Ginger Beer or Alcoholic Ginger Drink ?

[KingKong]

It's been a long time since I last posted on this forum. But I am genuinely intrigued by the labelling standards of ginger 'beer'.

Most ginger 'beer' is simply ginger flavoured soda with a neutral alcohol such as vodka. The ingredient lists of most ginger 'beers' don't really hide this fact.

Thoughts ?

I would much rather be consuming a genuine ginger brewed beer then vodka and ginger flavouring.

 

[YAPN]

When the first ingredient listed is carbonated water you know you're drinking an alco-pop. Shouldn't be called 'beer'.

 

[nifty]

It's been a long time since I last posted on this forum. But I am genuinely intrigued by the labelling standards of ginger 'beer'.

Most ginger 'beer' is simply ginger flavoured soda with a neutral alcohol such as vodka. The ingredient lists of most ginger 'beers' don't really hide this fact.

Thoughts ?

I would much rather be consuming a genuine ginger brewed beer then vodka and ginger flavouring.

Have a read through the below link, I make a variation of his recipe and it turns out very nice. You wouldn't know you were drinking an all grain beer.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/ginger-ale-3rd-place-2009-hbt-bjcp-comp.141080/

 

[livo]

Has anyone tried the new Coopers GB kit yet? 500 ml and includes yeast which is enough to make a 10 litre batch. Its selling online for either side of $15 depending upon whether you're a club member or not, plus delivery. I'll ask the LHBS if they will be stocking it on my next visit.

I'm still struggling through a batch of Morgan's and I have 2 packs on the shelf.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

It's been a long time since I last posted on this forum. But I am genuinely intrigued by the labelling standards of ginger 'beer'.

Most ginger 'beer' is simply ginger flavoured soda with a neutral alcohol such as vodka. The ingredient lists of most ginger 'beers' don't really hide this fact.

Thoughts ?

I would much rather be consuming a genuine ginger brewed beer then vodka and ginger flavouring.

When we talk about "genuine ginger brewed beer" we have to be careful with this statement as it implies other ginger beer is somewhat "fake". To my understanding nobody has made a synthetic ginger beer flavor so ALL ginger beer kits that are on the market contain "GENUINE" ginger that has been derived from real ginger root.

Ginger itself doesn't actually benefit the fermentation process and does not assist the yeast breaking down the sugar and turning it into alcohol. So I would tend to agree that most ginger beer is made by using ginger extracts and added to vodka because this is just a more efficient way to add the ginger.

If you add ginger to the fermenter you also have the problem that some of the flavor ends up disappearing as the yeast flocculates.

In your opinion why would you want to ferment the ginger itself? What is the benefit of this "genuine" process?