Ginger Beer

Rob and I conducted a tasting of ginger beers, the classic ingredient to such cocktails as the Dark n' Stormy and Moscow Mule and generally very interesting to drink on their own. As per the usual process, the sodas were tasted blind and there was some discussion during the tasting to compare tasting notes, without giving away our scoring.

The contenders:

1. DG Old Jamaican Ginger Beer
2. Capt'n Eli's Ginger Beer
3. Maine Root Ginger Beer
4. Sprecher's Ginger Ale
5. Reeds Extra Ginger Brew
6. AJ Stephan's Jamaican Style Ginger Beer
7. Boom Chugga Lugga Cherry Ginger Beer
8. Buderim Ginger Beer
9. Blenheim "Not so Hot" Ginger Ale

Attached are our tasting notes and rankings:

1. DG Old Jamaican Ginger Beer
Matt's Notes
Cloudy white. Nice ginger nose with some good ginger spice. Some typical ginger soapiness/floweriness. Very sweet compared to the competition.
Rating - 90

Rob's Notes
Super sweet. Spicy ginger finish which stays with you. Woodsy nose (cedar)
Rating - 91

2. Capt'n Eli's Ginger Beer
Matt's Notes
Medium dark gold, clear. This one really made me sneeze the most during nosing. A lot of cologne/perfume elements. Rob mentioned lemon cleaning products (bingo!). Nice spice, but a bit chemically overall.
Rating - 84

Rob's Notes
Lemon cleaning products (in a good way). Fairly dry with some astrigency on the finish
Rating - 87

3. Maine Root Ginger Beer
Matt's Notes
Cloudy yellow. Spicy, vegetal (sushi seaweed). Nice flavors and overall balance.
Rating - 88

Rob's Notes
Nice lemon-ginger nose. Funky mid-palate building to a spicy finish.
Rating - 89

4. Sprecher's Ginger Ale
Matt's Notes
Cloudy white. Chalky with some ginger soapiness. Very dry compared to the rest. Slightly bitterish. I think this one suffers (maybe unfairly) for its dryness compared to the rest.
Rating - 83

Rob's Notes
Very dry compared to others. Builds to a pleasant soapy gingery finish with some spice
Rating - 87

5. Reeds Extra Ginger Brew
Matt's Notes
Honey, honey and more honey. Sweet and honeyish, with the honey dominating the character as compared to the playing field.
Rating - 80 (rated as a ginger brew, not in terms of general enjoyment as a soda)

Rob's Notes
Smells like mead. Honey continues on the palate, leading to a mildly spicy finish. Not gingery enough.
Rating - 86

6. AJ Stephan's Jamaican Style Ginger Beer
Matt's Notes
Nice ginger nose. Pretty spicy. Nice balance of tartness, sweetness and ginger. A lot going on, with a very spicy finish.
Rating - 91

Rob's Notes
Soapy (in a good way) lemon-ginger nose. Gingery flavors. Very spicy finish (maybe a little too much). Sneezy.
Rating - 90

7. Boom Chugga Lugga Cherry Ginger Beer
Matt's Notes
A conspicuous rosy hue. Cherries on the nose. Nice tartness and fairly sweet with a lot of cherry flavor.
Rating - 88 (for rating purposes only, this was not ranked as a ginger beer due to its uniqueness)

Rob's Notes
Cherry on the nose and plate. No real ginger flavors but very pleasant.
Rating - Not Rated

8. Buderim Ginger Beer

Matt's Notes

Some bitterness. A fair amount of ginger flavors. Something earthy-woodsy. Very pleasant with a decent balance of flavors.

Rating - 87

Rob's Notes

Not much on the nose. Sandy, sandalwood on the palate. Finishes with a mild to mid-spicy ginger flavor.

Rating - 88

9. Blenheim "Not so Hot" Ginger Ale

Matt's Notes

Not a lot going on on the nose. Sweet but very light with a nice ginger finish

Rating - 86

Rob's Notes

Not much on the nose. Dry with little flavor. May be suffering from comparison to sweeter brews.

Rating - 84

Overall Rankings

Matt

#1 AJ Stephans (91)

#2 (tie) Maine Root and DG (88)

#4 Buderim (87)

#5 Blenheim (86)

#6 Capt'n Eli (84)

#7 Sprecher (83)

#8 Reed's (80)

Rob

#1 DG (91)

#2 AJ Stephans (90)

#3 Maine Root (89)

#4 Buderim (88)

#5 (tie) Capt'n Elis and Sprecher (87)

#7 Reeds (86)

#8 Blenheim (84)

Final Notes - Rob and I had the same top 4 which is not unusual for us. There were a couple of ginger brews that had some issues relative to their peers in this format of a tasting: Sprechers was notably dry with a lot less sugar than the others which led it to somewhat of a disadvantage in this setting. (Thanks to Rob's girlfriend Ali for getting us the Sprechers and Boom Chugga Lugga to try) Reed's, which I enjoy frequently really stood out as being honey dominated next to the competition. And Blenheim, was just too light to stand up to these ginger beers, although it is a bit richer and spicier than typical ginger ales.