March 20, 2019
Pennyback Ginger Beer | A Review
Austin, Texas is a city that enthusiastically supports local brands and businesses. There you may see shirts and stickers reminding you to “Keep Austin Weird,” an effort to urge citizens to shop local merchants and buy local wares. Because of this mentality, Austin isn’t just another homogenized haven for ho-hum chain stores.
Since locals look for local fare, where there’s a niche there’s an opportunity. Pennyback, founded in 2018, looked at a lack of locally made mixers in a town full of locally made liquors and ventured to pack tonic and soda into that lack. Mixing up a Moscow Mule? Why not pair Pennyback ginger beer with your Tito’s vodka for fun Austin flair?
The clear glass 9.3 ounce bottle (275ml) is ensconced in an elegant label, cut away at 45 degrees and tracing the Pennyback crest, giving the impression that the liquid itself is part of the branding. A pair of unique details implying an artisanal product with careful oversight: there’s a field for the batch number (mine was 001) and a stamp over the stock number in a table low on the label (mine was 08).
This stunning packaging ports a near-clear liquid with just a tinge of ginger color, built on a foundation of carbonated artesian water. While there’s no sediment, natural ginger root extract delivers flavor here along with agave and cinchona bark (a source of quinine). Sweetening comes by way of the agave syrup and pure cane sugar. 100 calories dwell within. For comparison concerns, 129 calories occupy 12 ounces of this ginger beer, extremely efficient indeed.
A quiet sweetness touches the tip of the tongue before the ginger sings its song. A pleasant, peppery prickle dances about the mouth and tickles the back of the throat as the sides of the tongue detect notes of agave. There’s a gentle salt surprise on the finish of this dry ginger beer that tacks a sophisticated coda onto Pennyback’s eloquent verse.
If there’s an issue, it’s that Pennyback is a bit reserved, dampened a bit. The flavor is fantastic, but it lacks a climactic intensity as the sensations play out in the mouth.
An experienced ginger beer drinker seeking something new and challenging will appreciate the care and skill taken to make Pennyback. Anyone looking to mix a drink that escapes a rut should look here too. It presses the bounds of convention, cruising to the horizon but never traveling so far as to become unrecognizable. This is an engaging experience and one I anticipate experiencing again.
Final Decision: Second Tier – Alluring
Purchased at: Twin Liquors in the Austin area | Also available there at: Total Wine | Online availability at: Maybe Amazon
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