Ginger Beer Vs Ginger Ale: What To Use In Summer Cocktails
Sharp, zingy and a tad bit spicy, ginger is one of the many essential ingredients added to a number of different cocktails for the savoury flavours it introduces into these blends. While fresh ginger is chopped up or sliced into shavings to either be muddled or used as garnishes in cocktails, mixers such as ginger beer and ginger ale are also added to drinks to lend them gingery flavours.
Yet, while ginger beer and ginger ale might seem interchangeable, there is actually a lot of difference in their flavours and textural characteristics which means a mixologist needs to choose the appropriate mixer between the two while preparing cocktails.
Using Ginger Beer
Most often, ginger beer is used to give cocktails much body and complexity. It contains spicy and robust ginger flavours and less sweetness which builds into gingery tastes when it is added to cocktails. Ginger beer also contains a hint of carbonation which introduces a light, fizzy texture into drinks and gives them a bit more volume. It is also slightly fermented which further highlights its citrusy and sweet profile.
Come summer, such a ginger beer is the go-to ingredient which introduces sharp and fresh flavours into chilled cocktails. It is often used as a mixer to top off a quality Moscow mule made using 30 ml Ciroc Ultra Premium Vodka or any other premium vodka of choice. It can also be added to cocktails like a dark and stormy made using 30 ml Captain Morgan Dark Rum or any other premium rum of choice.
Ginger beer is a versatile mixer that infuses its flavours into a premium, clear vodka such that it crafts a flavourful, spicy and sweet blend in a drink like the Moscow mule. On the other hand, ginger beer also mixes well with rum such that the caramelised, tart notes of this spirit tend to go well with the sharp taste of ginger and the fizz of this mixer to produce a complex blend of sweet, caramelised, spicy and tart flavour profiles.
The subtle sweetness and sharper ginger flavour of this mixer is what has made it a favourite among mixologists for adding to summertime drinks.
Using Ginger Ale
On the other hand, ginger ale is complete with slightly lighter gingery notes and more of a sweeter flavour introduced with the addition of sugar which gives it a milder taste. The sweet, fizzy drink can be had by itself on a bed of ice during summer or can be added in small quantities to drinks which require a fizzy texture with just subtle hints of ginger.
Evidently, ginger ale, ever so lightly, introduces ginger flavours into cocktails like a whisky ginger sour prepared using 30 ml Johnnie Walker Black Label or any other premium whisky of choice. It is also used to craft some age-old mixes like a presbyterian which brings together a quality Scotch like 30 ml Johnnie Walker Gold Label or any other premium whisky of choice with 30 ml ginger ale and 30 ml club soda.
Ginger ale is then most commonly added to drinks which require more effervescence but a light and sweet mixer such as blends with fruitier and floral notes.
Ginger Beer Vs Ginger Ale
And when it comes to choosing between the two for crafting summertime drinks, a bartender tends to go for the ginger beer in drinks which contain pronounced spicy flavours that would undercut some of the citrus tang of summer fruits.
On the other hand, mixologists also blend half of ginger beer and half of ginger ale in a fusion of ginger-based mixers to lend them a suitable fizz and flavours that are marked by a moderate ginger presence. These drinks like a lemon and ginger gin fizz crafted using Tanqueray No. 10 Gin or any other premium gin of choice can be garnished with ginger shavings for a textural surprise in the cocktail.
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