SoCo Extra Ginger appeared before and won praise for both its packaging and its flavor.  The bottle here hasn’t changed much.  Its unusual shape gives an impression of freshness while the logo offers a bit of style.  Here the seal is a fun pink and unique to the Peach.  The only issue rises with the color of the printing on the label.  The yellow type and line drawing disappear into the color of the beverage, a far cry from the well-chosen pink ink found on the Extra Ginger.

Inside the 16-ounce clear glass bottle, no preservatives can be found.  This is a drink that needs to stay constantly refrigerated.  Sparkling water, lemon, peach, organic cane juice, ginger and lime comprise every ingredient in this ginger beer.  While even the hard-to-pronounce ingredients found in other competitors are perfectly safe, it can be nice to not feel like a Google search is required to enjoy a drink.  The list instills confidence and puts the mind at ease.

Two 8-ounce servings occupy the container at 80 calories apiece.  12 ounces, for comparison’s sake, come to 120.

The gently rotated liquid is permeated with sediment and pouring generates a fair amount of fizz.  The opaque color hints at the peach within, with its orange-yellow tint.  Ginger and lemon float on the nose with perhaps just a touch of peach. 

It’s moderately sweet at first then the flavors step in, tart lemon out front with the ginger and the peach just behind.  Just after that bright punch of lemon at the climax, peach steps forward.  Ginger mixes well the whole time but never in a primary role.  Peach dominates the finish but lemon nevertheless persists.  The barest hint of prickle pitter-pats upon the lips but otherwise heat remains gentle. 

There’s five members to this merry band: heat, sweet, ginger, peach, lemon and each plays a slightly more significant part than the last.  Lemon and peach are the stars of this show, the ginger tying them together.  They do tussle a bit, elbowing to stay in the spotlight but this isn’t a bad thing.  It makes for an evolving progression, a scenic trip through the varied components of this unique ginger beer.  And hey, it’s summer.  There’s no better time to take a trip.

Final Decision: Second Tier – Alluring

Purchased at Texan Market in Austin, Texas | Check the SoCo website for other locations around the Austin, Denton and Dallas/Ft. Worth areas.

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While it’s not the only ginger beer in town, it’s carved its own niche as extremely fresh, exotically flavored and primarily a standalone drink.  (That said, mixing is certainly encouraged as an array of tempting drink recipes await at the website.)  Locations carrying single-serving bottles span from grocery stores to convenience shops but if you want a growler, visit a local farmer’s market.  It really doesn’t even have to be too local anymore.  Vendors can be found in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area now too.

SoCo, named for the lively South Congress district near downtown Austin, brews a dizzying variety of flavors into their ginger beers, most being seasonal offerings depending on what fruits or vegetables are judged freshest at the time.  Offerings include, but are not limited to, watermelon, jalapeno-lime, cranberry, blackberry, prickly pear and beet-carrot.  None contain preservatives and in fact the ginger beer needs to stay refrigerated at all times.

The packaging is extremely attractive.  The 16-ounce glass holds a milk-bottle shape, giving an impression of a freshness lurking within.  The pink artwork contrasts nicely with the color of the drink and includes the stylish logo, skillful typesetting and a line illustration of a lemon half with ginger root.  A seal bridges over the aluminum cap, another nod to its freshness.

The liquid inside (with 70 calories in each of the eight-ounce servings — that’s 105 per 12oz) contains only a few ingredients: sparkling water, lemon, ginger, organic cane juice and lime.  It’s the kind of list that raises no questions and inspires confidence in the purchase.  It’s near clear when undisturbed with a robust dusting of sediment resting at the bottom.  Rotating it to mix it back up results in an opaque ginger color, very tempting.  Twist off the top and smell deeply of a strong ginger scent with a bright hint of tartness.

Tasting, the initial rush of sweetness so common in ginger beers doesn’t come.  The rush is instead of lemon, joined momentarily by refreshing ginger.  The two sharply peak, hand-in-hand, before fading away, leaving a citrusy finish.   Heat sneaks in during the flavor evolution and lingers afterward, a little on the tongue but the keenest prickles dance on the lips.

The heavy lemon flavor separates SoCo from the pack, nearly that of a lemonade.  The ginger is buoyant though and the two marry well, creating a frisky ginger beer perfect for a warm Texas day.

Final Decision: Second Tier – Alluring

Purchased at Texan Market in Austin, Texas | Check the SoCo website for other locations around the Austin, Denton and Dallas/Ft. Worth areas.

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He took inspiration from his dad.  The man was an admitted soda addict and Trevor saw that as an opportunity.  He began brewing his own kombucha with a new idea: what if it could be made to taste like soda?  After trials and errors and much tinkering, in 2012 Live Beverages came to life.  Trevor had finally developed a kombucha that tasted much like soda.  His dad embraced it and never looked back.

On the subject, their kombucha still tastes like kombucha, but that flavor rides shotgun with the soda flavor behind the wheel.  The sharp edges normally found in the taste are sanded down, making what is oftentimes a distasteful beverage quite delicious.

Live Soda came next.  By reversing his thinking Trevor created a soda with probiotic content like kombucha.  Several flavors are now on offer like Cola, Root Beer and this, Live Soda Ginger, which is said to ride the line between ginger ale and ginger beer.

It’s worth mentioning that the claimed benefits of probiotics are questionable, but one thing Live Soda has going for it in that regard is that, unlike a lot of other probiotic foods, it contains bacteria that actually are a member of the human gut flora ecosystem.

The packaging is excellent.  Live Soda won a BevNet award for their rebranding and it’s understandable why.  The clean and attractive logo features prominently on the two-tone can.  “Ginger” slashes in a stylish typeface across a golden background filled with bubbles.  It’s all very modern and enticing and clearly communicates what makes this soda different from its shelf companions.  Full marks.

As the can proclaims, Live Soda Ginger contains no calories.  Instead of sugar, erythritol and monk fruit extract perform the sweetening duties.  Accompanying them are carbonated water, natural flavors, citric acid and the probiotic bacillus subtilis.  Quite concise.

The liquid appears a robust bronze color with moderate carbonation and without sediment.  It smells only weakly of ginger.  The initial taste sensation is stark dryness, almost as if sipping carbonated water.  Ginger then unfurls, not prickly yet tactile, carrying a bright tartness but no heat.  There’s no evolution to the finish; the flavor just attenuates until it’s gone.

Live Soda achieves a hybridity between ginger beer and ale but it stands dryer than either one.  Without the sweetness, it feels unsatisfying, a reminder that this is supposed to be good for you. There’s nothing about it that feels like an indulgence.

What’s more, the flavor profile is simple to the point of being uninteresting.  Without a unique and attractive taste, to choose this beverage is only to choose the probiotics.  It struggles to compare favorably to otherwise similar ginger soda options, like those low in sweetness or calorie count.  If it’s a practical decision, then it’s not much of a decision at all.  But if it isn’t, then it might be best to explore elsewhere.

Final Decision: Fourth Tier – Passable

Purchased locally at: HEB

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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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