Homemade Ginger Beer

Did you know that ginger beer was originally alcoholic? Apparently it was invented during the Victorian era and was basically made by leaving ginger beer plant, water, sugar and ginger to naturally ferment. 

Before I did that snippet of Google research for you today (don’t say I don’t ever do anything for you) I’d always been perplexed by the name (although obviously not perplexed enough to Google it for myself. Which shows that I love you more than I love myself. You’re welcome.) Ginger beer – which is similar to, but not quite as dry as, ginger ale for all my North American homies – has always been one of my favourite soft drinks. It’s always seemed more grownup than regular soda, because it’s usually sold in glass bottles or fancy-looking cans.

Plus, it’s never on regular menus. So when I see it, I always get excited and order it, even if I wasn’t really in the mood for it. Do you ever do that?

The other day I had an abundance of ginger laying around my kitchen. Annoyingly, my local supermarket refuses to sell ginger by weight and instead pre-packages it, meaning that if all you want it a thumb-sized amount, you end up buying two big stalks of the stuff for three times the price. 

And after Scott and I had used it to sing into along with the radio while we were cooking, there was little else we could use it for before it shriveled up pathetically.

Lightbulb moment: “Why don’t we make our own homemade ginger beer?” I said.

Scott, being ever the skeptic of my random and sometimes hair-brained kitchen schemes, decided that it was better to just keep the ginger as a microphone. He’s still recovering from the delicious chocolate cake that was actually healthy phenomenon.

But I was not to be deterred. I knew that it couldn’t be that difficult and set out to create our own refreshing soft drink.

I based this recipe on one by Jamie Oliver  and it was delicious. I will say that it has a good punch of ginger flavour, though, so if you don’t like your ginger beer too “spicy” (like the Jamaican ginger beer that’s sold in cans), then I’d reduce the amount you use.

Now we’re back to singing to the dog acapella while we cook. Scott is more sad about this than I.

Homemade Ginger Beer

Recipe by Julia

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Ingredients

• 140g fresh ginger, grated (approx. the size of one medium stalk)

• 4 tbsp brown sugar

• 1 lemon

• 1 litre sparkling mineral water

• Fresh mint to serve (optional)

Directions

• Put the grated ginger (skin on) in a bowl with the sugar and the rind of the lemon. Bash it all up with the end of a rolling pin, to release the flavours, for ten to fifteen seconds.
• Squeeze the juice of the lemon into the bowl and then pour over the sparkling water.
• Leave to sit for 10 minutes.
• Taste your ginger beer and add a little more lemon juice/rind or sugar as desired.
• Pass the ginger beer through a sieve to remove the pulp and pour into a serving jug filled with ice and a few sprigs of mint. Serve immediately.

Notes

• Adapted from Jamie Oliver