Ginger Beer

Bartenders of the USA, I know why you did it. I can't blame you. The 90's and early 2000's were good to us in a way that we never thought imaginable. The days of the 12 dollar tab and "keep the change" are over due to the new age of the credit card. I know that we collectively became bitter and tired and no longer wanted to deal with the bullshit. Could anyone really taste the difference between the home made stuff and the stuff you could buy on the cheap?

Well, the answer is yes.

I've started to get a bit of critical attention from the food and drink reviewers of DC. This is all well and good, and I recently had a young lady from Brightest Young Things come by my bar and have some of my ginger beer.  I have posted the link here.

The young lady came in and tried my Dark and Stormy. She asked me where I learned everything, and I told her the truth: someone else did it before Prohibition.

Now I have people asking for my Ginger Beer recipe all the time, asking how I do it, and what's involved. It brings me back to the time I spent in Central America, where I met a woman named Miss Helena, who ran her own little restaurant.

I had asked her for a soup recipe, and she happily told me the ingredients and method. I asked her if she ever worried about giving out her recipes, and she told me something I take with me to this day:

"Taste is in your hands, not in your ingredients. I can tell you how to make it, and you never will be able to. It's in your hands."

As I sat there looking into her calloused, wrinkled hands, I thought about what that meant. There was something spectacular about that.

So, in honor of Ms. Helena, I present you with my Ginger Beer recipe.

1. Get fresh ginger, and slice to about 1/4 inch width. Get as much or as little as you want. DO NOT peel the ginger. I know it will turn out brown, but the flavor is in the peel.
2. Add equal parts water to cut ginger in a pot. Make sure the water is cold.
3. Bring quickly to a boil, and add 1/2 sugar to 1 part ginger. Depending on the freshness of the ginger, this will make it sweet or spicy. Add more water if the ginger is too hot.
4. Let cool and filter. I like to run it all through a cheesecloth but don't feel obliged. You can simply put it through a siv.
5. Add in about 1/4 cup lemon juice. Taste and decide for yourself. Bear in mind that carbonation changes the flavor and sharpens sugar and reduces lemon - at least in my taste bud's opinion. Make it your own.
6. Carbonate. I use ISI tanks with chargers, but I hear good things about the Soda Stream systems.

Always remember, make it your own. Don't be afraid to spice or get creative.

After all, the taste is in your hands.

Stay Thirsty,
Eric