Where is the beer in ginger beer?
For a drink that’s so popular, we actually know surprisingly little about ginger beer. Let’s start with the million-dollar question: why is it called beer in the first place? And what’s the difference between it and ginger ale?
The origins of what we now call ginger beer lie in the United Kingdom. In the 18th century, people there ‘brewed’ a lightly alcoholic drink made from sugar, lemon, water and, of course, ginger, which they had brought back from the colonies.
Fermentation
The drink was called ginger beer, quite fittingly, because it was fermented, just like beer. That’s also where the difference with ginger ale lies. Ginger ale is ginger flavor mixed with carbonated water, so it contains no alcohol—and, incidentally, wasn’t invented in Canada until 1907.
Prohibition
But how did ginger beer come to be known primarily as a non-alcoholic drink? Well, you can thank the Americans for that. At the beginning of the 19th century, emigrants brought the original (alcoholic) version to Australia and America. During Prohibition in the 1920s, they made a non-alcoholic version of ginger beer by infusing ginger, spices and sugar in water. The sharp ginger flavor still made people feel as though they were drinking alcohol. Fake it till you make it, right?
Surinamese
Since then, the difference with ginger ale has mainly been in the flavor: ginger beer is much sharper. Have you ever tried the Surinamese version? There, they reduce ginger and sugar to a syrup, then dilute it with (sparkling) water. And believe us: you’ll want to take tiny sips, because it’s mega-sharp (and incredibly sweet).
Partly because of the journeys this drink has made around the world, it now comes in many forms: with and without alcohol; brewed, fermented, infused, made with ginger extract, and with or without additional spices.
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