Ginger - 217 Reviews

A little bite and a genuine ginger taste: this is the model right here, ladies and gentlemen. If this had been labeled a "ginger beer" I would have been upset that there wasn't enough bite. I have had ginger beers that taste like this, which is disappointing. This little guy packs a punch for a ginger ale. One word ruins a drink. Let it be known. It's all about expectations. I drank the Jamaican Ginger Ale and now I don't remember if there was a difference between the two.

This was probably one of the best ginger ales I have ever had. That's a thing to be said. Now, when people say to me, "Mike, you look great today. What is the best ginger ale you've ever had? I'm nauseous from being on this giant yacht of yours with real gold lions scattered throughout." I will say, "It happens, man. When you go out on a gigantic yacht that you can call your own you get used to it. One of my favorite ginger ales that you can get most places is Blue Sky ginger ale. Also, did you know that those giant gold lions have candy in their mouth? Reach on in and get a Fun Size Kit Kat. Don't puke on my boat."

Those of you who know me may know of my affinity for the state of Virginia. Since 2001 my bands have played there fairly regularly, and I've developed quite a few friendships. In 2003 when a band broke up in Richmond I simply stayed behind. I spent three months or so between Warrenton and Richmond and it was wonderful. To this day I still try to make it down to Richmond to visit at least once a year. It's one of two cities that I would ever leave Buffalo to live in (Toronto is the other).

With so much love for the state how have I never tried Northern Neck until today? The can claims that it has been a Virginia tradition since 1926. Apparently my friends are not ones for tradition. This may be the single best ginger ale I have ever had, even though it's sweetened with HFCS. Due to the sweetener and the fact that it is owned by the Coca-Cola company I expected this to be just another generic ginger ale. Sometimes being wrong feels so right. To sum up the flavor I would say that it tastes like a ginger beer without the burn. I love the burn, but I know a lot of other people do not, and sometimes I just want the flavor. Now I have a soda that will appeal to those with weak taste buds and those not looking for an adventure at the moment. Most modern day ginger ales do not even taste like real ginger, let alone have any in them. This has ginger in it and you can taste the difference. It's so damn flavorful that I'm kicking myself that I only bought one can on my most recent visit to the capital of the Confederacy. Next time I will not make the same mistake.

This bottle tells the tale of how in the 20's police raided Capone's warehouses 137 times looking for illegal alcohol, and all they found was soda. That is hysterical. I just imagine the workers of the warehouse pretending to be all scared and then laughing uncontrollably as police opened up crates filled with soda. I'd also like to believe that there was an illegal “hooch” ring going on as well, but it was just so well hidden that the cops couldn't find it. Dumb cops.

Even though I don't drink alcohol I'm pretty sure I would have been involved in the bootlegging side of life back then. It just seems fun and exciting. Also, have you ever seen speak easy's portrayed in movies? They look like a complete blast. Since I'm no narc I would just hang out while everyone got trashed on bootleg liquor. I would join in the party sipping on bottles of “secret soda.” I would have no problem drinking bottle after bottle of this ginger beer. It has a nice sweet ginger ale flavor that is quickly overpowered by a decent burn. It's not enough to make me pause after every sip to calm myself, but it's enough that I think it might bother your average person. It lingers a little, and that's the way I like it. I've realized that unlike every other soda on the face of the planet ginger beer tastes better when it's sweetened with HFCS. Strange times.

I say bring back prohibition, because I'm getting a little bored with things lately and I could use a little boost in excitement.

Bruce Cost never disappoints. They are a company that knows how ginger ale should be made. They don't bother with that pale dry nonsense. They start off with a solid base of real ginger, which gives the drink a slight burn, not too bad though as it is still a ginger ale and not a ginger beer. How often does one come across a ginger ale with real ginger in it? They all really should, but somewhere along the way "big-soda" phased it out and the smaller guys followed suit.

The addition of passion fruit juice to this soda does nothing but up the game. Bruce Cost doesn't play games. If they are going to use real ginger then they are also going to use real juice to flavor it. It's magic in a bottle. The final touch was to add some turmeric powder. Now I know that turmeric is as spice and I've witnessed it placed in many a spice rack. What I didn't know was that turmeric was actually ground up yellow ginger. You learn something new everyday. Since there is so much ginger in this drink I don't know if the turmeric just blended in with it, but I really couldn't taste it, or could?

Boat shoes? Check. Polo shirt? Check. Madras shorts? Check. Book on how to tie knots? Check. Ray Ban Sunglasses? Check. Those are the prerequisites for buying a bottle of Yacht Club ginger beer. We have put together the necessities and have gone to the store where they unlocked the case. Then and only then did we pay the required $1.50.

We got it home, took all our fancy clothes off, put that book of knots back on the shelf, put back on our obscure band shirts and a pair of dusty old jeans and took a sip. All of our hard work at J. Crew was not for naught because this is pretty great. It's got a nice sweet start and then burns you. It's not terribly hot but it's on the warmer side of the ginger beer scale. That side is also known as our "good side" since we like it hot. Some like it hot. We like it hot. It left a nice tingle in our throats, which left us wanting more.

Now we've got all these clothes and the know how of sailing, maybe we'll put it to good use someday. Us Thirsty Dudes out at sea, eating sea fare with pirates and golfers is going to be in our near future. That's what sailing is right? Jib? Right? Stern and bow? Right? Starboard and the other one. Right?

Reed's, you never let us down in making a delicious drink. I picked this up today instead of coffee. I haven't had much luck (in the ways of taste) when it comes to "natural" energy drinks. It's naturally caffeinated with green tea, which is nice and gives it that mellow green tea flavor. There's also a bunch of different fruit juices mixed in that make this quite a delicious drink.

What puts this over the top is the 23,000 mg of fresh ginger root it has inside. That is not a typo, 23 THOUSAND milligrams. The next ingredient is green tea with 1,000 mg. While it doesn't have the burn of ginger beer, it's a great ginger taste throughout that I wish more ginger drinks had.

“Expect the best. Accept the worst” When Blake Schwarzenbach wrote those lyrics I can only assume he wasn't talking about this soda, but it's fitting. In my world there are few sodas that sound better than a ginger drink that is sweetened with honey. I was thinking a honey flavored ginger beer, and I was hoping for one heck of a burn to it. As it turns out this isn't a ginger beer at all. In fact it doesn't taste like any soda that I've ever had before. That could be a good thing, except that it tastes exactly like honey cough drops; Ludens to be more specific. There is a ginger flavor, but the honey overpowers it and the combo, with a little coriander mixed in gives it a definite cough drop taste. Did you know that coriander is cilantro? That kind of blows my mind.

At first I didn't like this at all really. I was turned off thinking that I was drinking cough drops. I kept sipping on the bottle though, and now that I'm done, I have to say that I don't hate it. It's not something that I would want all of the time, but I think the more you drink it, the more acclimated you become and the more you enjoy it.

Our friends Dave and Gabby brought this back from a trip to Maine. Many thanks to them. After finishing this off, I'm very interested in trying Green Bee's other flavors.

Once again with a drink, I am of two minds. On one hand, this is a great iced tea. It'ss organic, sweetened really well with agave, and has a really nice flavor. And unlike a lot of sweetened iced teas, the sugar (or agave in this case) doesn't overpower it so you can still taste the tea. I must say, it is damn good tea. I don't think I've ever had guayusa tea before, but it's delicious.

So what's wrong with it do you ask? Despite the name, it doesn't taste like cherry or ginger. This is a shame because I was really looking forward to the ginger. I can't pinpoint, but it's still good. This, my friends, is the only reason this is getting a 3 instead of a 4, false advertising.

I have always heard that pu-erh tea was supposed to be super fancy. I'm not a big fan of hot tea so I never looked into it. When I saw this bottle at the store today I thought, "Hey I can finally try this and see what the fuss is all about". Verdict: I don't like it. After doing some "after the fact" research, I find out that pu-erh tea is fermented. In my top 10 most hated drinks, 8 of them are fermented. I don't know why, I wish I could like fermented drinks. Everyone swears by Fentiman's and Bionade, but I can't enjoy them at all.

All that being said, this is a good clean tasting tea. There's only a slight peach flavor, and an even slighter ginger flavor. The latter really disappointed me because I really like tea with ginger in it. Even though I'm not big on lightly sweetened teas, even if this had more sugar in it I think I would still not like it very much. Sorry tea connoisseurs, it's just not my thing.

Drinking this on July 1st may have been a bit of a mistake. It's nearly the furthest one can get away from Christmas, and this is certainly a winter/Christmas soda if ever there was one. It smells and tastes like liquid gingerbread cookies. Actually it tastes like the gingerbread equivalent of vanilla extract. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the essence that came in a little glass bottle that was added to cookies to make them taste like gingerbread. It's a bit much. I did enjoy the taste, but it was so strong that I couldn't get through half of the bottle, and I ended up sharing the rest with everyone.

On a separate note, do you think they got the picture on the label submitted to them before they had the idea for this flavor? Did the picture inspire the flavor? I'd like to think so.

If the labels on can and bottles are any indication everyone in Jamaica ingests nothing but ginger beer all day long. Okay, sometimes they mix in a little pineapple pop, but other than that straight ginger beer. I think that is a place I would like to visit. You wake up in the morning turn on the tap and out flows ginger beer. Even the “water” in the toilets is actually ginger beer. It's heaven for those who crave the burn. For those who are babies and can't handle the spice it's akin to the lake of fire in Hades.

I find it humorous that I bought this drink in Canada by way of the United Kingdom. It's like playing Seven Degrees of Jamaica. I was up in Toronto with Night Birds, and I was the definition of a glutton. I don't think I stopped consuming food and beverages from the moment I stepped out of the car until I was driving back to Buffalo. At the point when I saw this I was already ridiculously full and had to pee like nobodies business, which is terrible in a city with no bathrooms. I'm shocked that Toronto doesn't ever really smell like urine. Good job guys. Anyway there I was walking around and I passed a candy shop that had a bunch of coolers inside. I really didn't have a chance but to enter. One of the coolers was pretty much all British drinks. Unfortunately I was almost out of Canadian money and I needed to save some for veggie dogs on the way home. Ever the sucker for ginger beer I went with this can. Sure I could have just held on to it, but the gluttony was calling my name, so I cracked it open the moment I finished off my bubble tea. It smells very spicy, but I thought it had a medium burn. I let (read: made) my friend Dave Dluga try it and he said it burned the hell out of his mouth. I guess I've built up a tolerance. It was extremely flavorful with a bit of a kick. It was actually a nice blending of burn and flavor. If I ever find myself back in the UK I'll be sure to drink a bunch of these, especially with a 49p price tag on it. I ended up paying $2.25 Canadian. Ouch.

Do you love the taste of ginger beer, but have the sensitivity of an infant when it comes to the burn of it? If you answered yes to the above question than this ginger ale is for you. When you open it open it has the strong aroma of a quality ginger beer. I thought I was in for a treat, and that they “mislabeled” it ginger ale. I was still uncertain when I took a swig and the flavor equaled that of ginger beer as well, but was confused by the lack of the burn. From the scent and taste this should have been a 4 out of 5 on the burn-o-meter. Instead it's fairly smooth (well as far as ginger ales go). It's strange. For someone like myself who drinks ginger beer for the burn, it's a let down, but for those like my ladyfriend who can't handle the burn it's a nice little treat. I would say this is what pale ginger ale should taste like, not what you would normally associate it with.

At the top of the list that I find upsetting today is that this company has zero web presence. We drink so many drinks that go from garbage to mediocre to decent, and almost all of them have some sort of website or info online. Of course now that we find a company whose teas squeeze our mind grapes in all the right ways, we have no way of ordering more. Friend to Thirsty Dudes Marcus Scott Meadows sent us this tea as a gift. It's made in IL where he is from, and I've never had a drink make me wish I lived somewhere else before. I want this to be readily available to me in any corner store. Actually the fact that it is not pretty much proves to me that god is either dead or never existed.

This is a kettle brewed green tea whose flavor I would liken to the green tea you are served in high-end Chinese restaurants. They take that great tea and sweeten it with honey. I am a huge supporter of unsweetened tea, but when it has to be sweetened honey is the way to go. It adds such a great flavor to green tea, without making it overly sweet. Had Mmm..Tea stopped there I would have said this is one fine tea that is not to be missed. They were not content with that though. To step up their game they cut a decent sized chunk of ginger and put it in the bottom of the bottle. Suddenly this tea has gone from great to astronomical. I've heard it said that the key to a man's heart is through his stomach, well I can assure you that the key to my stomach is with ginger. I eat it daily on everything: Asian food, veggie dogs, veggie burgers, burritos, you name it. The fact that this is not only flavored with ginger, but also contains a big hunk of it is going to make it hard for me to find a better iced tea. Oh and before you ask, of course I are the ginger when the tea was gone. What do you think I am, an amateur?

This is the first concentrate that I am reviewing for Thirsty Dudes. Mike has done a couple, but I just want to come right out and say that I'm not a fan of concentrates. No matter what the instructions say I can never get the proportions correct. I've followed them to a T and measured everything out, and they just don't taste right. Then one of my friends will come along and mix it by eye and it will be delicious. The same thing goes with rice. I cannot make rice without either a mass amount of it to the bottom of the pot, or having it turn out soggy. I am just an idiot.

For further proof of myself being an idiot. I took this bottle down from a high up shelf to day to grab a drink that was behind it for a friend. When I placed it back on the shelf I accidentally did it so it sat there precariously for about 3 seconds before it tumbled to the floor and exploded everywhere. You would think a person's first response would be to start cleaning it up, but my instinct was to quickly grab what was left of the bottle and pour the remaining precious concentrate into a glass. Only after it was secured did I go about cleaning up the mess. Then I went back to work. When I was done I then cleaned up the mess again because even though I mopped the floor felt like that of a discount movie theatre. Not something you want in your home. Now that I am sure the floor has been thoroughly cleaned I am sitting here with what is left of the concentrate. After I mixed in the proper 3 parts water to one part concentrate I had maybe enough to half fill an 8oz glass. I took a few tiny sips and I have to say, it doesn't taste like something I mixed at home. It was strong, lemony and oh man did that ginger have a kick to it. I added just a little bit more water to calm it down a little and I think for once I got a mix right. It certainly doesn't taste like natural lemonade, but to be honest nothing is ever going to replicate that flavor properly unless it's just lemon juice sugar and water mixed together. The fact that it doesn't taste “real” doesn't detract from it at all though. This is a whole other beast altogether. It tastes like a lemon drink with a healthy dose of ginger in it. My ladyfriend couldn't handle the ginger, so if you're not a fan of the burn I would water this down a bunch more. Now I am a bit disgruntled that I had at most 6oz of this drink when I feel I could have had several gallons. I must learn to be more observant of my surroundings.

The rainy season is slowly fading away here in Portland and the sun is starting to show its face. What this means for me is more porch hangouts. Hanging out on the porch with friends and a tasty drink is how I love to spend nice days. This is a great drink for that. At first I was disappointed that the ginger (yes, they use REAL ginger) wasn't burn your mouth strong. But then half way through the bottle I noticed my lips were tingling. It's one of those subtle ginger burns that you don't notice right away. If this didn't have the ginger in it, it would be a pretty boring and weak iced tea. The ginger is what makes it delicious.

Tina had had enough of her restless nights. She was a busy woman and she needed to be at the top of her game. You see she was in the middle of a big job at work that required her to be at the lab at 6am and she was sometimes there as late as 11pm. Whenever her friends complained about working too much, or being tired, all she had to do was shoot them a look and they would shut up immediately. Originally she had drunk coffee to help her stay alert, but her body became accustomed to it, and it stopped working well. She then moved onto your everyday energy drinks, but she really was never comfortable with all of the artificial garbage in them. On top of that they gave her the jitters and they also kept her up during the few hours that she actually had for sleeping. She was a mess and her research was suffering because of it. Then one day on one of her brief and rare breaks she wandered into a health food store and saw this little bottle of Guayaki. The bold pink letters of “Yerba Mate” stood out to her like the bat signal in the night sky. An all natural, organic drink that would work the way an energy drink should without advertising as being one. On top of all of that it was grapefruit and ginger flavored. It tasted like a typical yerba mate tea, you know earthy and bitter with a coating of agave and Stevia laden grapefruit juice to mix things up a bit. It was a bit more diety than she had hoped, but for an all natural energy drink that wouldn't make her feel crazy, she was happy to deal with it. She had also hoped that there would be a little kick from the ginger, but alas there was not. It only appeared in the faintest form of flavor. That day the gods looked down upon Tina and bestowed their grace upon her for her excellent work in the field of hotdog milkshakes. Her research would soon propel the world into a utopia where hotdogs and ice cream were properly fused into one glorious dessert drink.

Dear Jason Draper of the Thirsty Dudes,
This is a ginger beer for you. Do you want to know why? It is because it tastes like ginger. You love ginger. I have seen you put it on tacos on multiple occasions. Is it a sickness? Possibly. Is it an obsession? Probably more so. I know you are crazy about the stuff and for that, I'm sorry. I drank this expecting the spice that I feel I deserve.

Jay, we have been friends for a long time. We have lived together, "spent time" with the same girl, and written many songs about barbecues. I know you and I know your taste buds and I know you would have given this at least a four. You love the earthy qualities of ginger and you love the sting. We love the sting. We love our ginger beer hot. This is a medium burn. Less than a Blenheim but more than a ginger ale. Less than a Goya but more than a...water...

In closing, Jay. I am sorry that I drank this and didn't have the hindsight to give it to you. If I find one again, I will buy it for you.

Lovingly,
Mike.

PS: Tacos tonight?

S - Hey man I have an awesome drink for you to try.

L …€“ Oh that's cool. What is it?

S …€“ You don't even know man it's Way 2 Cool.

L …€“ Okay well what is it?

S …€“ No man, the company is called Way 2 Cool. It's ginger ale.

L …€“ Oh I like ginger ale. Let me have a taste…€¦..There is definitely something off about this ginger ale. Are you sure it's not about a decade expired?

S …€“ No man, that's just the barley malt in it.

L …€“ To quote my ex-roommate, “That's the kind of thing you tell a goddamn man!” Seriously malt beverages can be decent, but it's not the kind of thing that you sneak up on someone. If you don't know it's there the drink just tastes like it's gone bad.

S …€“ Dude, malt makes everything better…€¦.like liquor.

L …€“ Okay, you're just an idiot, and this drink isn't very good. It's most certainly isn't “Way 2 Cool.” Actually it's barely passable. I don't even think I could finish this bottle. I like malt when it's mixed with apple or pineapple, but it does not mix well with ginger. If it wasn't for that stupid malt this would have actually probably been a decent ginger ale. It has real ginger in it, plus limejuice and cinnamon. I bet it would have been interesting, and more than likely tasty. Here I sit though trying to make it through this weird malt that is overpowering every other flavor, while somehow slightly tasting like moldy bread. I can't believe that there is no mention of malt on the label besides the ingredients list. It's just going to turn off 99% of the people that would buy this. Also dude, why on Earth does this label say “Free Tibet and Taos?” Isn't that a bit insulting? I mean grouping in human rights activists with a couple of snowboarders that want a town to let them ride there? I'm beginning to think a bunch of suburban hippies started this company, and that makes sense why it tastes like garbage. Those type of hippies ruin everything.

S …€“ But dude! If you drink to the top of the label and put in orange juice it's a straight-edge brass monkey!

L …€“ Oh my god, you are an idiot. Please never give me another drink. Actually, please never speak to me again. I think I became dumber in this brief conversation.

A haiku about Dr Brown's Ginger Ale:

light ginger-less soda
too dry to enjoy at all
watered down garbage

When she was younger Izze was obsessed with fruit. She would go out to her grandparent's farm and just devour any sweet piece of produce she could find; apples, pears, strawberries, raspberries, peaches, plums and even an odd cherry or two. She would often exclaim that when she grew up she was going to be a horticulturist so that she could grow the world's juiciest, sweetest fruits and keep them all for herself. Did I mention she was also a spoiled little brat? Her grandparent's farm was their only source of income. As much as they loved their granddaughter they always feared when she came to visit because their profits would drop drastically. Man that little girl sure could put away a lot of fruit. Their love won out in the end, and as a solution they went into debt, bought some more land, and expanded their farm. They used the extra fruit to make sparkling fruit juice, which they named after their beloved granddaughter. The juice actually caught on and became a hit. They owed their fortune to that little girl with the bottomless pit of a stomach.

As Izze grew older, she became more interested in things other than fruit. Her horticulture dreams were out the window. Now she wanted to be a magazine writer. No one knows why. She still loved her grandparents though and visited them often. When they realized her interest in fruit had waned they also noticed that she was beginning to drink a lot of garbage pop. Her grandmamma wanted to make sure that he health didn't suffer due to this so she used their gear and created a batch of her own soda for Izze to drink. The first batch was her take on ginger ale. Izze had been downing a lot of Vernors lately, so it seemed like a good place to start. She somehow managed to create a pale dry ginger ale that still tasted like ginger beer, but with no trace of a burn at all. It tasted clean and crisp, and best of all was that it was all natural. It tasted better than the mass-produced store bought stuff that Izze had been bringing around so she loved it. It didn't catch on with other people as much as their sparkling juices had, but it still won the hearts of quite a few soda drinkers. This all happened because of a little girl. That sounds creepy.