Tag: Ginger

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Featured Review – Sting from Nectar Creek Mead

I have mini-dabbled in mead in the past year so when I got the opportunity to taste a Ginger Mead from Nectar Creek Meadery, I jumped at the chance.

Sting is from their core line-up and is described as, “Fresh ginger and pure Oregon honey combine for a sting of warmth and a tease of sweetness in this refreshing session mead.”

The big flavor here is vanilla. Like pastry shop baking vanilla. Ginger is kinda there. But this slightly bubbly yellow hued mead is big time vanilla. To me less sting and more pillowy. The honey has won this battle royale with the ginger convincingly.

Take away the ginger root on the label. Take away the name. And this is delicious. The pastry heads in attendance would love this. I quite enjoyed drinking it myself and would not hesitate to buy another mead from Nectar Creek. That is saying something because I look at media samples much harsher.

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In Flux

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The annual release of Fluxus from Allagash Brewing had sorta fallen off the radar with the influx of new beers from outside the state but an added ingredient and different barrel-aging has it back on the to-buy list when I see it on shelves. (which should be any day now.)

The 2016 version is a saison that is “brewed with a plethora of Allagash base malt, including barley, rye, and wheat. After a heathy dosing of Noble hops, and ginger root, the beer was then partially aged in gin barrels. The barrels previously held Barr Hill Tom Cat Gin, made by Caledonia Spirits in Hardwick, Vermont.”

There are not enough gin and tequila aged beers out there and even less that start with a Saison. The question is how strong will that ginger be?

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Review – Fu ManBrew from Monday Night Brewing

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Out of the blue, I was e-mailed by Monday Night Brewing and now I have the great pleasure of sampling three of their beers.  First up is a ginger spiced wit bier.  (A reminder: any beer I review, no matter how much I pay for it, gets the same treatment)

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Pours a dark yellow or light orange depending on the light. Loads of bubbles here. Aroma is full on ginger. The taste starts with the ginger but you also get a bit of spice, clove I think and a bit of hefe notes. Maybe not a true wit but surprisingly good.

Here is the description of Fu from the Monday Night website, “A bright, spicy Belgian-style wit. An effervescent, easy-drinking wheat beer, brewed with Belgian yeast, German hops, and a whisper of ginger from the Far East. This mustachio’d Belgian-style wit believes that good beer defies borders. The name Fu Manbrew was crowdsourced with some help from our friends at Scoutmob. They call the mustache a “Flavor Savor” for a reason.”