Don't drink Crabbie's alcoholic Ginger Beer gingerly (Crabbie's Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer)

Member Name: duskmaiden

Product:	Crabbie's Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer
Date:	12/07/09 (328 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: nice taste, refreshinmg

Disadvantages: not widely available

I'm an old fashioned girl at heart and love the old fashioned drinks such as saspherlila, Dandelion and Burdock and cloudy lemonade. Most of all like the Famous Five I love ginger beer. I love strong flavours and there is nothing better on a hot day than the fiery hit of a decent ginger beer. To awaken and tantalise my taste buds. I tend to drink Old Jamaica but was very excited when I came across Crabbie's original alcoholic ginger beer next to the real ales and ciders in Waitrose recently.

Crabbie's are a Scottish company that are known for their green ginger wine but have now branched out intro grown up ginger beer that has enough alcohol in it at 4% to make Timmy and maybe Aunt Fanny a little tipsy. It is described on the bottle as being made from a unique recipe of fruit, spices and real ginger (thank god. I'm not sure what fake ginger is like) but does not specify the exact ingredients. I was not actually sure what to expect from this little bottle of delights before opening and tasting it. Would it resemble an alcoholic version of the soft drink a bit like a grown up alcopop or would it more closely resemble beer. I have tried some real ales that use ginger to a lesser or greater extent in the brewing process to give the beer a more interesting flavour.

It is hard to distinguish the 500 ml bottle from a real ale bottle. It shrieks tradition and a bit of Scottish tweeness with the thistle logo on the neck of the bottle. I open the top and then take a good sniff of the contents. It certainly is as ginger as Chris Evans and Geri Halliwell's love child . There are no hoppy scents making me believe this is not a beery beer!

I served it straight from the fridge although the manufacturer suggests to pour it over ice ala trendy cider. On pouring I was greeted by a golden coloured liquid with a fizzy head. Its quite carbonated like normal ginger beer. I took a sip and swooshed it round my mouth (just call me Jilly Goolden). The fizziness was tingly on my tongue. Its a nice light drink that would be ideal in the summer, as its quite refreshing and fairly easy to drink. On first taste its nice and smooth with a mellow fruitiness and just a hint of ginger until it reaches the back of my throat when I get the kick of both the ginger and the alcohol giving me a nice warm glow. The alcohol at 4% is high enough to be discernible without overpowering the drink. The ginger is strong but not as strong as Old Jamaica which can take your breath away at times. The after-taste is quite strong but pleasant , as the ginger taste lingers long after you have finished your drink. I liked it, as its quite a dry and not a all sickly sweet making it quite thirst quenching.

I am not sure how readily available this drink is as its fairly new. I paid £1.59 which is similar to a bottle of ale or small bottle of crier in the supermarket so is fairly reasonable. I would certainly buy Crabbie's Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer again. Its a nice alternative to my usual cider or wheat beers in the summer if I want to have something light, refreshing and alcoholic. Just keep it away from the children. We really do not want the five getting in a right fix as Dick's as drunk as a skunk on Crabbie's Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer.

Summary: Alcoholic Ginger beer