Tag Archives: Ginger Brew

A Ginger Beer Blind Tasting and a Nestor Miranda Cigar

Monday evening we decided to have a little blind tasting.  We gathered my 18 year old son, two of his friends, and my 22 year old son, and five premium ginger beers.  For the uninitiated, ginger beer (or brew in some cases) is akin to ginger ale, but generally stronger in flavor. I have long been a fan of a frosty long neck bottle of ginger brew with a nice, strong cigar.  We collected sixpacks of Gosling’s Stormy Ginger Beer (in cans) and  Saranac Ginger Beer in bottles, four packs of Reeds Extra Ginger Brew and Maine Root Ginger Brew and a lone bottle from a four pack of Appalachian Brewing Co. Ginger Beer.   My lovely wife passed out cups of each one at a time and we judged each on fizziness, sweetness, spice, finish and overall satisfaction.  We used a 5 point scale with 1 being worst and 5 being best.

 

 

Gosling’s Stormy Ginger Beer averaged 2.8 for fizziness, 3.4 for sweetness, 3.4 for spice, 3.0 for finish and 3.0 overall satisfaction.  Some of the comments were that it smelled gingery, was balanced, mild, sweey and spicy.  I enjoyed it as a step up from ginger ale and a refreshing beverage.  This one is a bargain at $2.99 for a six-pack of cans.  I’d be interested in trying this in bottles.

Maine Root Ginger Brew averaged 2.2 for fizziness, 3.0 for sweetness, 4.6 for spice, 4.2 for finish and 3.8 for overall satisfaction.  Some comments were that it has a floral aroma, was strong, complex aromatic, spicy on the back of the throat, a spicy MoFo, and a lasting aftertaste. Personally, this is my second favorite of the group, it’s ginger ale on steroids, with a very strong ginger bite. Pricey at over $5 per four-pack, but very tasty.

Appalachian Brewing Co. Ginger Beer averaged 3.6 for fizziness, 2.8 for sweetness, 2.8 for spice, 3.2 for finish and 3.0 for overall satisfaction.  Some of the comments were that it has a citrus aroma and flavor, not much spice, sweeter and not as spicy, and smells fruity, very fizzy.  I was rather surprised by the low sweetness rating, as this ginger beer is heavily honeyed, and is, to me, very sweet.  I think this one was in the neighborhood of $5 per four-pack as well and is nice if you like honey more than ginger.

Reeds Extra Ginger Brew averaged 3.0 for fizziness, 3.2 for sweetness, 3.0 for spice, 3.2 for finish and 2.9 for overall satisfaction. Comments were that it had a faint ginger smell, strong, aromatic with a fine finish, spiciest, very faint ginger smell, very nice and enjoyable.  This was my introduction to ginger brew going back twelve or so years. We probably should have gotten the regular ginger brew for this test, but I just love the Extra, and actually wanted to see if I could pick it out of a line up.  I did identify it immediately, I’m pleased to report. Great stuff and when you can find it under $5 a four-pack it’s even better!

Saranac Ginger Beer averaged 3.8 for fizziness, 4.0 for sweetness, 2.5 for spice. 3.4 for finish and 3.2 for overall satisfaction.  The comments were a citrusy smell, taste like cat litter (?) light spice, very sweet, fine fizz, light finish and smooth and sweet.  This is both the closest to a ginger ale of the bunch as well as one of the least expensive at around $4 for a six-pack.  I’m confused by the cat litter comment, as that’s not generally a complimentary comparison.

 

It looks like the Maine Root was the over-all winner, although I think we need to work on the rating system a little.  It certainly competes favorably with my favorite, Reed’s, and will be welcomed into my refrigerator.  We’ll work on a root beer tasting next as there are some excellent examples around.

 

Tuesday night I took a long walk with a 7″ x 54 Nestor Miranda Special Selection which was a gift from my buddy Barry Stein when he announced that he was going to work for Miami Cigar and Co.  I don’t see this size listed, so I don’t know the story behind it, but it sure was good!  It burned perfectly even though I was walking briskly and there was a bit of a breeze.  I walked over three miles and this cigar really kept me entertained.  At one point I tasted an exotic spice of some sort that I recognized, but couldn’t place.  It was a terrific choice, and I thank Barry for sharing it with me.  I’ll certainly be on the look out for more of these.  This was the first I’ve smoked and I really enjoyed it, even if it’s not a style of cigar I normally gravitate to.  Terrific smoke, and the Maine Root Ginger Brew was an excellent chaser for this cigar.

 

That’s it for now, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review, Take a Cigar For a Walk

An A.Turrent, a Griffin’s and Some Beverage Suggestions

Thursday night I took a late walk with a A. Turrent Puro Corojo  Robusto.  It was another reasonably balmy February evening, and this 4½” x 54 cigar seemed just about the right size for the time allotted.  I received this cigar in a sampler from the Altadis booth at the IPCPR show and have been slowly working my way back into those cigars.  This cigar had a very nice look, the wrapper was very smooth and without a flaw.  The burn was perfect and the draw was easy with just the right amount of resistance.  I really enjoyed the flavor of this Corojo cigar, it was rich and satisfying. For years Mexican tobacco has gotten a bad rap, although I never really minded it, heck, I started out smoking TeAmo maduros way back when.  Certainly the San Andreas tobacco is a pretty hot tobacco these days, and this cigar has a San Andreas Corojo wrapper and some fillers mixed in with Nicaraguan Corojo.  I absolutely LOVE the San Andreas maduro wrappers, I wonder how this cigar would be with that wrapper?  Thanks to Enrique Seijas for the tour at the show and for the samples.

 

Friday night we went to a little coffee house nearby to see my son play with his latest band.  Even though the place has “Coffee and Tobacco” on the window, there’s no smoking allowed thanks to our states indoor clean air laws.  Considering the size of the place, it’s probably not a bad idea.  The area where the band played was an upstairs room with was pretty small.  There were probably 50 people in a 20×30 or so room, with limited seating. The band was very good, despite my obvious bias, and I had some time before the show to enjoy a Griffins 500 on the sidewalk in front of the place.  I am constantly impressed with the quality of this mild cigar.  Burn and draw are outstanding and it’s loaded with flavor. I suppose you have to like a Connecticut shade wrapped cigar to like these, but I think it’s a nice smoke.  I was an old guy smoking a cigar among a bunch of teenagers smoking cigarettes, but that’s OK, I was one of them once…

 

One often asked question I see is regarding beverages to go with cigars, and the question that catches my eye most often is the non-alcoholic beverage question.  As one who gave up drinking long before I took up cigars, I’ve made a few conclusions of my own in that area.  Of course, coffee is a great cigar companion, but there are times when only a cold beverage will do.  I’ve often turned to root beers in this case.  I particularly enjoy Stewart’s or IBC, but recently the brewery in town here started bottling their root beer and its phenomenal.  Unfortunately, it may only be available in the Victory Brewpub retail store, but if you see it anyplace, give it a try.  My absolute favorite cold beverage cigar accompaniment is Reed’s Ginger Brew.  It’s a little like Ginger Ale on steroids.  I love the “Extra”, but it actually can over power a lighter cigar because it’s so spicy.  The Raspberry is  quite good, and the Spiced Apple Brew is very refreshing on a hot day as well.  I’ve been a fan of these since being introduced to them at a herf in 1999 , and pick up a couple four packs whenever I get a chance.  Here’s a Food Network video about the product and the company:

httpv://youtu.be/6sebjdI4aj4

 

So, if you’re looking for a nice, non-alcoholic drink to go with your cigar, check out some root beers or ginger beers, and if you can find Borgnine’s Coffee Soda, you can’t really go wrong with that, but it’s darned near impossible to find.  If anyone does know of a place to get ut, please let me know!  It’s really my holy grail of cigar beverages.

That’s it for now, I may try to find a nice cigar and take a Sunday walk.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Editorial, IPCPR, Review, Take a Cigar For a Walk