#gingerbeerworld

[gingerbeerworld-blog]

Forrest Brewing Company Sista Ginger Beer

500mL, 4.1% (1.6 Std drinks)

My sister sourced this one for me (rather fitting!) but boy oh boy did I have issue with it. My dad and I both tried it, ginger beer is becoming a father-daughter hobby after the joy of Matso's in Broome, and agreed that it tasted like "hoppy champagne". There was hardly any ginger taste, which decided to term "beyond subtle". Maybe it is made using some kind of homeopathy techniques or something because maybe once it had ginger in it, but they diluted it with an equal mix of beer and champagne (well, sparkling wine) to 1/1000 and called it ginger beer. At least they acknowledge on the bottle that it is "subtle". Other things of note from the label: gluten free, "freshly grated ginger", ale yeast.

That's all folks!

[gingerbeerworld-blog]

Royal Jamaican ginger beer

355mL 4.4% (1.3 std drinks)

I had this one in at The Rum Diaries on Brunswick St in Fitzroy. The bar staff recommended it after we spilled into their bar a bit too intoxicated and I tried to charm them with talk about ginger beer. It may have worked... they didn't ask us to leave. It was served on ice with lime in a giant fishbowl looking glass, very pretty. It was sweet at first but with a bitey aftertaste ("sweet at firdt much bite afteer"). It burnt to breathe out and left a real burn on your lips wherever it had touched. It was super gingery, think Lick ginger beer.g

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Angus O'Neil's Ginger Beer

375mL

I got this one from an Asian grocery store in Melbourne Central (near the train station), where I also got the honey puff balls in the picture! :) It actually had quite the bite to it and left me with "spicy tongue". I liked it though, it wasn't a fluffy "please like me" kind of ginger beer. Very self assured.

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Matso's Ginger Beer (at the Brewery!!!)

I was lucky enough to head up to Broome this month and visit the lovely home of Matso's Ginger Beer. They have a large bar/restaurant/outdoor area set up at the brewery for all day boozing which we visited a few times because the ginger beer was that damn good! The atmosphere was lovely, food was creative and tasty but most importantly the ginger beer was beautiful. We also bought 330mL bottles which we consumed throughout the trip (eg on a whale watching boat!) and can confirm that they were excellently refreshing in the warmer weather! However, the 330mL cans were not as good- they had that tinny taste. Even though they are cheaper I would recommend sticking to the glass bottles, or flying to Broome and going straight to the source haha!

Here's the link to the original Matso's review: http://gingerbeerworld.tumblr.com/post/58142334541/matsos-ginger-beer-330ml-3-5-0-9-std

In conclusion: LOVE IT

[gingerbeerworld-blog]

I received a message from a reader recently and it gave me the inspiration to continue posting!!!!! Thanks Hugh! I haven’t been able to find Mac’s Ginger Beer in Australia, but I may be heading to NZ this year and it will be on the To Do list for sure!!

Bluetongue ginger beer

330mL, 4% (1.0 Std drinks)

This is a lager and as such tastes like umm beer. I find this to be an unpleasant sensation of awful bitterness, repugnant after taste and a war of flavours. I will never touch this ginger beer again. I just felt like it needed to be included on the blog. Caveat: I probably set out trying this with a bit of a preconceived opinion (ew lager).