Ginger - 217 Reviews

2 liter bottles are the worst form of packaging for soda to come in. Okay 3 liters are actually worse, and I suppose if a company chose to package their drinks inside of an octopus' stomach that would also be worse. Let's just say out of normal packaging it is the worst.
A. It's plastic, which is inferior to cans, which is inferior to glass bottles.
B. It's too much drink. You generally don't finish it in one sitting and the pop ends up going flat before you get through the whole bottle.
C. If you do finish the entire bottle in a single sitting, you are a glutton and probably are going to end up weighing 398 lbs.

Most companies realize how terrible of an idea these bottles are and forgo using them. Quality companies that is. Generally all you see are Coke and Pepsi products as well as store brands like this one. We went up to Canada on Sunday to get some bookshelves from Ikea. Nothing is better for LPs. We stopped at a grocery store and I saw this on the shelf for $1.19. I'm not one to ever pass up a ginger beer I haven't tried, even when I expect the worst. I made my purchase, made my way out to my car, took a photo in the bottle and cracked it open like the impatient American that I am. While it was in my mouth it tasted like an average root beer. Then I swallowed and the ginger beer flavor became more apparent. Two seconds later a very decent burn swept over my throat.

This is a shockingly decent ginger beer. It's not the best I've tasted, but it's far from the worst, which is what I expected. I still think 2 liters are a terrible idea, and this is most definitely going to go flat before I finish it, but flavor wise it was pretty darn good.

...and this ladies and gentlemen will conclude our tour of historic London. You've seen the Jack the Ripper locations, Parliament, Buckingham Palace and some cathedrals. For our final destination I give you Big Ben. This "clock tower" is one of the most recognizable structures in all of England. What most people don't know is that the framework of the building is entirely made up of bottles of soda. Many people try to call my bluff at this point in the tour and point out that soda bottles could never be structurally sound. My retort is that this was built in a time when companies sold soda in reusable bottles. Have you ever seen those things? They are really strong. Many different types of pop bottles were used for different parts of the building. The actual area around the clock is completely constructed from ginger beer bottles. You can tell by the green tint to them. Something about a ginger beer that is sweet and flavorful, with just a slight kick to it, resulted in the perfect bottles for that area. The flavor of the specific ginger beer that used to be housed in those bottles taunted the drinker. It really tasted like it should have a very strong burn to it, but in the end it just had a very strong flavor.

Bottles of the same recipe can be purchased in the gift shop for a modest fee of 15 quid. Yes I understand that is a ridiculous price and you could probably purchase the same soda in eastern Pennsylvania for $1.50, but what you're purchasing here is a piece of history and who wants to leave London without a bottle of culture?

I have been waiting to try this bottle for a while now. I had heard good things about Capt'n Eli's soda so I was excited when I found this at Village Candy. The classic look of the label made me think this was going to be a premium ginger beer. Sadly, I was a bit let down. It's good, but not great in my opinion. It has a nice ginger flavor to it with a slight burn aftertaste. But it doesn't have the deep burn that I love with ginger beer. The kind of burn that makes my lips sting, and makes me wait minutes in-between sips.

So in a nutshell, good (not great) tasting ginger beer with a mild to slightly medium burn. I think the barrels that boy on the label is taking off with in the boat is the good stuff. Stupid kid.

I remembered something very important yesterday: I am not a beach person. My somewhat recent vacation to Hawaii had me confused. There I enjoyed the beach, but that was because there were cliffs to jump off of, ropes to swing from, and clear water full of weird sea creatures to see when snorkeling. The beach in Buffalo has none of these things. It has a terrain that is more rocks than sand, and what little sand there is is blowing around in the wind. I went with some friends, and then tried to suck it up as to not bum anyone out. I don't know how good of a job I did, but I can say I tried. To overcome my boredom/trying to escape the suns ever burning rays I hid under an umbrella and drank some lemonade.

Lemonade is the official drink of the summer for me. I can't remember a past summer when I didn't drink obscene amounts of the stuff. When I saw this at Wegmans I was pretty pumped. Maine Root has treated me well in the past with their sodas and now they are throwing ginger lemonade my way. I help off a bit before drinking it because I was expecting the ginger to be super harsh. When I finally drank it I discovered I was mistaken and it's actually pretty tame. This tastes like pretty straightforward lemonade with a bit of ginger mixed in. There's really not burn at all, but there is a ginger flavor hidden under the lemon. It's not crazy impressive, but it's perfect for people who like the taste of ginger, but don't have the tolerance for the burn.

I may not be a beach person, but this drink did help to improve my time spent there.

I used to want to go to Jamaica. I think I was young and I actually don't really like Bob Marley. Yeah, yeah, I know. There is more to Jamaica than Bob Marley, but when you're sixteen, there isn't much that you know about foreign countries. If I was sixteen and was transported at the blink of an eye to Jamaica, I would have been lost. I don't know what I would have done. I would have had to get a job at sixteen and blend in. I'm not a tourist, I can tell you that right now. I don't like when people think that I am not from where I am. I often get mad when I think that people don't know that I'm from where I live, like I'm a student at the grocery store, buying Ramen to sustain myself when I actually own a house in the city that I shop in. Maybe that last one was just me, but you know where I'm coming from. I want to blend in. I want people to think that I'm one of them. As a white, sixteen year old is not something that is going to be easy.

First step, find the local watering hole and get a ginger beer. Yeah, that's how I'll do it. I'll start by drinking the hottest ginger beer they've got. I'm from Buffalo where everything is drenched in spicy sauce. I can handle it and that will earn the respect of the natives. I would go to the bartender and say, "I'll take Jamaica's Finest ginger beer, please." and the crowd would go silent awaiting my first sip of the dangerously spicy drink. I would take a sip and you could hear a pin drop while the verdict is being determined. "Very nice." I would say as the crowd exploded with happiness. They would then pick my chair up and carry me around the city because a little dude such as myself conquered such a spicy drink. When interviewed by the local Kingston Bee, I would give the review "It's spicy but sweet. It's got a nice, thorough bite. It is slightly less hot than Goya's ginger beer, but a solid ginger beer and a definite standby." The would print my article on the front page of the paper with an image of me surrounded by bottles of Jamaica's Finest which was donated to me by the Jamacian (Pennsylvania) Government. I am finally one of them. I made it. Success.

I'm not one to turn down a ginger beer. I've actually been searching high and low for the greatest ginger beer of them all. If I ever narrow it down to two I may have them go head to head in a Thunderdome style scenario. How much of a crock was that anyways. "Two men enter. One man leaves." Master Blaster was two separate people. I don't know about you, but where I'm from that's considered cheating. I suppose it would also be cheating if I entered this ginger beer into the competition since it is unfairly matched up with its friend lime. Let me tell you they make an incredible pair.

This tastes like there was a malfunction at the factory where they were making some sort of Sprite rip off. The lemon pump got all jammed up and only lime made it into the mix. Then instead of wasting the whole batch they added a decent ginger beer to the mix. It's sweet and refreshing with a ginger aftertaste and a medium burn. If these were readily available around Buffalo I might have a problem.

Jay has a certain love for ginger that not many have. Sure, many of us enjoy ginger ale, but if you've ever had real ginger, you know that it doesn't taste much like ginger at all. Ginger ale has a taste all it's own and unless you get a certain kind, they all just taste...well like "ginger ale".

So Jay has recently started putting ginger that you would get on sushi on his tacos, and although you might be saying "Eww, gross. Jay, that's gross." you might want to try it because it adds a pretty nice flavor, and I'm not a huge fan of pickled ginger. I love a good ginger beer and I love a good ginger ale, but ginger in itself, eh.

So Kiri. This is some pretty remarkable stuff. They really do things differently up North, in America's Hat. This tastes just like real ginger and if you are a fan of that idea, travel on up there, or somewhere online, and get yourself a bottle of this stuff because it's good. No burn, but a consistent, clean ginger taste. It took my by surprise and I thought it was going to be just another ginger ale. I like when I'm wrong.

Here at Thirsty Dudes we search far and wide, from bodega to grocery store looking for the perfect ginger drink. The general populace has been fooled into believing that main stream ginger ale's are in fact what ginger is all about, when in reality most of those sodas don't have even a smidgen of actual ginger in them.

When our journey first began we believed that the stronger the burn from the ginger, the better the soda. We found some that really knocked us on our butts and they were great. Now that we are a bit older and arguably wiser we've come to accept that a blend of flavor and burn is what we truly want from our ginger soda. A soda can burn so bad that you won't be able to taste anything for a while, and that might be fun, but really how often are you going to sip on a bottle of something like that.

Today Bruce Cost stepped up to the plate. He didn't point to the stands to signify he was going to knock us into next Tuesday. He just stood there, shrugged and said "If you like this that's cool. If not, that's cool too." Well Bruce we did more than like it. We loved it!

The bottle states that "Separation is natural" so I gently shook the bottle. As I did a cloud of sediment with little pieces of actual ginger lifted from the bottle and swirled around the amber tinted fluid contained within. That is always a good sign. Drinks that need to be shook due to settling are almost always superior to those that are consistent all the way through. Finally it was time to twist off the cap. As soon as I did a nice fruity ginger aroma greeted my nostrils. When I took a bigger whiff it kind of burned, which is another good sign. After a single sip, I knew it was love and that it was the real thing. I knew wedding bells were in my future. Hey I live in New York State. Same sex marriages are now legal. I can only assume that means that the next bill to pass will let me marry an inanimate object. (For the record I am so stoked and proud of NYS for passing the same sex marriage law. How it took people so long is beyond me.) It's slightly fruity and flowery, but ginger will always be the main player here. It's the only flavor I've ever known that can overpower pomegranate and believe me that fruit needed to be put in its place. Oh, the burn? It's there. It's not a crazy burn like the Goya Ginger Beer has, but it's decent enough that I can say that I have no complaints. This may in fact be the greatest ginger ale that I have ever consumed. Bruce Cost if you are an actual human and we ever meet be prepared for a hearty handshake and a big wet kiss on the lips.

It's so hot and humid. Being down in those mines isn't much better. Sure it's cooler, but the air is stale and I can't shake this cough that's come over me. Why on Earth did I let Cletus talk me into trekking out to California to mine for gold? That sonabitch couldn't even dig a well on his farm back in West Virginia. We've had absolutely no luck out here at all. We're pretty much out of money and food. Cletus keeps going on and on about this root that he found and he won't leave that stupid spring. Man this sun is oppressive. Cletus left that bottle of whatever it is over there. Screw him! I'm drinking it!

Holy crap! This is incredible! I don't know what Cletus did with this, but it's fantastic. It tastes like that root and a little bit of lemon. I shall call this Ginger Ale. It also has the faintest hint of a burn. It's sweet, but nowhere near overbearing. I bet in the future people will make a cheap knockoff of this and steal my name for it, even though it will be nowhere as good.
Cletus, screw this gold rush, let's sell this elixir!

This is a drink that would have a cameo role in my dreams. I can just imagine it now. I'm trekking across the prairies on a mission to get who knows where, but it's somewhere important. I suddenly come to a gate. Why is there a gate in the middle of the prairie with no fence? I surely don't know, but if you think I'm going to try and bypass it you my friend are the crazy one. I approach the gate and suddenly dozens of screaming undead souls come out of the ground in front of it. I am informed that if I do not dance with them they will tear into my flesh and eat every last morsel, even my pancreas. Who likes to eat pancreas? The undead I suppose. Before I know it someone has cranked "Jungle Boogie" and we're all getting down. There's even a dance line and everyone is trying to outdo each other. I make mention that I'm getting thirsty and one of the zombies pulls this bottle from his chest cavity. I blow off the dust, twist off the cap and take a big gulp. The pineapple is refreshing without being overly acidic. Then the ginger kicks in. At first it's just the flavor, but after I swallow the burn sets in. It's a good burn. The kind of burn that will give you the little push you need to out-dance the undead. Just as I'm about to pull out some big moves I wake up. My first thought would be "Where can I score me some of that juice in the waking world?"

Why oh why did I read the ingredients on this before I took a sip? I was so excited about it. Lemon ginger is a great flavor, and I've been a fan of the other probiotic drinks I've had. There is something that I am absolutely not a fan of and that is vinegar. Yes I eat salsa by the jarful. Yes I know that vinegar is one of the main ingredients in it, but salsa doesn't taste like vinegar....at all. It tastes like magic.

As you may have guessed apple cider vinegar is the third ingredient listed on the label. Ugh. I ruined it. Everyone else that tried this said they didn't taste vinegar at all, but I had it on the mind so there it was front and center for me. Okay not front and center, but there was a hint of it. It also smelled like the dye you use to color Easter eggs to a lesser extent. Apparently I am insane because as I said no one else thought that at all.

Other than the "hint of vin" this is pretty good. Even though it's not carbonated, it tastes like it is. Yes to me carbonation has a flavor. This has it. Let's move on. It tastes like a lemon soda mixed with ginger ale (minus the bubbles). That is nothing like I expected it to taste. I was expecting a decently strong ginger with a very tart lemon. Nope. Wrong again. If I could just get passed my hatred of vinegar and the ghost of it that lives in this bottle, only haunting me, I would be able to enjoy this as a healthy organic beverage that tastes like it was neither healthy nor organic. That is a good place to be.

We had people over for an impromptu grilling session at our house yesterday. I consumed way more beverages than any one person should in that short of a time, so now I have to play catch up.

We cracked open a couple of bottles of College club for everyone to share. I had yet to try their Golden Ginger Ale, and I really don't know why I waited so long. Their Pale Dry Ginger Ale has a very strong ginger flavor, which is not as sweet than most sodas. With this variety they flip-flopped it. It's way sweeter and the ginger is lower in the mix. So now you can fine-tune your soda choice to your tastes.

At least one person on this planet is going to be real bummed when they buy this soda. I feel like most people think of ginger ale as something completely different than those of us who scratch the surface of the soda world a little more. Companies like Vernors and Schweppes, while making decent products, have led the world to believe that all ginger ale is sweet and smooth. Here is a news flash folks; "real" ginger ale has a kick to it. If you've ever tasted actual ginger you know that it has some spice to it. When made into a soda properly it can have quite a burn. That burn is not for everyone, but those of us who like it really, really love it. Usually ginger sodas that have this kick are known as ginger beers nowadays. Sometimes companies still call them ginger ale, and I'm fine with that. Red Rock is one such company.

It doesn't have the strongest burn I've ever experienced in a ginger soda, but it's stronger than I had expected. This is a slow sipper with a lot of flavor. So when aunt Milda ventures to the store to buy some ginger ale to sooth her upset stomach, she is going to be in for a shock when she takes a swig of this. Her stomach will probably be all the better for it though.

I have had some stomach thing. I am not a doctor so I cannot tell you what it is, but after every time I eat, I feel like garbage. I can't eat as much and I need to sit and be quiet or else... I don't know, I feel more sick.

Since only the rich can afford health insurance compounded with the fact that I won't take medicine, I had to take matters into my own hands.

Scouring through my stock, I remembered that I had a hot ginger ale. As we all know, the hotter the ginger ale is, the more natural and good for you it is. I threw this cat in the fridge for a bit, took it out, cracked it open, and took a sip. Hello cured stomach ailments, here we come. Then we had a little bit of a problem. You see, when I read, "hot" I expect HOT. This was more of a sting.

Now, "hot" is a relative term. I am quite accustomed to hot flavors, so although this may be on the lower levels of the ginger beer ladder, it could be too much for, say, a wimp.

Flavor-wise, it's not bad. It has a genuine, earthy ginger flavor that doesn't linger on your tongue. All of the flavors of actual ginger are apparent and the sweetness isn't overpowering.

The Thirsty Dudes crew had to go to Canada to get this Australian treat, even though it says on the bottle that it's available in the US. It was good, but I don't think it's worth a special trip anywhere to try and find.

After the debacle with my last drink I decided I needed something with a redeeming ginger quality. Grown-Up Soda it is! I know Mike isn't a big fan of this product line, but I have enjoyed every flavor that I've tried. I enjoy that they are not as sweet as normal sodas and have a dry taste to them.

This is a ginger ale made with real ginger root extract, not all of that artificial garbage that is in a lot of ginger ales these days. The difference in taste is very apparent. It doesn't have much of a burn, but after you swallow there is a lingering tingle in the back of your throat.

This has potential to get young kids to drink a lot less sugar. Kids are dumb and are easily tricked. Every kid is especially dumb because they want to be adults. Adults know that being a kid is much more enjoyable. So here's how things should go down. Have an adult that the kid looks up to drink these in front of said child. Don't give the kid a drink yet though. Without a doubt the kid will ask what it is. The response should be "This is a soda for adults. Kids aren't allowed to have it. It's a shame because it's really good. Why don't you have one of those Pepsi's over there? I mean it's not as good, but you know it's something." The kid will then beg and plead to have some of this soda that is for grown ups only. Eventually the adult should act like they are reluctantly giving in and giving the kid some. If the kid says that don't like it the adult should say something along the lines of "See I told you. You aren't old enough to enjoy it yet." The kid will invariably go back for more. Then they will want it all the time instead of the carbonated sugar garbage they were drinking. These are the ideas you have when you are a scientist like myself.

Did you know that all you need to do to get maple syrup is you stick a spigot into any tree in Canada? Any tree at all will do. It won't work at all in any other country, but in Canada if you had a palm tree in your house and stuck a spigot into it, maple syrup would flow out in great torrents. It's a fact. Read a book.

The Kiki company decided to open up their tree faucets and add some lemon and ginger to the sweetness that came pouring out. Something went horribly wrong though. The mixture smells of the air in a high school hallway several minutes after a pile of the nerdy kids vomit has been cleaned up with that weird powder they used. That's definitely the gross lingering scent of vomit. Even if this tasted wonderful (it doesn't) it would be hard to get over the smell. It tastes like diet ginger. I don't know how that's possible since ginger isn't sweet. Also it all tastes very watered down. It's a shame I had high expectations for this.

Last night I went up to Canada to see Laura Stevenson and the Cans play. They were fairly incredible, which is to be expected. In-between bands I walked to a convenient store to see if there was anything unknown to the Thirsty Dudes in their coolers. Vitamin Water. Snapple. Coke. Pepsi. Jones. All of the usual suspects were there. As I was about to give up and head back to the show I noticed this little fellow on the bottom shelf. Canada Dry is a fairly standard "safe" ginger ale. No burn. Not even a real ginger flavor. It is still enjoyable for what it is though. Now they have gotten the crazy idea to mix in white tea and raspberry into the mix. Yes sir I will put my toonie down on the counter and take a bottle.

As soon as this passed my lips my mouth was invaded with an intense flavor, or flavors to be more specific. All three of them (tea, ginger ale and raspberry) hit you in their own way. At first it's just a highly carbonated white tea. Then a small hint of raspberry sneaks in to the mix. Finally as you swallow and take a breath the ginger ale flavor sits on your tongue for a bit. This drink has surpassed my expectations. Canada you've done it again. This is just another reason to lure me up north. First it was beavers and moose, then delicious veggie food and now drinks.

When it's nice, you know it. When you live in an area that's nice for a limited time, you can't not know it. Today was one of those days. It was sunny. You could wear anything. Shorts, hoodies, dresses, pants, hat, anything. Awesome. Sans wind, I would want it to be like it is today for the rest of my life. Nothing says nice weather like hot dogs. It's a fact. Oh, vegetarian? Veggie dogs. There. Everyone is taken care of. To take care of your thirst, you might want to calm it down, though. When you enjoy your first hot dog of the nice weather you want to taste it. You don't want some uber-sweet drink messing up your palate when you want to taste that delicious dog. I opted to get the pale dry ginger ale from good ol' Shasta. Why is it that every time I think of "Shasta" I think of Roseanne? I don't know. Maybe they always had it. Maybe the production company got kickbacks from product placement of bottles of Shasta. I don't know how television works.

This was perfect for hot dogs. The pale, dryness came out in a subtle way. It was a thirst quencher, not something I would drink after I ate something gross and wanted to mask the taste in my mouth. Pop shouldn't be mouthwash. You know that, I know that, and clearly Shasta knows that. Good job, team.

Given that the company who makes this soda is based out of Wyoming, they're really going after that "olde time western" feel. Judging by the label, I feel like I should be watching an old Clint Eastwood movie as I drink this. Sadly, I don't have a copy of The Outlaw Josey Wales (which is my favorite western of all time) so I'll have to do without it for this bottle.

By now, I've tried enough different ginger beers to be able to smell it and know how spicy it's going to be. This has a light ginger smell, so I knew it wasn't going to be too intense. With little sips, there's barely any burn. Big sips you get a nice burn, but it's not overwhelming. This would be a perfect entry-level ginger beer for someone who doesn't want to burn their throat just yet. What makes this ginger beer unique is the sweet after taste. It's not in the ingredients, but a brown sugar sweetness lingers a little after some sips. It's a really nice contrast to the ginger.

Dear Self,
I hate to be the one to break this to us, but we really just don't like the way ginseng tastes. Sure it's fine as a minor player in some drinks, but as soon as it steps into the limelight it all goes downhill. I know you're going to say it's not its fault. It's a root; of course it tastes like dirt. Then what about ginger? It's also a root and it's completely delicious. Ginseng is just a bad seed and I don't think we should hang out with it anymore.

Look what it did to this drink. It took a completely mediocre raspberry ginger ale and it made is associate (aka less than). It tastes like a run of the mill 2 liter of fruity ginger ale was strained through some dirt. What were they using it to pan for gold? Good luck with that.