Inspired by a love of Moscow Mules, their ginger beer wears a dapper can, looking both upscale and accessible. The wrought iron logo feels vintage and quality while the soft frame of ginger root illustrations offsets its formality.  The typeface choices look spot-on and the eye flow from top-left to bottom-right is smooth.

Turn to the back and the ingredient list for this 140-calorie beverage offers comfort.  Everything listed is either water or flavor.  Cane sugar provides sweetening while both juice and extract contribute the ginger flavor.  Capsaisin adds a touch of heat.  The foundation is filtered water, not the more common carbonated water.  Perhaps this ginger beer’s bubbles appear through fermentation? (An email including the question went unanswered.)

Pouring reveals a mild carbonation to this pale gold liquid.  The nose is clean, giving off only the slightest hint of ginger. In tasting, we’re greeted by a dry note before an earthy ginger smoothly slides in, landing mid-tongue.  The appearance of tart adds a bit of sparkle.  Prickles pitter-pat the tongue while heat drifts into the throat.  There’s a clean finish with dim echoes of tartness.  Then they’re gone and only the heat remains.  It builds slowly in the mouth but never overpowers.

The capsaisin provides an interesting touch.  It emanates a different heat than that of the ginger, yet integrates seamlessly.  There’s a fullness to it, occupying the mouth.  It’s less active, lacking the dynamic tingle of ginger which allows it to lie just beneath, filling in space like a picnic blanket.

There’s a reassurance when dealing with a concise list of ingredients.  Extremely rarely do complicated-sounding ingredients ever require concern, but their absence is not missed.  Water and flavor.  That’s all there is in this excellent ginger beer. And excellent it is.  Dry and earthy, with outstanding balance, it’s wonderful as both a drink and a mixer and would make a fine guest at your next party.

Final Decision: Second Tier – Alluring

Purchased locally at: Target | Online availability at: Powell and Mahoney, Amazon, Target

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The ginger beer sits stored in a silver can with royal blue trim.  The background is filled with wooden planks not unlike a backyard fence.  The hand-written logo floats above an illustration of a golden retriever, the most eye-catching feature of the can.  There’s a story there.

John grew up with a family dog like a lot of kids did.  His was a beloved pet lovingly named Bailey.  Bailey performed classic tricks, like fetching the newspaper, and loved boat rides to places where she could search for fish slipping by.  Bailey was cute as a button and in her picture sports a fetching red bandana.  Not many ginger beers have a mascot, and Bailey suits the job well.

Kure’s is comprised of only four ingredients with no arcane preservatives.  Carbonated water makes up the foundation with cane sugar, ginger juice and citric acid.  Ginger juice always feels good to see on a label.  This combination is good for 100 calories in the 12-ounce can.

On the nose floats the welcome scent of ginger, smelling freshly cut.  The cloudy white liquid holds plenty of sediment, that real ginger drifting through.  The inception tastes slightly sweet until a rush of fresh ginger storms through, accentuated with citrus.  A touch of heat tickles more than prickles.  Ginger persists after the swallow, then is joined by a jolt of tartness before a finish of sweetness, lazily lingering for a few seconds.  Heat builds as the can is consumed but never reaches a distracting intensity.

Kure’s began with home brewing and even now, canned, tastes like it was just created in the next room.  The ginger is a superstar, coming through brilliantly and the citrus emboldens the effect.  It’s not trying to do anything fancy, just deliver a great tasting traditional ginger beer.  It succeeds wildly.

Final Decision: First Tier – Exceptional

Purchased at: Mayfair Liquors in Denver, CO. Also available throughout Colorado and northern Illinois. | Cases available online at kuresgingerbeer.com

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Gabriel Oliver-Kose calls Boulder his original home.  He worked dining and bar jobs there and in Denver and on the side nurtured a passion for fermentation. 

The early history of ginger beer walks hand-in-hand with fermentation.  Yeast bacteria and sugar were stirred into a solution of water, ginger juice and other desired flavorings.  The mixture was left to ferment, producing a flotilla of bubbles (and if left long enough, alcohol too).

Inspired by the classic history of the drink, Oliver-Kose founded OliKo, producing a fermented ginger beer made from cultures and fresh ingredients.

The packaging is stunning.  There’s nothing else on the market like it.  The logo features a beautiful typeface adorned with just enough detail to generate interest and a modern look that’s not so trendy that the design will expire when a fad passes.  The geometric artwork carries a freshness, appearing modern and young, though upscale without being stuffy.  The clear glass bottle holds a shape unseen in the ginger beer world, offering an impression of a carefully crafted small-batch beverage.  The sum design defies convention, implying a one-of-a-kind product, no less than a disrupting force.

There’s four ingredients: filtered water, ginger vinegar, cane sugar and cold pressed ginger juice.  Nothing else.  No preservatives at all, not even the gray-area occupying citric acid.  The label calls for constant refrigeration.  It goes on to say that the 12-ounce bottle holds 100 calories, two six-ounce, 50-calorie servings.

On the nose floats a tangy ginger, fresh smelling, strong too, with a hint of fermentation.  Shaking and pouring reveals minimal carbonation.  Nestled in a glass, the liquid is opaque and just a perfect color.  Very enticing, very tempting.  And that temptation pays off.

There’s first a zing, the tang of the ginger vinegar.  Sweetness hovers there, suspended low like a cloud of dry ice.  It’s tamed, well-behaved, minimal, just enough to avoid dryness but attracting little attention.  The ginger rushes in, strong and energetic, tasting remarkably fresh-squeezed.  Botanical notes follow.  The finish is lively, prickly and tangy.  Going back in for more immediately crosses the mind.  The moderate heat builds a little with each taste, prickling mostly on the tongue but brushing the roof, lips and back of the throat, lingering on long after the sip.

Exciting describes the progression.  Fireworks.  The flavor comes in phases, constantly reinventing itself.  This is such a fresh-tasting ginger beer, alive with the sights and smells of a farmer’s market.  The ginger flavor feels like you dug it up there at the farm itself, sliced it open with a pocket knife and pressed it directly to your nose.  The hints of vinegar, the acid, it just deepens the experience.  The sweetness stands behind, with dignity.  Most ginger beers are built on pillars of sugar and ginger, the two starring roles.  Here the sweetness is a supporting actor, or even an extra, enriching the scene but not featuring in it.

There’s no doubt about it.  This is one of the best ginger beers ever made.

Final Decision: God Tier – Untouchable

Purchased at: Mother Tongue in the Broadway Market in Denver, CO. Their website has a list of other locations in Boulder and Denver. Their online shop currently says “under construction” so maybe one day you can order it? Maybe?

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