Ginger Beer Recipe: Tips for Making and Serving Ginger Beer

Ginger beer is a spicy, fizzy beverage made by fermenting ginger, sugar, and, occasionally citrus juice, in water. The fermentation process involves the use of dry yeast or a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) known as the ginger beer plant, or “ginger bug,” which is similar to a sourdough starter and the cultures used to make kombucha. Fresh ginger, grated to a fine pulp, lends the drink a potent, gingery heat.

Ginger beer originated in eighteenth-century England when its alcohol content of around 11 percent qualified it as an actual beer. Alcoholic ginger beers are less common in the modern era, though some are still made using a similar fermentation process (though with a much lower ABV). In contrast, others get their soft bubbles from forced carbonation rather than yeast.

If it’s your first time attempting small-batch homebrew, consider these tips:

1. 1. Use plastic bottles for small-batch fermentation. Instead of using a glass container, save a 2-liter plastic bottle, like a large recycled soda bottle, to ferment ginger beer. Glass can explode under pressure and should not be used for the fermentation stage. Instead, decant the finished ginger beer into a clean 2-liter glass bottle or even recycled beer bottles (provided you have a bottle capper handy) before refrigerating.
2. 2. Choosing a yeast. For an authentic ginger brew, cultivate your own ginger beer plant, or “ginger bug,” by combining a finely grated 1-inch piece of ginger with one cup of water and a few teaspoons of granulated sugar. Cover it with a kitchen towel, and feed it with more ginger and sugar each day until the mixture is fizzy and bubbling. Purchase ginger bug starters online or make ginger beer with a bit of active dry yeast or champagne yeast.
3. 3. Release pressure once or twice a day. Check on the ginger beer daily to prevent accidents and help the carbonation build naturally. If the plastic bottle feels tight, slowly unscrew the cap to release it, then retighten.

Making your own ginger beer means a next-level beverage is only moments away. Ginger beer can be consumed on its own, in mocktails, or used as a quintessential component of mixed drinks like the Moscow Mule and the Dark ‘n Stormy.

1. 1. The Dark ‘n’ Stormy: Supposedly named for the foreboding color of a dark and stormy sky by a poetically-inclined sailor, the Dark ‘n’ Stormy calls for just two ingredients—dark rum and ginger beer.
2. 2. The Moscow Mule: The soft fizz and tingly bite of real ginger in ginger beer meets vodka and tangy lime juice in The Moscow Mule.
3. 3. Cranberry ginger fizz: This flavorful mocktail combines ginger beer with club soda or seltzer and a splash of cranberry juice.

Ginger beer and ginger ale are interchangeable in many ways but differ mainly in how they taste. Ginger beer is made by fermenting fresh ginger and sugar and has a more pronounced ginger flavor than ginger ale. The original ginger beer was first brewed in England as an alcoholic beverage.

Ginger ale is a ginger-flavored soft drink, which is less spicy and more carbonated than ginger beer. Ginger ale is thought to have originated in Canada.