June 12, 2019
Boots Lucky Ginger Brew | A Review
In Bryan, not too far from the campus of Texas A&M, sits Boots Beverages, a well-respected craft soda creator owned by the Kristen family and inspired by flavors once distributed by the local soda jerk. Ambrose Kristen began bottling for some recognizable brands in 1930 and eventually passed the business down to his son Boots. Boots wasn’t content to just churn out other people’s product so he founded his own line of specialty sodas and called it “Boots.” While that venture lasted a healthy ten years, its end wasn’t the real end of the story. Bottling soda stayed in the blood of the Kristen family and in 2013 Mark revived the Boots brand and released a variety of flavors including Sarsaparilla, Dewberry and the heavenly Coconut Cream.
Introduced in 2016, the newest addition to the Boots line is this, the Lucky Ginger Brew. It begins with carbonated water. Added to that are “natural flavors” and a little phosphoric acid for tang. Pure cane sugar does the work of sweetening and 170 calories are counted in the final product.
The container is a green-glass, 12-ounce, long-neck bottle with a quite busy label encircling it. The logo sits high and defines the center; “Lucky Ginger Brew” is of course significant, appearing over ginger root, over ginger leaves, over a diamond pattern, over a sparkling golden liquid background. As with all Boots bottles, there’s a bit of family history included. Aunt Emma’s vintage visage runs down the right side of the label with just a little blurb describing her, the youngest of Boots Kristen’s sisters.
A honeyed sweetness nudges the tongue, followed by the emergence of basil notes. Then a fire ignites in the mouth. The ginger’s bite is significant, swarming the tongue and back of the mouth, sometimes rising up into the nose. When it eases, the basil returns, having been temporarily shouted down by the insistence of the ginger. Soy joins in for a savory finish with the two flavors curiously reaching their peak intensity a second or two after the swallow. The heat lingers on, even building with subsequent sips and easing its way down the throat. Finishing the bottle, the mouth is left mildly stunned, like the feeling after overindulging on the salsa at a beloved cantina.
This admirable commitment to spiciness ultimately sits imbalanced, overpowering other flavors on the palette. Ingredients can work together to produce a unified taste but here the fire competes (and wins) versus other, more understated contributions. Those who seek and enjoy hefty helpings of heat should certainly take notice as this could fast become a favorite, but others who long to explore the nuances and progression of a ginger beer’s flavor could here find their desires thwarted.
Boots Beverages comes with a rich history it proudly celebrates with every bottle sold. Becoming a part of that history means being memorable and Lucky Ginger Brew is definitely that. While other ginger beers may be tasted and forgotten, Boots bounces around in the head long after that final sip.
Final Decision: Third Tier – Enjoyable
Purchased locally at: HEB | Online availability at Antiqology
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