View source for Ginger beer

{{Short description|Sweetened carbonated beverage}}
{{Distinguish|Ginger ale}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox drink
| name         = Ginger beer
| image        = Ginger beer bottle assortment.jpg
| image_size   = 280
| image_alt    = Photo of ginger beer bottles
| caption      = Assortment of ginger beer bottles:<br /> Moscow Herbal, [[Bundaberg Ginger Beer|Bundaberg]], Aqua Monaco, Thomas Henry, Goldberg and [[Fever-Tree]]
| type         = 
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| origin       = [[England]]
| introduced   = 
| discontinued = 
| colour       = 
| flavour      = 
| ingredients  = [[ginger]] spice, [[yeast]] and sugar
| variants     = 
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}}
Traditional '''ginger beer''' is a sweetened and [[carbonated]], usually non-alcoholic beverage. Historically it was produced by the natural [[fermentation]] of prepared [[ginger]] spice, [[yeast]] and sugar.

Modern ginger beers are often [[mass production|manufactured]] rather than [[brewing|brewed]], frequently with flavour and colour additives, with artificial [[carbonation]]. [[Ginger ale]]s are not brewed.

Ginger beer is still produced at home using a [[Symbiosis|symbiotic]] colony of [[yeast]] and a ''[[Lactobacillus]]'' (bacteria) known as a "ginger beer plant" or from a "ginger bug" starter created from fermenting ginger, sugar, and water.<ref>[https://zerowastechef.com/2015/06/10/ginger-bug/ Ginger Bug - Zero Waste Chef]</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Refreshments stall before 1914.jpg|thumb|[[R. White's]] soft drinks, including ginger beer, sold in England in the early 1900s]]
[[File:Bottle, ginger beer (51360080511) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Bottle of ginger beer produced on [[Ponsonby, New Zealand|Ponsonby Road]], Auckland, New Zealand circa 1900]]

Brewed ginger beer originated in [[Yorkshire]] in England in the mid-18th century<ref name=Sprat>Thomas Sprat (1702) ''A history of the Royal Society of London'', page 196 "of Brewing Beer with ''Ginger'' instead of ''Hops''"</ref> and became popular throughout Britain, the United States, Ireland, South Africa, the Caribbean and Canada, reaching a peak of popularity in the early 20th century.<ref name="DonaldYates">{{cite web|url=http://www.fohbc.com/BandE_Article4.html |title=Root Beer and Ginger Beer heritage |author=Donald Yates |date=Spring 2003 |access-date=2006-12-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080821123414/http://www.fohbc.com/BandE_Article4.html|archive-date=2008-08-21}}</ref>

== Modern beverage == 
===Alcoholic ginger beer===
Brewed ginger beer originated in the UK, but is sold worldwide. It is usually labelled "alcoholic ginger beer" to distinguish it from the more established commercial ginger beers, which are often not brewed using [[fermentation]] but carbonated with pressurized [[carbon dioxide]], though traditional non-alcoholic ginger beer may also be produced by brewing.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.fermentingforfoodies.com/homemade-ginger-beer/ | title=Old-Fashioned Homemade Ginger Beer | date=26 April 2018 }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2025|reason=This is basically a blog}}

=== Non-alcoholic ===
[[File:Fresh ginger beer.jpg|thumb|right|Homemade ginger beer served at a bar]]
Non-alcoholic ginger beers are made by brewing, followed by heating to reduce alcohol content to below 0.5% ABV, below which beverages are legally classified as "non-alcoholic" in many jurisdictions. Ginger beer can served by itself or as part of a [[cocktail]]. Ginger beer is more strongly flavoured with ginger and less sweet compared to [[ginger ale]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dingwall |first1=Kate |title=Ginger Beer vs. Ginger Ale: What’s the Difference? |url=https://www.foodandwine.com/ginger-ale-and-ginger-beer-differences-8765824 |website=Food & Wine |access-date=5 April 2025 |date=January 2, 2025}}</ref>

The ginger beer soft drink may be mixed with [[beer]] (usually a British [[ale]] of some sort) to make one type of [[shandy]], or with dark [[rum]] to make a drink, originally from [[Bermuda]], called a [[Dark 'N' Stormy]]. It is the main ingredient in the [[Moscow Mule]] cocktail, though [[ginger ale]] may be substituted when ginger beer is unavailable.

==Production==
=== Ginger beer plant ===
[[File:Ginger Beer Store Shelves.jpg|thumb|Several ginger beer brands on a supermarket shelf]]

Ginger beer plant (GBP), a form of [[fermentation starter]], is used to create the fermentation process. Ginger beer was defined by [[Harry Marshall Ward]] as “beverage containing a symbiotic mixture of yeast and bacteria, and containing sufficient amounts of nitrogenous organic matter and beet sugar or cane sugar in its aqueous solution”.<ref name="Ward">{{Cite journal|last1=Ward|first1=Harry Marshall|date=1 January 1892|title=The ginger-beer plant, and the organisms composing it: A contribution to the study of fermentation-yeasts and bacteria.|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B| volume=183|pages=125–197|doi=10.1098/rstb.1892.0006|doi-access=free}}</ref> The GBP was first described by Ward in 1892, from samples he received in 1887.<ref name="RajBApte"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.french4tots.co.uk/HMW/hmw.html|title=Harry Marshall Ward : Biography|access-date=2006-12-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17523625.800-marriage-of-equals.html|last=Vines|first=Gail|title=Marriage of equals|journal=[[New Scientist]]|issue=2362|pages=50|date=28 September 2002|url-access=subscription}} [http://www.gingerbeerplant.net/newscientist-article.php Alternative source] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830231654/http://www.gingerbeerplant.net/newscientist-article.php |date=30 August 2017 }}</ref>

Also known as "[[bees wine]]", "Palestinian bees", "Californian bees", and "balm of Gilead",<ref>{{cite journal|title=California Bees, a paper submitted by L.F. Kebler to the American Pharmaceutical Association|journal=Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association|volume=10|issue=12|pages=939–943|doi=10.1002/jps.3080101206|year = 1921|last1 = Kebler|first1 = Lyman F.|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1427691}}</ref><ref name=ncyc>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ncyc.co.uk/beeswine.php|title=Beeswine|website=National Collection of Yeast Cultures|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517172001/http://www.ncyc.co.uk/beeswine.php|archive-date=17 May 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> it is not a plant but a composite organism comprising the [[yeast]] ''[[Saccharomyces florentinus]]'' (formerly ''S. pyriformis'') and the [[bacterium]] ''[[Lactobacillus hilgardii]]'' (formerly ''Brevibacterium vermiforme''),<ref name="keworg_plantcultures">{{cite web |url=http://www.kew.org/plant-cultures/plants/ginger_food_ginger_beer_plant.html |title=Ginger&nbsp;— ginger beer plant |publisher=Plant Cultures |date=16 June 2006 |access-date=2012-09-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021090019/http://www.kew.org/plant-cultures/plants/ginger_food_ginger_beer_plant.html |archive-date=21 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="RajBApte">{{cite web|url=http://www2.parc.com/emdl/members/apte/GingerBeer.pdf|title=Lactic Acid Beverages: sour beer, (milk) & soda|date=22 June 2006|access-date=2006-12-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070115095330/http://www2.parc.com/emdl/members/apte/GingerBeer.pdf|archive-date=15 January 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> which form a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast ([[SCOBY]]). It forms a gelatinous substance that allows it to be easily transferred from one fermenting substrate to the next, much like [[Kefir|kefir grains]], [[kombucha]], and [[tibicos]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=CCLI. Investigation of a Polysaccharide Produced From Sucrose by Betabacterium Vermiformé (Ward-Meyer) |author=Walter Donald Daker |author2=Maurice Stakey |date=14 September 1938 |pmc=1264278|pmid=16746831|volume=32|issue=11 |journal=Biochem. J.|pages=1946–8|doi=10.1042/bj0321946}}</ref>
<!--[[File:00055789009515 a1c1.jpg|thumb|The Great Jamaican - Ginger Beer From Canada]]-->
<!--[[File:GoslingsGingerBeerCan.jpg|thumb|100 px|right|Gosling's Ginger Beer]]-->
Original ginger beer is brewed by leaving water, sugar, ginger, optional ingredients such as lemon juice and [[cream of tartar]], and GBP to ferment for several days, converting some of the sugar into alcohol. GBP may be obtained from several commercial sources. Until about 2008 [[chemical purity|laboratory-grade]] GBP was available only from the yeast bank [[Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen]] in Germany (catalogue number DMS 2484),<ref name=ncyc/> but the item is no longer listed. The [[National Collection of Yeast Cultures]] (NCYC) had an old sample of "Bees wine" {{As of|2008|lc=y}}, but current staff have not used it, and NCYC are unable to supply it for safety reasons, as the exact composition of the sample is unknown.<ref name=ncyc/>

In the UK, the origin of the original ginger beer plant is unknown. When a batch of ginger beer was made using some ginger beer "plant" (GBP), the jelly-like residue was also bottled and became the new GBP. Some of this GBP was kept for making the next batch of ginger beer, and some was given to friends and family, so the plant was passed on through generations. Following Ward's research and experiments, he created his own ginger beer from a new plant that he had made, and he proposed, but did not prove, that the plant was created by contaminants found on the raw materials, with the yeast coming from the raw brown sugar and the bacteria coming from the ginger root.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/royptb/183/125.full.pdf|title=The Ginger-Beer Plant (Paper presented by Prof. Ward to the Royal Society 1892)|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B |date=31 December 1892 |volume=183 |pages=125–197 |doi=10.1098/rstb.1892.0006 }}</ref>

=== Yeast starter ===
An alternative method of instigating fermentation is using a ginger beer [[fermentation starter|starter]], often called a "ginger bug", which can be made by fermenting a mixture of water, brewer's or baker's yeast (not the SCOBY described above), ginger, and sugar. This is kept for a week or longer, with sugar regularly added, ''e.g.'', daily, to increase alcohol content. More ginger may also be added. When finished, this concentrated mix is strained, diluted with water and lemon juice, and bottled.<ref>Science in School [http://www.scienceinschool.org/2008/issue8/gingerbeer Ginger beer: a traditional fermented low-alcohol drink]</ref><ref>Western Mail, 9 Apr 1953 [http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/39357173 Ginger Beer Plant]</ref> This is the process used by some commercial ginger beer makers. Ginger beer made from a yeast-based starter is reported to not have the same taste or mouth feel as that made with ginger beer plant. The near-complete loss of the ginger beer plant is likely due to the decrease in home brewing and the increased commercial production of ginger beer in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Large-scale breweries favoured the use of yeast, as used in conventional beer-making, because of ease for scaled production.

==See also==
{{Portal|Drink}}
* [[Crabbie's]]
* [[Root beer]]
* [[Barritt's Ginger Beer]]
* [[Sockerdricka]]
* [[Caribbean cuisine]]
* [[Ginger wine]]
* [[Canton (liqueur)]]
* [[List of soft drink flavors]]
* ''[[Donoghue v. Stevenson]]'', legal case involving ginger beer

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Cookbook}}
* [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2000.01.0026&query=head%3D%23160 Of the Street Sale of Ginger-Beer, Sherbet, Lemonade,&C.], from ''London Labour and the London Poor'', Volume 1, [[Henry Mayhew]], 1851; subsequent pages cover the costs and income of street ginger beer sellers.

{{Ginger ales}}
{{Soft drink}}

[[Category:Ginger beer| ]]
[[Category:Types of beer]]
[[Category:Ginger|Beer]]
[[Category:Soft drinks]]
[[Category:Jamaican drinks]]
[[Category:Yorkshire cuisine]]
[[Category:Cuisine of the Ionian Islands]]
[[Category:Ginger soda]]
[[Category:Guyanese cuisine]]