I’ve loved ginger beer since I accidentally drank one at a family vacation when I was 15 thinking it was a real beer (what a rebel…). That was some too-sweet, mass-produced version in a can, but I was all-in. It took about another decade until I had my first homemade ginger beer at the now-closed Red Door (RIP) in our old Chicago neighborhood, and since then if a bar or restaurant advertises their ginger beer, I almost always order it. I’m rarely disappointed.
I am, however, generally disappointed by the ginger beer easily found in most grocery/liquor stores. I really like most of what Q and Fever Tree do, but their ginger beer has always been a bit lacking to me. I think they’re a bit over-flavored overall, just trying to pack too much into their small bottles. When I saw a local bottle taking off on Instagram, I was immediately intrigued.
Big Marble
Big Marble is made by the folks that own The Breadfruit & Rum Bar, a bar that’s been on my list for PHX since before we moved but unfortunately never made it to before COVID. Given the owners’ culinary chops, its no surprise that they take such pride in being transparent with Big Marble’s ingredients and production process.
Originally, ginger beer was brewed much like beer but with a much lower alcohol content because the key was ginger spice, not barley. The process is actually more similar to Kombucha because a SCOBY is used. In modernity, not many are truly brewed and almost all have lost the alcohol entirely (though some have a higher ABV through added booze). Like their contemporary peers, Big Marble is manufactured rather than brewed, but the use of fair trade, organic ingredients certainly sets it apart.
The story goes that Big Marble came about when the Jamaican ginger beer The Breadfruit was using went out of business. None of the other ginger beers on the market were right for their Dark’N’Stormy because they didn’t have the right spice character right at the front nor the bubbles needed to really stand up the drink.
Big Marble is both the spiciest and most effervescent ginger beer I’ve tried and it’s perfect for cocktails as a result. It immediately jumps into your nasal cavity, much like horseradish does, but the sweetness and bubbles help calm that down pretty quickly and let the flavor shine through. The bubbles are more like Champagne than beer, and they hold remarkably well.
Ginger Beer Cocktails
With a great ginger beer like this, I don’t really mess around; a buck is the only way to go. Grab a copper drinking vessel if you have it, fill it with ice, and then add:
- 2 oz of your favorite spirit. I’m partial to rye and vodka
- 1/2 oz of fresh lemon or lime juice. I prefer lemon with clear spirits and lime with dark. Alternatively, some healthy dashes of orange bitters can be a good variation here
- ~5 oz of ginger beer
Give it a stir and drink up. I prefer drinking directly out of the glass, rather than a straw, to get a bit more of that nasal hit from the ginger.