I used to pick up my Barritt's at Binny's South Loop. It was always in cans and, to my taste, too sweet and not gingery enough. It's been a LOOOONG time since I've had it in the bottle so I honestly can't recall for certain that the bottle was better but I do remember it as being so. The Gosling's cans that Binny's S Loop now carries are, again to my taste, a little less sweet and a tad more gingery than their Barritt's can competition (although they are not dramatically different). I would love to get a Barritt's bottle to see if it's more what I remember.

Both of these are a far cry from the ginger beer I used to drink as a kid in Bermuda. There was a selection of clear, unlabeled, glass bottles at school and in the shops selling all sorts of flavors with the strawberry and the ginger beer being my two favorites. That ginger beer actually lit you up with a nice little burn that was great to get from a cold beverage on a hot day.

While the "classic" Dark n Stormy is supposed to strive for a bit more subtle presence of ginger so as not to overwhelm the Gosling's rum I find these days I prefer more assertiveness. I've switched to using a much darker (and cheaper) rum, Cruzan Black Strap, and (when available) spicier ginger beers. When down in the islands there's more selection of ginger beers (and Black Strap is like $8/btl, lol) but back home it's slimmer pickin's unless you go mail order.

binny's may be a corporate entity, or something like that, but each store is at the mercy of a regional distributor. i had them call the distributor to confirm that the LP store wasnt just out of barritts. i agree, it's ridiculous, that they cant transfer some from a suburban store. the same would hold true for a whole foods. each store can carry some different stuff, and it can't be brought from one to another. i guess it'd screw up their paperwork. while it's hardly the end of the world, it is annoying. i have to check with the south loop binny's. i'm pretty sure they didnt have it last time i was there. jj

Update: Binny's South Loop does stock the bottled version of Barritt's ginger beer. I picked some up yesterday and it definitely tastes much better, IMO, than their canned version.

thanks kman. i've never had the bottled gosling. i'll be going to binny's for some next week. jj

So...you know by now, Gosling's IS made with high fructose corn syrup. It is still AWESOME! I am in WI, and never heard of ginger beer until trying a gaelic storm - irish whiskey & ginger beer - yum!! I only just tried the traditional (rum & ginger beer) this evening.

Just thought I'd let you know, if you want a dark & stormy with Gosling's dark rum & Gosling's ginger beer, Jolly Bob's in Chicago serves it (according to Gosling's website).

I am now interested in trying Stewart's and Barritt's thanks to your posts (if I can find them!!). We have Stewart's everything else. I saw Regatta on Amazon. Is that any good?

kman - have you tried Fever-Tree premium? I am just looking on Amazon bc the only place around here (WI) I can find ginger beer is a bar half an hour away for $1.75/can (gosling's). The Fever-Tree is bottled and is much closer to clear than the Gosling's from the can, but having tried nothing else, it tastes gingery to me!

Former Chicagoan now up in the Appleton Wisconsin area - I just happen to stop by Club Liquors in Menasha today and lo and behold they were offering a handle of Goslings at a reasonable price with a free case of Gosling Ginger Beer. In case anybody reading this thread is passing through the area . . .

ginaphil30 wrote:kman - have you tried Fever-Tree premium? I am just looking on Amazon bc the only place around here (WI) I can find ginger beer is a bar half an hour away for $1.75/can (gosling's). The Fever-Tree is bottled and is much closer to clear than the Gosling's from the can, but having tried nothing else, it tastes gingery to me!

They carry Fever-Tree at the South Loop Binny's (if it's not on the shelf, ask, as it's often cleaned out). Of the 3 easily available in town - Barritt's, Gosling's, and Fever-Tree - I feel F-T is a cut above. Much more pronounced ginger flavor and character (more of that "burn" that I crave, but nothing like what I used to get when I lived in Bermuda). After that I prefer the Barritt's bottles (as opposed to the cans). Barritt's bottles use sugar (as does Fever-Tree), the cans use HFCS (as does Gosling's).

Of note - the Fever-Tree is considerably more expensive. I can't recall the price offhand but IIRC the 4-packs are priced near the same as the Barritt's bottles but the F-T bottles are tiny (200 ml or ~6.8 oz). Given my rather heavy-handed ratio of rum to ginger beer when making Dark n' Stormy's the better character of the Fever-Tree isn't as readily apparent but I do prefer the F-T. When making a Moscow Mule, though, where the sugars of the rum aren't there to potentially dominate the flavors the better profile of the F-T definitely is quite noticeable.

Something that's been recommended to me that I've yet to find is Blenheim's Ginger Ale - yes, Ale, not Beer. They have several varieties but they are known for their "Old #3" as being downright HOT. Made in Hamer, SC - and since I have a brother and a sister living in different parts of SC I should be able to get one of them to at least snare me a sampling and UPS it up here if I can't find any locally.

Kman - I ordered a case of Blenheim's red cap via the internet last summer as part of my ongoing quest to find a really spicy ginger soda. It's sort of hard to describe: it was spicy in a way that would induce a bit of coughing if you took a big whiff of a just-opened bottle, but it wasn't really very gingery. I seem to recall that there was some accumulated burn on the lips by the end of the bottle, but sip to sip, it wasn't wholly different from drinking a Canada Dry.

I had heard that it was available at the Dill Pickle Co-Op in Logan Square last summer, but I never verified that.

Owen & Engine serves Gosling's Ginger Beer, $3 per 12oz can (in a tall glass with ice, they give you the rest of the can too).

I haven't had Barritt's, but the Gosling's is one of the better-balanced varieties out there. Very sweet with a fresh flavor that reminded me of chewing on sugar cane, and a deep but not especially hot ginger flavor. Great foil for spicy and greasy foods.

To be honest, this might be too sweet to use a molasses-y rum with, but a hefty squeeze of lime juice might help to offset that.

If you are looking for a ginger beer without HFCS give Goose Island's Spicy Ginger soda a try. It's made with 100% cane sugar and is pretty spicy. Perhaps not as spicy as Gosling's or Barritt's (although I've never had them back-to-back) but it's WAY better than Reed's. And you can often find it at Dominicks or Jewel.

http://www.gooseisland.com/pages/spicy_ ... oda/51.php

JoelF wrote:I haven't had Barritt's

Well now I have: Bad Apple serves it. It's drier and crisper, and tastes a bit of tonic water. My sweet tooth prefers the cane-sugar taste of Gosling's -- Barritt's has HFCS.

JoelF wrote:

JoelF wrote:I haven't had Barritt's

Well now I have: Bad Apple serves it. It's drier and crisper, and tastes a bit of tonic water. My sweet tooth prefers the cane-sugar taste of Gosling's -- Barritt's has HFCS.

Yes and no. Only the cans use HFCS.
viewtopic.php?p=384287#p384287

I can't compare it to others, but Trader Joe's (Clybourn location) has Reed's ginger beer.

I've tried Reeds and it is certainly no ginger beer. I grew up in the Bahamas drinking Jamaican ginger beer that would knock you off your seat. I remember the burn and the tears, of joy of course. All of the ginger beer I've tried in the states are nothing like I remember them being. Ginger beer isn't supposed to be sweet, the ones I've tried all except one were too sugary. The latest one ive tried is Fentiman's which I believe is imported from the UK and the closest match so far and not too sweet. I'm about to order Jamaica's finest online which I read burns like hell so we'll see

Please report back on Jamaica's Finest. This is the first I've heard of it but it certainly sounds promising - real spiciness has proven elusive.

ndgbucktown wrote:Please report back on Jamaica's Finest. This is the first I've heard of it but it certainly sounds promising - real spiciness has proven elusive.

Hi,

The standard in Jamaica is Desnoes and Geddes (D&G) Ginger Beer:



This is very dry with lots of spice and not too much sugar. Much better than the sweet versions from Reeds and Blenheim. Much better than the high fructose versions.

Tim

Im on my way to caribbean american bakery to pick one up. Im almost done with two six packs of gosling and barritts I picked up. So far Barritts has a slight lead.

At CostPlus (World Market) the other day I noticed an Australian brand of Ginger Beer called Bundaberg. Has anyone ever had that? I also noticed another brand there, but forget what.

Also, just picked up a bottle of 3-Star (4-year old) Rhum Barbancourt the other day. Would a, uhh, light and stormy (if you will) be any good? Or any suggestions for other cocktails?

AaronSinger wrote:At CostPlus (World Market) the other day I noticed an Australian brand of Ginger Beer called Bundaberg. Has anyone ever had that? I also noticed another brand there, but forget what.

Oh boy oh boy. Did it have anything on the bottlecap?

Cost Plus always has bundaberg, and it's superb. The root beer is not as good. I rather like the Bundaberg peach soda, as well.

Pie Lady wrote:

AaronSinger wrote:At CostPlus (World Market) the other day I noticed an Australian brand of Ginger Beer called Bundaberg. Has anyone ever had that? I also noticed another brand there, but forget what.

Oh boy oh boy. Did it have anything on the bottlecap?

Which one, Bundaberg or the other one? I forget anything about the second one, just that I noticed multiple brands. I'll check there again and see what it was.

AaronSinger wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:

AaronSinger wrote:At CostPlus (World Market) the other day I noticed an Australian brand of Ginger Beer called Bundaberg. Has anyone ever had that? I also noticed another brand there, but forget what.

Oh boy oh boy. Did it have anything on the bottlecap?

Which one, Bundaberg or the other one? I forget anything about the second one, just that I noticed multiple brands. I'll check there again and see what it was.

Either one.

Another option for Ginger Beer is Sioux City Ginger Beer. They have it at Mariano's as a choice in the mixed 4 pack soda section. It's not bad, but not great either. On the plus side, it isn't too sweet, but on the negative side I'd like it to be a touch spicier. I've been using them to make "Mark and Stormies" this Summer (basically Dark and Stormies with Bourbon instead of Rum) with pretty good results. I destroyed my Rum taste buds during some misadventures in High School and am incapable of drinking Rum at all.

Pie Lady wrote:Either one.

Sorry, didn't get there until a couple days ago. CostPlus/World Market had 2 brands: Maine Root Ginger Brew, a 4-pack for $5.99, and a Bundaberg 4-pack for $6.49 (I was surprised at how expensive it was). I elected for the former, and I am glad that I did. I am currently drinking it with lime juice and the aforementioned 3-year Barbancourt, easy and delicious. The Maine Root seems to have a nice and spicy (not the most accurate word to me to describe ginger, I just can't think of anything better) taste, but I am not all that familiar with ginger beer to compare it with anything else.

For the Milwaukee folks, Goslings is available at Ottos.
I have a six on the back patio now. (well, a five. Had the first a couple of weeks ago and have not had the time to relax since)