A mostly clear label wraps the clear and colorless long-neck bottle, giving a clear look at the contents.  The logotype is gracefully understated, stepping back to let “Spicy Ginger” take the spotlight.  The streamlined banner enveloping them overlays a photograph of a sprawling ginger root, a hint as to what to expect from this craft soda.  The reserved, mature design sets it apart from most of its competition, suggesting a beverage tuned for the adult palate.  Conspicuously missing is a designation as ale or beer.

Carbonated water forms the bedrock here with sugar as the sweetener.  This 180-calorie drink gets its taste by way of the amorphous “natural flavor” and there’s citric acid for tang.  Altogether few ingredients are found, the only others being a preservative and caramel color.

There’s sweetness when smelling and ginger too in this amber-colored beverage.  How does it taste?  Imagine a party.  Walk through the door and a throng of sugars rush up, all speaking loudly at once, escalating in volume.  Ginger stands behind and waves a bit but can’t get more than a couple of words out without being talked over.  In frustration, ginger walks away.  The sugars ease up a bit and there’s a clipped glimpse of lime, looking bored.  Finally, the sugars thin out and exit a few at a time until they’re gone.  The last one there is earthiness who gives a smile on the way out. Heat never showed and prickles skipped this one.  Can’t blame them.

Interestingly, it feels a bit creamy in the mouth but the centerpiece is fruity sweetness, cranked up until it drowns out everything else.  A touch of heat could probably improve the experience.  After all it’s called Spicy Ginger; a little heat seems appropriate. 

Putting a designation on it proves difficult.  It tightropes between ginger ale and beer, not so sedate as an ale, not so aggressive as a beer. Either way it’s too sweet, not spicy enough and too little ginger flavor.  Find your next ginger beer fix somewhere else.

Final Decision: Fifth Tier – Skippable

Purchased locally at: Shell | Available online (often labelled Goose Island) at: Antiqology, Soda4u, Specialty Sodas

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Enter Jackson Hole Soda Company.  Founded in 2002, they serve a line of Old-West-inspired soft drinks anchored by the likes of root beer and sarsaparilla but stretching into more niche fare like strawberry rhubarb and huckleberry.  Each carries a clever name inspired by the region and its history, like Grand Teton Grape or Cowboy Cream Soda, and each bottle features an endearing period photograph that’s just a bit whimsical.

There’s a giant hat on the head of a mounted cowboy in the photo on bottles of Jackson Ginger with its peak blending perfectly into the string of jagged mountains rising behind.  Badges adorn the top two corners and a field of green stretches across the background, meant to look like aged paper.  Besides the appeal of the photo, there’s not a whole lot to get excited about, design-wise.  Elements look tacked-on and don’t integrate together well, looking like a collection of separate pieces that aren’t on speaking terms. 

The label tells you nothing about the company besides its name.  No specific location is given for bottling or headquarters, only the patriotic yet uninformative, “Brewed and Bottled in the USA.”  The ingredient lists offers a similar lack of specificity.  All flavoring comes listed under “natural flavors,” which can mean practically anything.  In fact the name itself presents questions as well.  Jackson Ginger.  Is it an ale?  A beer?  The label seemingly raises more questions than it settles.  Some stuff we do know: cane sugar provides a sweet taste, carbonated water provides bubbles and there’s only the one preservative, sodium benzoate. Calories total a fairly steep 194.

The nose is mildly of ginger, though of a tang and a bit leafy.  The appearance is as well mildly of ginger, offering the barest stain on this nearly clear liquid.  The experience begins with sweetness quickly striking first before a soft touch follows, this of a hollow ginger, like an air or fog, not really a direct contact. There seems to be a lace of vanilla too. The ginger possesses an unusual character that falls short of desirable. There’s an earthiness to the sweet finish that’s almost chalky.  The heat feels like an echo, only really noticeable after the action, never amounting to much. 

So is it a ginger ale or a ginger beer?  Its character classifies it as a ginger beer but it feels distanced from either due to the odd tack taken with the ginger flavor.  Though the ginger presumably gets listed under “natural flavors,” the taste here feels like a poor approximation of it. The final impression lacks enthusiasm. In a ginger beer emergency, it’ll do but it’s too dull and imbalanced to merit recommendation.

Final Decision: Fourth Tier – Passable

Purchased at: Beverages Direct | Also available at: Soda4u

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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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Plans emerged about 45 years later to revive everything that made the original so great, including that magical root beer.  Bottling it became a priority but using new machinery didn’t seem to fit the mission.  A nationwide search turned out successful when a vintage 1940’s bottling line was located in a Wisconsin barn.  That bottling line was installed into the new restaurant and now, while they munch on burgers or pizza, patrons can watch Fitz’s assortment of classic sodas poured into bottles and served up cold.

The label is mostly gray and black with a halo of green ringing the logo.  Most other Fitz’s varieties come in brightly hued wrapping but the Pi Ginger Beer, a later addition, appeared after most of those saturated colors were taken.  Perhaps that’s why the palette runs so dark.  Even so, they complement the vintage design and even lend to the classic feel.

A long-neck bottle was chosen, dark brown and very appropriate.  There’s a reasonable 140-calorie price for this ginger beer.  Flavored naturally, it uses filtered carbonated water and pure cane sugar.  There’s the omnipresent sodium benzoate working preservative duty and some caramel color was used.  The final result is a clear, golden liquid with no sediment and little carbonation. Not much scent either.

Sweetness starts off the show as planned.  The ginger appears but never fully materializes, light and mild, virtually no heat.  A hint of syrup passes through.  Sugary describes the finish.

The taste here is not that of a ginger beer, but of a ginger ale, plus it demonstrates the syrupy characteristic found in a brown soft drink.  Considering there’s minimal ginger and no kick, it’s hard to make a case for ginger beer fans to prioritize sampling this.  A stop at Fitz’s while in St. Louis is still on the to-do list, but the best idea is to probably stick to something they’re renowned for: the root beer.

Final Decision: Fifth Tier – Skippable

Purchased at: Beverages Direct | Online availability at: Fitz’s, Antiqology

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