The brewery obtained the very first license in the nation to produce beer after Prohibition and saw much success as it was passed down from generation to generation of Matts throughout the years.  In 1995, with Nick and Fred in control, the Matt Brewing Company made a return to soft drink production and today hosts a line of nine varieties including this Saranac Ginger Beer.

Green stands out as the primary color of the label on this 12-ounce brown-glass longneck bottle.  The sharp-serifed logo dances at the top while “ginger beer” floats over a barrel illustration in flashy yellow type.  Wrapped around the neck clings another small label where a short paragraph description promises “tons of ginger.”

High fructose corn syrup sweetens this beverage built on filtered water.  Citric acid plays a part as taste ambiguously rises out of natural and artificial flavors.  Also present are the preservative sodium benzoate as well as caramel color.  The entire bottle counts for 160 calories.

The liquid appears as pale gold, devoid of sediment.  Its rich carbonation materializes as a thick blanket of foam floating near the rim of the glass.  There’s a sharp ginger on the nose with unexpected floral undertones. 

Sweetness emerges in a gradual crescendo joined quickly by a shy ginger which never reaches an equilibrium.  The texture surprises with a cottony creaminess and vanilla graces the finish.  Heat is absent.

It’s best described as a ginger cream soda rather than a ginger beer, a bold direction that could burrow a successful niche with just some tuning.  The creaminess is pleasant but can be off-putting to some palettes while the ample fizz is welcome.  Unfortunately the problems are significant.  The ginger refuses to come forward and since heat is eschewed it would make for a poor choice of mixer and ultimately stands as a below average example of a ginger beer.

Final Decision: Fourth Tier – Passable

Purchased online at: Beverages Direct | Available locally at: Total Wine | Also available online at: Soda4U, Soda Emporium, Specialty Sodas

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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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Today Stoli is a stalwart in the American world of fine spirits having been fully embraced by people who, in another time, might have scorned it.  The flavors of Stoli vodka seem innumerable but also in their portfolio appears a ginger beer.  A year after its introduction, a bold, new, limited-edition flavor entered the market, this Fire and Spice Ginger Beer.

The can design aims to be a variation of the standard ginger beer, black where the original is red and with a flaming “Fire & Spice” front and center.  The only other major difference is size.  Instead of the normal 12oz can, this one is a smaller 8.4 ounces (248ml).

Those 8.4 ounces count as a single serving with 100 calories which pro-rates to 143 calories for 12 ounces, almost exactly what the regular ginger beer holds.  Cane sugar sweetens the drink while flavor comes from ginger extract and “other natural flavors.”  Citric acid and salt contribute a little and a couple preservatives keep it fresh.

The liquid is perfectly clear and, unlike its counterpart, generates little fizz.  The nose offers ginger and sweet cinnamon, smelling almost exactly like Big Red gum.  The taste experience begins pretty much as usual with sweetness preceding the arrival of ginger.  The two build to a climax where the fireworks start to fly.  The cinnamon bursts in, sweet and feisty, reminiscent of a Hot Tamale, a candy tough to find outside of a movie theater.  Heat from the ginger prickles a bit and the cinnamon launches a quick salvo of spice as it washes over the tongue.  The cinnamon then glides away on the finish, leaving a cottony sweet feeling after it’s gone.

It’s a one-of-a-kind sensation, this cinnamon ginger beer.  Balance is well-executed with the cinnamon never suffocating out the ginger even though it should be counted as the forward flavor.  While most flavored ginger beers intend to elevate the drink, dress it up a little, this one could be considered a bit unsophisticated or even gimmicky.  But that doesn’t mean it’s bad.  Some people love the taste of cinnamon candy and would find a place for Fire and Spice in their heart.  Others could find it distasteful.  Ultimately, it’s a well-crafted ginger beer, more skillfully done than the slew of overpoweringly flavored ginger beers out there and whether or not it’s good will most likely come down to personal preference.

Final Decision: Third Tier – Enjoyable

Purchased online at: Soda Pop Shop | Available there in singles and 4-packs

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But why stop at beer?  Randy began brewing many years before, after his return from military service in Germany.  He was as versatile as he was knowledgeable and so in 1988 added brewed sodas to the company’s repertoire.  Root beer and cream soda were first off the line but a ginger beer followed later.

Sprecher ginger beer rests in a 12oz. brown-glass, long-neck bottle with a defined curve at the shoulder.  An ombre paints the label’s background, yellow to orange to brown, highlighting the roaring lion crest at its center.  Oddly, metal-look edges border the top and bottom, complete with screws.  Old English type makes up the logo sitting above the crest.  The design conjures thoughts of Germany, sitting at long wooden tables with cold mugs in hand.

Carbonated water leads the ingredient list as expected with glucose syrup acting as sweetener.  Real ginger and natural flavors make up the taste, along with citric acid.  Sodium benzoate keeps this 150-calorie beverage tasting fresh.

Pouring into a mug generates a generous fizz and even an ephemeral head which hangs on for a handful of seconds before dissipating.  The liquid is a light, transparent golden hue with a nose of twining sweet and ginger.  Sweetness touches the tongue straight off, preceding the advent of the ginger.  The ginger amplifies in strength building to a startling strike of sour, nested in botanical notes.  Heat settles mid-tongue, depositing a trail of prickles.  It’s sharp, above average.  The sour-ginger medley fades through the finish with the sour hanging on long after.

The label cries, “Craft soda with a bite,” and this one’s all teeth.  The astonishing arrival of the sour marks the most memorable moment of the progression.  It’s the climax of an unusual flavor profile that’s initially objectionable but soon grows on you.  Daring describes this wholly original ginger beer, the type of flavor that generates opinions.  It’s certainly not for everyone but it does have its merits.  There’s an ocean of competitors out there and in its vast reaches Sprecher’s divisive punch will not be forgotten.

Final Decision: Third Tier – Enjoyable

Purchased at: Beverages Direct, though it’s no longer available there. | Also available online at: Sprecher, Antiqology

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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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With the relatively recent rediscovery of the Moscow Mule and resulting resurgence of its signature mixer, a window of opportunity opened and the company leapt through it, releasing Stoli Ginger Beer in 2014.  They unleashed a huge PR push across America and social media, encouraging fans to put down their current favorites and pick up a Stoli Mule.  More than 300 bar events were held, handing out samples of the cocktail in branded copper mugs to nearly twenty thousand people.

Look for Stoli in a slim 12-ounce can, mostly can-colored with a wide, red slash striking across it.  Copper accents a centered, white diamond where most of the type is located.  Four of these come wrapped in cardboard printed with similar design language.  Overall, it’s a success.  Wander down the mixers aisle of the grocery store and this stands out from the competition, looking both unique and upscale.

Some pretty standard ingredients lurk within: carbonated water, cane sugar, natural flavors, a couple preservatives. Calories total 70 for a six-ounce serving, so a perfectly reasonable 140 for the whole thing.

From the can, transparent liquid pours into the glass, crowned with a layer of fizz.  Presaged by the nose, cane sugar first lays down a thick foundation of sweetness.  The moderate ginger follows quickly, riding on bubbles with a touch of salt, building in flavor intensity but not heat.  It peaks without prickling then diminuendos, leaving sugar and citrus to handle the finish, which tastes almost like a candy.  It goes down easy, very drinkable.

Aspects that some could consider flaws in their drink, like too generous carbonation or sweetness, could also be considered assets in a mixer, reaching perfect levels once mildly diluted. So while the list of complaints remains short, it doesn’t do much to set itself apart either, running dangerously close to forgettable. Nevertheless, the formula here is well-conceived. It tastes good alone but better as a mixer, definitely worthy of the Stoli name.

Final Decision: Third Tier – Enjoyable

Purchased at: HEB | Wide availability

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Cowboys kicking their way through those twin swinging doors were most surely watching their calorie counts so they’d be interested to know this one carries 190 of them.  It’s mostly purified carbonated water and now, hopping on the trend of abandoning high fructose corn syrup, pure cane sugar.  Further down the list lie food starch modified (a thickener), ester gum and brominated soybean oil (which together keep the liquid from separating).  Ginger is presumably included under “natural flavor.”

The 12-ounce, darkly brown-tinted, heritage-style glass bottle is slightly heavy and features “SIOUX CITY” in raised lettering, a wonderful touch.  While older bottles from the company were intricately designed and delightfully antique-appearing, this modern one is adorned by a clear label with on-brand design inspired by the Old West.  An eagle, no doubt about to grasp a tasty beverage, features prominently and is done in negative space.  There’s only three colors here, giving a bit of a muted appearance, but it works for what it is.

Carbonation is light for a soda but typical for a ginger beer.  Pouring the liquid into a glass reveals no sediment.  In the mouth, sweetness appears just before the ginger rises to meet you, draping over the sides of the tongue and moving to the back of the throat, leaving gentle prickles behind.  It’s pleasantly sweet without being sugary and balances well with the mild heat. 

Sioux City deserves a repeat buy but it doesn’t deserve to be called special.  It takes no chances, breaks no new ground. There are no surprises, no unusual ingredients. The mission here is to create a classic and pure ginger beer and, operating strictly within that mold, it’s a success. Therefore, it’s a great starter ginger beer, perfect as an introduction to the drink, establishing a baseline with plenty of room above and below to explore.

Interestingly, buying this again doesn’t have to mean buying Sioux City brand ginger beer.  This tidbit is something I’ll get into in a later installment.

Final Decision: Third Tier – Enjoyable

Purchased at: Beverages Direct (in 6-packs and 12-packs) |  Also available at: Soda4u, Soda Emporium

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