Ginger Ale

I'm mildly addicted to two types of ginger ale: Reed's Premium Ginger and Blenheim. I can find Reed's Premium (no fructose, sweetened with honey and pineapple juice) at Dominick's and Whole Foods. Blenheim, sadly, must be ordered online, and shipping costs are unholy. Anyone know where I can buy these in bulk, without outrageous shipping prices?

I'm definitely interested in the replies. And if there's a 2 or 3 case minimum order requirement and the price is right, I'll join in, especially for reeds. This goes for any Izze products, also.

I've had Blenheim's only twice when I was in Atlanta. It's bottled in South Carolina, comes in a few varities, including HOT. It will knock your socks off. Reed's Premium I'm finding to be the perfect summertime beverage. Plus, because fructose is absent, it's not too sweet and doesn't cause your teeth to feel coated with sugar. Trader Joe's carries the non-premium variety, and much cheaper than Dom's or natural food stores.

TJ's price is good. Moreso than the normal ginger ales, I really like Reed's Raspberry Ginger Ale and Apple Cider.

I've had blenheim a fair number of times, but I don't like the taste as much as reed's.

I'm guessing that there are differences between ginger ale and ginger beer (spiciness?), but this thread got me thinking about a ginger beer that my dad introduced me to years and years ago. Of all places, we were able to find it in our tiny-Ohio-town, at the mall, at the Peperidge Farms store of all places (not their own). I can't remember the name of that beverage, but it came in squat brown glass bottles with a pirate on the label. That stuff burned something wonderful.

I've been pretty disappointed with ginger beers I've had since, including many of the Reed's varieties (although admittedly not a very dedicated search on my part). Ginger didn't seem at the fore and there always seemed to be some "flatness".

Well, this past weekend I found myself for the first time at the Cub Foods on Elston. I don't live too far away, but have never found myself here before. We were in the area and forgot to pick up tomatoes elsewhere so used the visit as an excuse to get a feel for the store.

I'm feeling a digression coming on, so let me cut to the chase. At this supermarket, I saw more of the Goya product line than I'd ever seen anywhere else. A beverage that caught my eye was their Jamaican Style Ginger Beer. As my wife picked up some malta and I picked up a bottle of the ginger beer (about $0.55 ), not expecting much.

Boy was I wrong! I poured the entire bottle over ice and finished it handily. This stuff has got kick and a half -- in a good way. It turns out that part of the kick is ginger and part of it, believe it or not, is from capsicum. It is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, but didn't produce the unpleasant tooth-coating that I usually associate with the stuff.

If this sort of stuff appeals to you, try it out. They sell individual bottles, and they're dirt cheap.

I'm going back for more.

Zee


Cub Foods
2627 North Elston
Chicago, IL, 60647

I have a friend who was craving the famous Bermuda cocktail, " Dark and Stormy". This is Gosling's dark rum and Barretts Ginger Beer over ice with a lime. I was able to order a few cases of Barrett's from Sam's Liquors for a pretty reasonable price. You may wish to try them as a source for your flavor.

I used to get ginger ale when I was sick. Usually it was the Canada Dry ginger ale.

atomicman wrote:I have a friend who was craving the famous Bermuda cocktail, " Dark and Stormy". This is Gosling's dark rum and Barretts Ginger Beer over ice with a lime. I was able to order a few cases of Barrett's from Sam's Liquors for a pretty reasonable price. You may wish to try them as a source for your flavor.

When I lived in Bermuda ginger beer was a great "new" drink to me, so much spicier than the sodas I'd had up until then. A friend of mine brought me back some Barrets earlier this year and I'm looking at 4 cans on my desk that are headed to the fridge. I've never had a "Dark and Stormy"; I'll give that a try.

Zeeshan wrote: "I can't remember the name of that beverage, but it came in squat brown glass bottles with a pirate on the label. That stuff burned something wonderful."

I can't remember the name either, and I've been looking for it for years! It's what I had as a kid, and no ginger beer I've found to date has the right balance of burn, flavor and sweet. This stuff was strong ginger flavor, not too sweet at all. It's perfect for a Dark & Stormy. If anyone knows what it's called or where i can find it, particularly in chicago, boston or online, please let me know. Many thanks!

(I will go try out the Goya stuff though, sounds like it might be a reasonable stopgap. )

foodnerd wrote:I can't remember the name either, and I've been looking for it for years! It's what I had as a kid, and no ginger beer I've found to date has the right balance of burn, flavor and sweet. This stuff was strong ginger flavor, not too sweet at all. It's perfect for a Dark & Stormy. If anyone knows what it's called or where i can find it, particularly in chicago, boston or online, please let me know. Many thanks!

If it is the brand that I am thinking of, they used to carry it at Treasure Island.

Have you seen these sites?

Galco's

The Soda King

Ifs Ands & Butts

E.M.

Thanks for posting the links. Unfortunately, I didn't see the little swashbuckler of my youth amongst the offerings. Erik, do you happen to recall the name of the product that TI used to sell?

After my initial experience with the Goya Ginger Beer, I went back to grab about 8 more bottles. The one caution I'd offer is this -- drink these ICE COLD. Unfortunately, if served any warmer, there's a slightly medicinal first hit before the ginger oil and capsicum take over. Not a perfect beverage, but worth trying out.

Zee

Zeeshan wrote:Erik, do you happen to recall the name of the product that TI used to sell?

No, and it is the sort of thing that can drive me nuts.

I mean, I might actually start looking through my bottlecap collection.

E.M.

What do you know? I go on vacation and it suddenly occurs to me:

The brand which I think that you are talking about, and the brand which was, at one time, carried by the Treasure Island stores, is Old Tyme Jamaican-Style Ginger Beer.

Whew.

Bye.

E.M.

That's it!!

To make certain, I found a pic:
.

So thank you, Erik. That image alone brought back a flood of memories. My dad used to buy these, and resorted to hiding them so I wouldn't drink 4-6 of them in a sitting. Good times.

Now to find them...

Zee

One additional thought. Make a simple syrup (at least 1:1 ratio of sugar to water), boil it and steep cut ginger pieces in it for at least a half hour. Decant the syrup, and reserve ginger.

Take this ginger syrup, mix a couple of tablespoons with some carbonated water. Spritz with a bit of lime, and you are in business.

You can even take the steeped ginger pieces, bake in the oven, and now you have candy.

yay! thanks, everyone -- that's exactly the stuff. I tried the Goya at my party, and it works fine for a Dark & Stormy, but I still lust in my heart for the serious spice of the pirate. Arrrrrr.

Did you know proper ginger beer (and proper rootbeer for that matter), it not actually non-alcaholic? It's something like 0.5% ABV (1 proof), but that would still be enough to keep all the underagers from getting any (but underagers can still buy vanilla extract which is upwards of 70% ABV/140 proof without being carded, go figure!). The funny thing for me, when I was in Bermuda, was the people who picked up Dark & Stormies in the cans, and thought they were soda, since you can't really taste the rum (from what I've heard, I was last in Bermuda when I was 12), and would chug two or three, and remember there was about 6 shots of rum in each can. And boy did they act funny!

As an aside, while we're on the subject of Bermudean spirits, does anyone know where I can get sherry-peppers (the kind Trimingham's sells)?

TODG and I took some of her students from Pitt down to St. Kitts for a public health project a couple of years ago. One of the first things her colleagues there introduced us to was the local home-made version of ginger beer. Ginger is cheap, so this is made by the gallon: chop up as much ginger as you can stand to chop up. Put it in a gallon jug, add water, a couple of cups of sugar, and some secret spices (the usual: cloves, allspice, bit o' nutmeg, some *dried* ginger powder), then cover the top very very loosly with a cloth--cheesecloth, preferably--and let it sit out for 8-12 hours. Needless to say, the ginger is covered with a nearly infinite spectrum of micro-critters, and, if the kitchen has been used for this purpose before, there are just *bound* to be some alcohol-fermenting yeast (S.cereviseii sp)) in the air, everywhere.

Sooo, at St. Kitts' ambient temps, and with such a nice infusion of active culture, the ginger beer, by the end of the rest period, is well on its way to the beginnings of an alcoholic fermentation. And, consequently, it has the beginning of fizz. At that point, pop it in the fridge. There were typically bottles in various stages of 'ripeness' in folks' fridges. We held it sometimes for a week, at which point it was decidedly tangy, fizzy, and, I suspect, c. 2% ABV.

Very very refreshing, not to mention distinctive.

Geo

I'm pretty fond of the house-made ginger ales served by several LEYE restaurants: Big Bowl, Wow Bao and Ben Pao (Ben Pao has a frozen, alcohol-laced version, too). It varies a bit from place to place; the Big Bowl version has both vanilla and lime elements.

Note to the OP: I've sometimes seen Blenheim at Cost Plus World Market.

www.leye.com

www.worldmarket.com

Dredging an old thread here...

Does anyone remember Canadra Dry having an alternative ginger ale....like an "extra dry" version back in the 70s? I seem to recall this from when I was a kid. A red can? anyone?

teatpuller wrote:Dredging an old thread here...

Does anyone remember Canadra Dry having an alternative ginger ale....like an "extra dry" version back in the 70s? I seem to recall this from when I was a kid. A red can? anyone?

I remember that....it wasn't as sweet. I remember my great aunt putting Johnny Walker Black in it.

Good natural Ginger Ale always reminds me of the sugarcane juice I used to drink in summertime in Hyderabad. Of course, I get it everytime I go to Devon now. I found a quick and easy method for making it at home. Dissolve "Sucanat" (natural dried sugar cane juice) sugar in a small(er) amount of water; add grated ginger and swirl; decant/run it through a fine sieve; make up the rest with Seltzer water. Et Voila, ginger ale.

West Lakeview Liquors has Blenheim- all varieties mild, hot & diet. Sadly they don't make the Ginger Beer anymore. WLV also has Fever Tree Ginger Ale made with cane sugar in 200ml bottles or by the case. Club Soda, Tonic & Bitter Lemon- Perfect for mixers!


Kristina Bozic
West Lakeview Liquors
2156 W Addison St
Chicago IL 60618
773 525.1916