Whats your favorite beverage with pizza??

[November]

DWChun,

Although there a few brands of ginger beer/ale that come in green bottles, I'm sure I've had it before, since long ago I tried every ginger beer and ale I could get my hands on, including ones that could only be ordered online at places like at sodaking.com.  Perhaps this is the one you like: http://www.sodaking.com/images/D&G_10oz.jpg  If so, that would be very interesting.  I had settled on Desnoes & Geddes (D&G) Jamaican Ginger Beer which comes in a brown bottle as being the best tasting ginger beverage after tasting nearly a hundred.  I haven't had one in years though because they unnecessarily contain brominated vegetable oil.  Today I settle on Buffalo Rock's Ginger Ale (http://www.buffalorock.com/products/gingerale.html) which turns out to be a bit spicier, but not spicier as it relates to ginger.  They just add other spices.  It's very good.

- red.november

[DWChun]

November,

I'm afraid it wasn't D&G. The bottle was more like the shape of this one http://www.sodapopstop.com/images/products/large_215.jpg but with dark green glass and an even shorter neck. It was purchased at a Canadian brand of supermarket called No Frills. I plan on tracking it down once I move back to Ontario.

It's great to have a ginger ale/beer connoisseur here! I'll have to track down Buffalo Rock's Ginger Ale and try it out. Are there any other ginger ales/beers you recommend?

All this talk about beverages has given me a hankering for some ginger beer/ale or root beer!


DW

[November]

DW,

Are you 100% positive it was a beer and not an ale, and are you positive it was in a 12 oz. bottle, and not a 8-10 oz bottle?  If the neck was very short, it's possibly not a 12 oz, which might make it easier to narrow down.  Of course if it's bottled exclusively for Canada, I might not have seen it.

You might want to try: http://drinkbluesky.com/products/index.php?cat=6&id=23  I am a huge fan of Blue Sky beverages.  Their whole organic line of beverages excludes the use of high fructose corn syrup, and uses organic cane juice instead - the way carbonated beverages were meant to be, and especially the way ginger beer was meant to be.  If you don't mind the HFCS, you could also try their version of Jamaican Ginger: http://drinkbluesky.com/products/index.php?cat=5&id=13

I don't actually drink carbonated beverages much any more, but when I do it's primarily Buffalo Rock ginger ale, A&W root beer, or a Blue Sky drink.  Sometimes I just make my own ginger drink with straight ginger dissolved in water.  You can also pick up a product called "Ginger Drink" from a company named "Gold Kili" at your local Chinese grocery store or online at Amazon.  It's a dissolve-it-yourself drink.

- red.november

[Art]

I had my first taste of Blenheim ginger ale last week in North Carolina. It's not for the faint-hearted. I noticed they also make a ginger beer. Has anybody tried it?

http://www.bevnet.com/reviews/blenheim/

[DWChun]

November,

I'm certain it was a beer as it was my first encounter with a ginger beer. Before that I was just aware of ginger ales. Since the neck was so short on it, I think it was more likely an 8 to 10 oz bottle. I did try to find the brand several months ago but I couldn't find a bottle to fit the description. If the particular brand of ginger beer that I had was bottled specifically for Canada, perhaps it was D&G or a brand you are familiar with. Maybe it has/had a different bottle design for Canadian shelves.

I'll definitely check Blue Sky Beverages. I avoid HFCS most of the time so their use of organic cane juice is very appealing to me.

Thanks for all the information, November!

It's funny that you mention Blenheim, Art. I just found out about it today due to this thread piquing my interest in ginger ales/beers. I also came across Jamaica's Finest Ginger Beer, which is also supposedly super hot and ginger-y.

[November]

Art,

It's been a while since I would have tasted either of Blenheim's ginger drinks.  It doesn't stand out in my memory as being stronger than some other ginger beers I've had.  It has been my experience that the brands that label their products "hot" or "spicy" aren't really any spicier than just a really good brand of ginger beer.  I think most people's palates are dulled by the ubiquity of Americanized non-Jamaican ginger ale (e.g. Canada Dry, Schweppes, Vernors, Seagram's) and therefore anything even remotely resembling Jamaican ginger beer seems hot in comparison.  A drink like Canada Dry tastes almost like water.

DW, Blue Sky's Organic New Century Cola is actually my favorite cola, even up against Cola-Cola and Pepsi.  It has a very natural flavor.  I can't say enough good things about the products they make.  I'm just glad there is a company out there interested in producing a healthier soda.

If anyone wants to experience what I consider the minimum spiciness before a ginger drink starts to become "hot", pour yourself one cup of cold water and add to it 8g of ground ginger.  You'll need to stir it regularly to keep the undissolved particles in suspension.  I like it with 12g.

- red.november

[DWChun]

November,

Thank you so much for introducing me to Blue Sky. I'm all for healthier alternatives to typically unhealthy food. Hopefully I can find a way to purchase some of Blue Sky's soda in Canada at a good price.

[November]

As a followup to the sub-thread of healthier sodas, Wal*Mart started carrying Jones Soda, which is supposed to be a pure cane sugar based soda.  I am disappointed that they claim it's pure cane sugar when according to the ingredient label, it's inverted cane sugar, which is far from pure.  It may be pure in the sense that it doesn't contain ant legs or beetle wings, but it isn't unadulteratedly pure.  Once you invert the sugar, it isn't all that different from HFCS.

http://www.jonessoda.com/

The cream soda does taste good though.

- red.november

[pcampbell]

Whole Foods and Trader Joe's both sell a lot of sugar based sodas I think.

Latest here is Sam Adam's Summer Ale.