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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The Naturally Light series eventually found itself replaced by Refreshingly Light.  More than just a name change, new formulas were devised for these versions of their Indian Tonic Water, Ginger Ale and Ginger Beer.  The notes for this review were originally written while the two options sat side-by-side on shelves but by now Naturally Light may be near impossible to find.

The 6.8 ounce (200ml) clear glass bottle possesses an elegant curvature and comes embossed with the fever tree found often in their branding.  The label, with a lighter background color, appears quite similar to the Premium.  It uses the same upscale look including the same uninspired typeface selections except for the addition of hand-written elements, notably the “Naturally Light” designation.

Carbonated spring water kicks off the ingredient list of this 40-calorie beverage (that’s 71 calories per 12 ounces).  In addition there’s fruit sugar, ginger root, other natural flavors, tartaric and ascorbic acids.  No preservatives are included.

There’s a touch of cloudiness to this fizzy, translucent liquid which carries a slightly more golden color than its full-calorie counterpart.  Ginger dominates the nose, nice and strong.  The first impression comes through as a dryness.  Then the ginger arrives, tasting not at all artificial.  It reaches a pleasant peak, joined by a tang, and continues to hang on for a few beats.  The heat goes easy at first but builds with each sip, prickling about the tongue.  The tang subsides into a clean finish.

Naturally Light has no intention of imitating Fever-Tree’s flagship ginger beer.  It’s quite comfortable doing its own thing and offers a lot of flavor for the calories.  The choice to go dry strikes as a clever idea.  When reducing calories, why not just reduce the sweetness instead of pursuing artificial options?  A dry ginger beer can be as good or better than a sweet one so there’s a reason to choose this variety other than just the reduced calories and sugar.  It’s a straightforward option that lacks the complexity of the Premium but nevertheless remains desirable in its own right.

Final Decision: Second Tier – Alluring

Purchased locally at: Spec’s

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Powell & Mahoney feel an affinity towards Moscow Mules so this blood orange variety marks an attempt to expand horizons and offer variety on that front.  The can draws eyes to this bold step with its wrought iron logo, rough-hewn type and hand drawn illustrations of ginger root and sliced blood oranges.  There’s a personality to it, classy but fun, and it communicates an expected level of quality.

The can declares an absence of preservatives, artificial ingredients and high fructose corn syrup but citric acid is present.  While it primarily imparts a bit of citrus tang, it also possesses a preservative effect so there’s a bit of a gray area on this one.  Either way there’s a best-by date on the bottom of the can so it can’t be doing much.  It’s worth overlooking.

In addition to citric acid, there’s filtered water and cane sugar for sweetness.  Blood orange juice from concentrate and natural orange extract give the signature flavor while ascorbic acid adds tang.  Vegetable juice imparts color.  The ginger flavor comes from ginger extract and capsaicin adds a degree (or a few degrees) of heat.  There’s 130 calories in the 12 ounces of liquid, ten less than their Original Ginger Beer.

In a glass it appears a soft salmony pink color not unlike a rosé or a pink lemonade.  On the nose is a strong scent of sweet orange with a bit of ginger.  A moment of sweetness precedes the arrival of the blood orange flavor and a bright burst of tart acid.  A ginger weaves its way through, prickling the tongue and back of the throat.  The capsaicin brings a moderate burn throughout the mouth, building with further sips.  The tart carries on through to the finish, gradually fading away until only the heat is left.

Like the original, the heat is strong if not sincere, carrying a different character because of the capsaicin.  The blood orange comes through brilliantly but the ginger is not quite so flamboyant, needing a bit of a boost.  However the result is another solid entry for Powell & Mahoney, a nice change of pace from the standard ginger beer.  There’s an elegance to it with its rich flavors and bright tartness, great for an afternoon in the sun or as a mixer in the evening.

Final Decision: Second Tier – Alluring

Purchased locally at: Total Wine. | Available online at: Powell & Mahoney

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Newly released is their line of premium mixers, aimed squarely at the upscale market where Fever-Tree and Q reign.  Like those competitors, they eschew artificial ingredients such as sweeteners and preservatives.  The line includes a tonic water with a light version, a club soda and this premium ginger beer.

The elegant clear-glass bottle holding 8.45oz (250ml) of ginger beer resembles some vintage White Rock bottles with its conical funnel shape and allows the liquid itself to become part of the color palette.  It complements nicely the rosy beige of the background field with its slightly more saturated ornamentation around the edges.  For the Premium line the logo has seen a complete overhaul.  While the usual logo looks accessible and established, it does say “mass-produced soft drink” pretty clearly.  This new one presents as upscale with its angular serifs and swooping strokes.  This effect is magnified by the pleasant amount of negative space on each side, giving the design room to breathe and emphasizing the elegance of it all.  The fairy girl who normally sits upon the white rock found above the logo instead perches on the bottle cap, looking closer to renaissance art than the 50’s-style of the classic line.  The final effect looks the part: elegant and upscale and ready to battle it out with Fever-Tree.

There are only four ingredients listed on the label: carbonated water, sugar, citric acid and natural flavor.  It’s a far cry from the oils, gums and starches listed on their standard ginger beer. The 250ml amounts to 110 calories.  That would be 156 for 12oz, just for comparison’s sake.

A soft haze graces the liquid with a nose of strong ginger and a tart zing.  There’s first the gentle rise of a mild sweetness tugging along an enthusiastic inflation of ginger.  Tartness zips about, rising to meet the ginger before ebbing away in step.  Heat sneaks in for the climax, typical in its intensity, leaving prickly footprints tip-tapping upon the tongue.  As the flavor falls away, sweetness and tart are the last to go.

With layered flavor and great-tasting ginger, this is a much better ginger beer than the standard version.  The tart elevates it, hitting just the right pitch to make the ginger sing.  While there’s nothing really ground-breaking or exotic here like Fever-Tree’s three gingers sourced from two continents, this really is a ginger beer done very well.  With it, White Rock now seems poised to wedge into that juicy upscale battle fought on store shelves every day.

Final Decision: Second Tier – Alluring

Purchased locally at Spec’s

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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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Quite a brag it is but a hollow one it is not.  Dozens of awards followed and their tonic water stands as the top selling brand.  Fever-Tree’s availability spans more than 70 countries and it almost certainly adorns a shelf in a nearby grocery.  For them the success has rained down in sheets.

The bottle suits the mission.  With a curvy, elegant silhouette, the 16.9 ounce (500ml) glass container sports an embossed fever tree and attractive labelling with a metallic finish.  The logotype feels a bit mundane and the font choice below it the same.  On the neck label, the logo’s tree is printed over the logo’s tree, which looks messy and seems unnecessary. The total effect presents as upscale but better packaging exists.

Within live 100 calories per 8oz serving, translating to 150 for 12.  Carbonated spring water makes up the base layer, sweetness blooms from real sugar and on top of that it touts natural ginger flavoring as well as actual fresh ginger.  The ginger used arrives from three different, far-reaching origins.  Ivory Coast contributes one, Nigeria the second and the third grows in India.  Each rides a slightly different spectrum of flavor which Fever-Tree claims compliments each other perfectly.  No preservatives are present.

The enchanting scent of fresh ginger bursts from the bottle upon opening.  Nested in a glass, spiciness entwines for a heavenly nose.  There’s sugar too, subdued.  Moderate carbonation permeates a liquid given a frosted glass appearance by the powder of fresh ginger softly drifting within. 

A reserved sweetness blankets the tongue a moment before a satisfying dousing of fresh, earthy ginger.  Prickles play about in the mouth and tickle the nose.  Botanical notes arrive as the prickles travel back in the mouth and touch the top of the throat, offering a spicy finish.  The ginger taste holds for an extended portion of the progression, remarkably long.  Heat rests upon the tongue in its wake, a lasting token of the experience.

Like an orchestra, elements each lay down their parts, harmonizing into a symphony of flavor.  Notes come from everywhere in a sublime complexity, assembling into a sophisticated ginger beer, both exotic and accessible.

The objective at the outset was to create the best mixers ever made and it’s hard to imagine a ginger beer better than this one.  It ticks every box and creates several more.  It holds the perfect balance of sweet and heat and the ginger tastes freshly grated off the root.  It’s spectacular.  It’s perfect.  It’s everything a ginger beer aspires to be.

Final Decision: God Tier – Untouchable

Purchased locally at: HEB

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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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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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