Ginger Beer

Does anyone know of a local source for Ginger Beer? I know places I can order online, but I would rather pick it up locally. I work downtown and live in the UkeVilliage, so something in or between those areas would be best.

I want to try a Moscow Mule, and figure it will be easier to dig up a bottle of Ginger Beer, than find a bar that has it.

Thanks
SSDD

To avoid confusion, they usually call it Ginger Brew in the U.S., but Trader Joe's and Whole Foods both have it. Actually, so does World Market.

World Market usually stocks an Australian brand "Bunderburg" or some such name, but I really prefer Sprecher's Ginger Ale which has just as much sharp ginger tang. Great in mixed drinks - try a dark & stormy - Dark rum & Ginger beer.

For a proper Moscow Mule, you need Cock 'n Bull ginger beer. Apparently, somebody is making it again. You also need to serve the drink in copper mugs so it stays icy cold. Years ago, there was a bar and canoe rental place on the Fox River that made Moscow Mules with Cock 'n Bull and served them in real vintage copper mugs. I'll call a friend and ask for details....

According to my friend, the place still exists, and still makes real Moscow Mules (still, I would call first to make sure). The address is in Ottawa, but it is actually just outside of Wedron (north along the river from Ottawa).

Chet & Mary's Fox River Tavern
3401 E 2062nd Rd
Ottawa, IL 61350
(815) 434-6690

Here is a link to a recent WSJ article about the history of the drink.

Just FYI - you can usually find sets of Moscow Mule copper mugs on ebay. I snagged a half dozen last year off ebay. d4v3 is correct - the drink is best served in a copper mug and the heavier the better.
Davooda

Sam's usually has Stewarts, which I use in my Dark and Stormy's. I find Stewarts to be far superior to Reeds (spicier, more complex). It's in the back of the store on the left with the soft drinks. I might suggest you call ahead.

santullo's sells sprecher ginger beer by the bottle, kinda pricy.
cold comfort cafe sells stewarts by the 6-er. not sure of price. those are the closest bets, i think.

Santullo's Eatery
1943 W. North Ave.
773-227-7960

Cold Comfort Cafe
2211 W. North Ave.
Chicago

Sorry, a bit late on this, but thanks to everyone. I tracked down the product in question the next day at a Trader Joe's in River North. Interesting beverage to be sure, it's either a very acquired taste, or I'll never be able to drink and entire bottle of the stuff.

The Mule is a pretty decent drink, even without the copper mugs (I'm not investing in them until I have a couple more drinks to decide if I really like it or not). I might play with the proportions a little more and see I can get the flavors a little more to my taste.

On the other hand I had a couple of Dark and Stormies last night, and that is a tasty beverage. I figure it was two ounces of dark rum, and about six ounces of ginger beer in a glass full of ice. Very refreshing.

Thanks again all
SSDD

I've been trying to track down a bar in the city that'll serve up a Moscow Mule, or a Gin Mule, for that matter.

Anybody have any luck?

A Dark and Stormy is made with Gosling's Black Seal Rum and ginger Beer. As I previously mentioned, I prefer Stewart's by a wide margin. Goslings doesn't really taste like many other dark rums. I would strongly recommend this combination for your next Dark and Stormy. I also like to squeeze half a lime in my cocktail, invert it, and float a shot of Gosling's in the lime floating on top of my cocktail. Hope you like it. Cheers, Doug.

veblen wrote:I've been trying to track down a bar in the city that'll serve up a Moscow Mule, or a Gin Mule, for that matter.

Anybody have any luck?

Noticed Moscow Mule on the menu at Wildfire last night, so you may want to try there.
Jamie

I have had the Moscow Mule at Wildfire and it was a disappointing experience to say the least. It caught my eye as one of their "signature" drinks and was enthusiastically recommended by our waitress. She pushed the fact that it was a house made ginger beer made with fresh ginger.

Unfortunately, what might have been a reasonably good stand alone ginger beer was rendered weak and impotent by the addition of vodka and copious amounts ice. As the ice melted it diluted the intensity of the ginger beer further until it was just a cloudy, watery slurry of faintly ginger flavored water and shards of what looked like the same type of pickled ginger served with pre-made grocery store grade sushi.

No copper mug either.

Ah well, good intentions gone awry.

Drink up,

Buddy

P.S. For whatever it's worth, the rest of our meal, although I can't remember for the life of me what it was, was quite good.

B.

Re types of Ginger Beer, I'm partial to the D&G variety which you can buy at most Caribbean food stores. Rogers Park fruit market has it or I buy it at the African store at the intersection of Winona and Broadway in Andersonville. It is $1.19/bottle or $20 a case.

As for dark and stormys my favorite recipe is:

http://www.emerils.com/recipes/by_name/ ... tormy.html

The measurements above translate to roughly half a bottle of Goslings BLACK (not gold) rum and 3 bottles of D&G

Gosling's owns the recipe for the Dark and Stormy. If it aint Goslings, it aint a Dark and Stormy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_and_stormy

I looked at that recipe and I still can't figure it out.... is it equal parts rum and ginger beer? or is it 1.5 oz rum to a bottle of ginger beer?

TIA

I looked at that recipe and I still can't figure it out.... is it equal parts rum and ginger beer? or is it 1.5 oz rum to a bottle of ginger beer?

Gosling's website recipe for Dark 'n Stormy http://www.goslingsrum.com/recipe_detail.asp?RecipeID=192 calls for 1 1/2 oz of Black Seal in a highball glass topped with ginger beer. That's more like a half-bottle of ginger beer per drink (depending on the ice in the glass, it may be a bit less).

Target now carries Archer Farms ginger beer. According to the Sun Times http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/food/481804,FOO-News-det25.article, this is made by Goose Island. I tried some recently and liked it a lot.

d4v3 wrote: You also need to serve the drink in copper mugs so it stays icy cold.

I've been wondering about this. I always thought of copper as an excellent thermal conductor, not an insulator. In that case a copper mug filled with an icy liquid would certainly get colder faster than glass or ceramic, but should actually speed the process of heat transfer between what's inside the mug and it's environment versus other materials.

The only way I can imagine a copper mug doing a good job of keeping something cold would be if evaporative cooling from condensation on the outside of the mug actually cooled the surface to a temperature below that of the beverage inside. Is this what happens or is the whole thing just a myth?

Should be easy to test if someone has a nice copper mug and a digital thermometer (which I do not).

kuhdo wrote:I've been wondering about this. I always thought of copper as an excellent thermal conductor, not an insulator. In that case a copper mug filled with an icy liquid would certainly get colder faster than glass or ceramic, but should actually speed the process of heat transfer between what's inside the mug and it's environment versus other materials.

All right, so maybe the drink itself doesn't stay as cold, but the mug does get very cold. In fact, frost forms on the outside. When you sip the liquid from the the cold metal lip of the icy mug with your fingers wrapped around the cold metal handle, it makes the drink seem super frosty. If I recall though, the drink does get diluted rather quickly.

d4v3 wrote:

kuhdo wrote:I've been wondering about this. I always thought of copper as an excellent thermal conductor, not an insulator. In that case a copper mug filled with an icy liquid would certainly get colder faster than glass or ceramic, but should actually speed the process of heat transfer between what's inside the mug and it's environment versus other materials.

All right, so maybe the drink itself doesn't stay as cold, but the mug does get very cold. In fact, frost forms on the outside. When you sip the liquid from the the cold metal lip of the icy mug with your fingers wrapped around the cold metal handle, it makes the drink seem super frosty. If I recall though, the drink does get diluted rather quickly.

Maybe it really does get colder in copper. If frost forms on the outside of the mug, the evaporative cooling thing may actually account for this.

I have a friend who is quite the cocktail purist and he insists on Barrett's Ginger Beer along with Goslings in his Dark and Stormy. Barrett's is made in Bermuda, as is Goslings if I am not mistaken. I went on a search for Barrett's a few years back and was able to get it at Sams, although I had to special order it to obtain the required quantities. Barrett's is a very strong spicy ginger beer with a significant amount of heat from the ginger, definitely not a childs soft drink.

I would love to see either a picture of the label, or, even better, a location in Chicago where one can buy it...

I bought some Goya ginger beer a while back in a 2 liter bottle. I wasn't expecting much, but I was very surprised. It was not as good as my homemade ginger beer (which I swear I will post about soon), but it was unexpectedly spicy. Not too shabby at all.

I believe Sam's stocks Barrett's regularly, i believe it was on the shelves with the sodas back near the deli counter rather than with the mixers in the liquor area; I ended up placing a special order for multiple cases which was easy to do. I will look in my pantry to see if I have any left and post a phot later if I do.

Thank you, atomic man... i'll check Sam's sometime soon. d4v3 where did you find the goya's? also, i wanna hear all about your homemade ginger beer. I've been thinking about making some but every time I buy a 2-liter of pop (which is rare) I throw it away and forget to keep it for homemage ginger ale or ginger beer.

Saint Pizza wrote:Thank you, atomic man... i'll check Sam's sometime soon. d4v3 where did you find the goya's? also, i wanna hear all about your homemade ginger beer. I've been thinking about making some but every time I buy a 2-liter of pop (which is rare) I throw it away and forget to keep it for homemage ginger ale or ginger beer.

The Goya stuff is far from being the real thing. It is just carbonated water with corn syrup and flavoring, but it does pack an unexpected punch. It would make a fine mixer. I think I got it at the Rogers Fruit Market.

I wrote a lengthy post about making ginger beer and then lost it (doh). I will try to reconstruct it later this week. Actually, the weather is warm enough to start a new batch.

Most chain grocery store managers are willing to consider special ordering specific brand names for frequent customers. I've been able to request Barritt's Ginger Beer from the managers of a couple of different Jewel stores over the last several years, most recently from the location on Howard in, what is that, Evanston? The one with the Kosher Chinese take-out inside it?

I don't suppose it hurt that the Jewel in question is not too-far from Rogers Park and its Caribbean population...

I just had a brilliant ginger beer from the University Market (57th and Kimbark, in Hyde Park). The brand was Regatta (http://www.regattagingerbeer.com/), which I've had on Martha's Vineyard as well. Very strong "stone" ginger flavor, nice sweetness, lots of bite, little burn. Highly preferable to Reed's.

I checked Sam's Wine for the Barrett's ginger beer. THey were out, and said it goes fast! Will check Jewel the next time I set food in that store (which isn't often - I get most of my things from Aldi, Trader joe's, Harvestime, and now Costco).

d4v3 wrote:
You also need to serve the drink in copper mugs so it stays icy cold.

I've been wondering about this. I always thought of copper as an excellent thermal conductor, not an insulator. In that case a copper mug filled with an icy liquid would certainly get colder faster than glass or ceramic, but should actually speed the process of heat transfer between what's inside the mug and it's environment versus other materials.

Personally I like a Moscow Mule in a copper mug because of the faint coppery taste you get as you sip.

http://www.barritts.com.futuresite.regi ... index.html

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