Beer # 72 Crabbie's Ginger Beer

Crabbie's Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer

John Crabbie and Company
Glasgow, Scotland
Independent
Ginger Beer 4.0% ABV Brown Glass Bottle 500 ml.
$3.65 (Canadian) At LCBO.

Working off of the fringe definitions of "beer" again tonight. We travel to Scotland to taste a childhood favourite if mine: Ginger Beer. Well not the same ginger beer I had as a child... This one has alcohol in it! Ginger Ale and Ginger Beer share a similar ancestry, ginger was brought back to Britain from Asia and was touted as a medicine (it is excellent for settling your stomach and we had all had ginger ale when we were sick as kids). Eventually it made it's way into the fermenter's hand and became ginger beer. Therein also lies the difference between ginger ale and ginger beer. Ginger ale is a syrup made of sugar and flavoured with ginger that is added to carbonated water, soda-style. In ginger beer, a mash of sugars, fermentables, water and ginger is fermented with yeast and something called "Ginger Beer Plant" or GBP. This GBP is a symbiotic colony of yeasts and bacteria that aid the yeast in fermentation. The result is a smooth flavourful low alcohol beverage. Most Ginger beer's alcohol contents are so low they don't even count as alcohol, countries that sell ginger beer market them as soft drinks with alcohol contents of 0.5% or less often 0.0%.


So a question arises. Is this a beer? Well the answer is a little yes, and a lot of no. Most countries have defined beer as something that contains a malted grain. Some have even specified it further (Such as the USA) to say that beer "must" contain a certain percentage of barley malt. This has led to all sorts of problems regarding wheat beers and gluten free beers. (See my post on Lakefront Brewery's New Grist Gluten Free Beer ) However, ginger beer retains it's name from years ago, when the definition of beer was far more loosely interpreted. So for tradition's sake it earns itself a spot here at Pint Jockey Online.

Note about tonight's tasting. While Crabbie's is made with grape must instead of barley malt, the label does state that it contains wheat, so it is not gluten free!


Onto tonight's offering:


Light gold in colour, with a small frothy head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is ginger, floral, cinnamon, clove, slightly medicinal with a tinge of alcohol based perfume. First taste is strong with sugars and grape, followed immediatey by a rich ginger taste. Not as "hot" or "spicy" as other ginger beers I have tasted, but mellow and flavourful. Hints of cough medicine and stone fruits pop up at different times during the taste. Flavour reminds me of wine gums and Christmas candy. Aeration gives the sensation of "Picpoul" or the pricking of the lips one often finds in the French wine of the same name. It also enhances the ginger and warms the mouth.
Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional                                   



Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 5/6 PASS
Re-Order:  6/6 Exceptional  
Experience:   6/6  Exceptional


Final Thoughts:


A very good drink, one that I will purchase again. I am entertaining thoughts of making a nice shandy with this in the summer. So it may have a permanent home here at Pint Jockey Headquarters.


Cheers
CJT

Beer # 62 Nickel Brook Gluten Free

Nickle Brook Gluten Free

Better Bitters Brewing Company 
Burlington, Ontario, Canada (Independent)

Gluten Free Alcoholic Beverage 5.8% ABV Tall Can 473 ml.

$2.95 (Canadian) At LCBO.


I was quite surprised when I was going through the statistics of my blog. I had wanted to see what beers people were reading about so I could try similar beers for future blogs. My number one beer was Aguila, from Columbia, however the big surprise was that the second most read about beer was from Milwaukee Wisconson: New Grist, Gluten free. Now Celiac Disease, or gluten intolerance is getting a lot of press time. It is estimated that upwards of 1 in 1000 people have a sensitivity to the proteins in wheat. (if you suspect you have a gluten intolerance PLEASE GO to www.celiac.ca or www.celiac.com and seek professional help. A gluten free diet SHOULD ONLY be prescribed by a trained physician ) The beer industry, obviously, uses grains in the production of their product so people began to seek ways of making a beer tasting product without using barley or wheat. Tonight's tasting uses three fermentables in it's production: sorghum, pear juice and demerara Sugar. Sorghum is a grain used around the world in more tropical areas than Canada. Related to sugar cane, it can be used as a cereal, a grain, a starch or fermented into a beer-like substance. I say beer-like as most countries define beer as a beverage that must contain either barley wheat, or both.

Sorghum

Nickel Brook is the beer line of Better Bitters. It started life as a beer and wine making store and still carries that aspect to today. At some point the owner John Romano began to brew his own line of beers to be sold directly from the store. They have since expanded and now serve restaurants and are placing their products in the LCBO.


Onto tonight's tasting.


Light copper in colour, little to no head. Sugary fruity pear and grape like nose. First sips strikes me more as a wine, fruity, giving over to mild bitterness and herbal hops. Sweet but not cloying. Dry mildly bitter finish reminiscent of a pale. Aeration brings out the wine flavour, tastes like an unfinished merlot. 

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional

                                                                                                               

Cost:  5/6  PASS

Colour:  5/6  PASS        

Beer Style:  N/A  

Re-Order:  1/6 FAIL   

Experience:   3/6  SO-SO

Final Thoughts:
Well as I said in my earlier post about New Grist. The battle rages on whether a gluten free alcoholic drink, can be called a beer. I'm open to it as beers have been made from rye cake, millet, sorghum, and just about anything our ancestors could get their hands on. However, tonight's tasting, leans me the other way. This does NOT taste like a beer. It tastes like a wine made from pears. the hop character is incidental and of little consequence. That being said. This product tastes good, I won't knock it on flavour. However, It is not a beer. 


Cheers
CJT