thirst. So what better reason to don a white coat, gather up the clipboard and wet our parched whistles whilst documenting everything for the drinking public?

My lab assistant and I procured a range of alcoholic ginger beers currently on the market and set about rating them using the incredibly scientific method of assigning each beer a celebrity redhead patron.

Stone’s Ginger Beer – 4.8% ABV, available in 330ml x 6 pack. Just because Stone’s has ginger wine perfected does not mean that the same is true of ginger beer. Zingy, dry and not too sweet Stone’s Ginger Beer had a somewhat malty and bitter aftertaste. Our conclusion was that we’d rather be drinking their ginger wine and soda. Ginger celebrity = Axl Rose. Earlier work suggests this one should be better than it is.

Ranga – 4.5% ABV, 330ml x 6 pack or 1.25l bottle. Brewed in Gisborne and gluten free, dontchaknow. If you want a ginger beer that tastes like a non-alcoholic one but isn’t, this is your drink. Had a nice balance of sweetness and zingy ginger with the tickle in the nose that comes from lots of fizz. Ginger celebrity = Rick Astley. Just so effervescently poppy!

Boundary Road Brewery “Grizzly Beer” – 4.5% ABV, 330ml x 6 pack. Another local variety, this time brewed in Auckland. This was a bit weaker in the ginger department and less sweet than the Ranga but still very drinkable, possibly more-so because of this. A good ginger beer to take to a BBQ. Ginger celebrity = Alyson Hannigan. Sweet but not too sweet.

Hitachino Nest Real Ginger Ale – 8% ABV, 330ml bottle. Not especially sweet and not strongly gingery this malty Japanese beer (or ale) from Kiuchi Breweries is very drinkable. Dangerously so because at 8% it’s significantly stronger than other beers. Colour-wise it looks like a traditional English bitter but tastes completely different. Ginger celebrity = Simon Pegg. Not really that gingery but pretty awesome.

Crabbies Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer – 4% ABV, 500ml bottle. Like the Ranga this is a ginger beer that’s not at all “beery” and of all the beers tasted it’s the one that comes across most like a soft drink but it’s also the weakest alcohol-wise so that’s probably not surprising. This was our favourite of all the beers we tried as this Scottish concoction amps up the ginger, hefting a wallop of hot tang on the back of the tongue. Pow! Called “Original” due to Crabbies also producing a number of fruity ginger beers none of which we were brave enough to try at the time (though given how much we liked this we may revise this). Ginger celebrity = Christina Hendricks. Wham, bam, thank you, maam.

Harrington’s Brewery Prince Harry – 4.8% ABV, 500ml bottle. With a name like that and a higher than usual alcohol content and big half-litre bottle we were expecting good things. Alas, Prince Harry left us wanting. This had a strangely hollow flavour that left us thinking “is that it?”. We were expecting more ginger or more beeriness or more something. We rather imagined that Prince Harry would be a bit more fun than this. Ginger celebrity = Nicole Kidman. It looks good, but so what?

Speight’s Ginger Beer – 4% ABV, 300ml x 6 pack. The packaging describes this as a “dry style” ginger beer but we found it hollow and watery. Kind of like a Radler if you substituted in ginger for the lime. Because of the lack of much going on if you’re the sort who quickly gets sick of drinks with stronger flavours then this might be the ginger beer for you. It’s just not the one for us. Pleasant enough but not worth writing home about. Ginger celebrity = Ed Sheeran. Just not that interesting.

Mac’s Alcoholic Ginger Beer – 4% ABV, 330ml x 6 pack. Mac’s also makes a non-boozy ginger beer so make sure you don’t get caught out. This one claims to be brewed “like grandad used to concoct in the back shed” but by our measure it’s lacking the punchy zest that a really good ginger beer gives you. Basically we want a residual taste of ginger in our mouths, to feel like we’ve been french kissed by Josh Homme, basically. And this ain’t it. Again, not offensive but not giving our tastebuds an orgasm either. A safe ginger-flavoured fizzy drink that doesn’t taste much like beer. Ginger celebrity =  Amy Adams. She seems nice and inoffensive, doesn’t she?

So having tabulated the results, our picks are definitely Crabbies as overall winner, with honorable mentions going to Ranga for those who like things soft drinky and Hitachino Nest if you’re after something with a stronger beery flavour (and a nice, easy road to drunkeness).

Feel free to share your picks in the comments.