Jerking Around #4 - Gosling's Stormy Ginger Beer

[freetrav]

There are two differences, in my experience, between ginger ale and ginger beer: ginger beer has a much stronger ginger flavor, and it also usually has a ‘stickier’, more cloying sweetness. Usually, there’s a third difference; ginger beer is darker. Gosling’s follows the pattern for the first two. It differs from other ginger beers that I’ve encountered in that Gosling’s doesn’t color the soda into a darker version of the light amber that has become the ‘conventional’ color of most ginger ales. If it weren’t cloudy, Gosling’s would be a clear and colorless soda; the cloudiness makes it a color best described as off-white. It lets a small amount of light through, but not enough to make out the shape of the logo that’s on the back of the stein pictured.

It is moderately carbonated, forming a layer of bubbles on the inside of the stein that are renewed as they break off and float to the top. The bubbles are larger than those seen in MASH or GuS. It does not seem to leave me with a big bubble to burp up.

The flavor is intensely ginger, much more so than any ginger ale, but consistent with most ginger beers of my experience. This is nothing less than the liquid version of crystallized ginger.

I actually like this a little better with about 10% lime juice; it cuts the sweetness and adds a citrus tang. Lemon juice would probably work as well.

I’d drink this with just about anything, but when cut with lime, it goes very nicely with a curry.

I found this at the lobby concession at the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.

Sold in 12oz cans.
15.83 Cal/fl.oz. (53.54 kcal/100ml)
Sweetened with HFCS.

Bottled by Polar Beverages, but it’s a product of Gosling’s Rum

Comments

[tamouse]

I have the same experience with ginger beer vs ginger ale. I much prefer the former for those exact qualities. Adding lime juice is just perfect, I so love the combination of sweet-hot-sour. What is causing the cloudiness?

[freetrav]

I won't presume to know for sure, but given the color, and given the color of the crystallized ginger that I compared it to (and which I have right here), I wouldn't be surprised to find that it's fermentation debris from Real Ginger.

The lime juice really does make a difference; it basically makes the sweetness NOT be 'sticky' and cloying. And the resulting citrus undertone is very nice.