Now that I’ve finally recovered from about a two-week cold, I can get back to write about more beers.
The holiday season would be appropriate to write about some spiced brews. To that end, I was sent some Crabbie’s Original Ginger Beer from the UK. This is a “malt beverage,” 4.8% abv. It’s not made with regular yeast, but fermented with a “SCOBY,” a culture of yeast and bacteria (also called a “ginger beer plant”), also used to make vinegar, kombucha, and sourdough. It uses sugar instead of malt, natural ginger and other ingredients, in a recipe dating back to 1801.
The brew has a strong ginger nose as soon as I popped the cap. The pour shows a bright gold, like a ginger ale soda, but with a head that sticks together for a while, suggesting the presence of beer proteins. Taste is sharp with fresh ginger, familiar to anyone who’s had a fancy ginger ale. There also seems to be some citrus and maybe a few other botanicals, like grains of paradise, that would also be at home in a gin. Alcohol is subdued. To me, it’s a bit overly sweet. Anything that might be a good mixer ought to stay on the dry side and let other ingredients add some sweetness.
My next thought was to try this in a Moscow Mule. I didn’t have a proper copper mug, but I preferred to get a good photo of the drink’s body.
INGREDIENTS:
1-1/2 oz. Vodka
6 oz (half bottle) of Crabbie’s
Lime juice and slice.
Pour the vodka and lime juice over ice. Add the ginger beer. Pretty simple. My only drawback was that I found I had only one ice cube left and needed to fill a new ice tray.
And the lime juice opens up the spiciness of the ginger beer. The vodka dulls the sweetness, and gives it a bit more of a kick. I could see using some extra garnishes, like a rim of margarita salt with chili powder. Some mint would come first to mind, if I had some.
While I’ve tried thousands of beers, my mixed drink palette has always been limited. So I made my first Moscow Mule with some high-end ingredients. The Crabbie’s is a pretty good base.
Note: Crabbie’s has been advertised as a “gluten free” drink, but in 2019, they changed their recipe to add 5% actual beer. While its gluten level is less than 20 ppm, it is no longer recommended for people with gluten sensitivity.
