I know, I know. The ginger libation isn’t a mead. It is however made by Artisan Beverage Cooporative which includes Green River Ambrosia, a western Massachusetts meadery.
The Ginger Libation is a gluten free offering inspired by original ginger beer recipes dating back to the middle of the 18th century. It’s made with lots of fresh organic ginger, Costa Rican pineapple juice, lemon and lime juice and cane sugar from the Manduvira Cooperative in Paraguay. The mixture is then fermented with gluten free yeast (that’s right, if you want to make a fully gluten free beverage, you have to make sure the yeast weren’t fed any glutenous sugars).
This particular bottle of Ginger Libation is a special one. It’s part of Kappy’s Barrel Series. Kappy’s is a small chain of large liquor stores In Massachusetts. The Medford Kappy’s buys their liquor by the barrel. Then they use those barrels to collaborate with local breweries to age some of their most popular offerings. Pretty cool.
When I opened the Ginger Libation, I like tell it would be highly carbonated. It fizzed and almost overflowed when the cap released. It bubbled a lot as a carefully poured it into my glass. It gave off a great aroma of ginger and pineapple, with a little bit of citrus. It pours unfiltered and cloudy. It would be interesting to have it clearer to see the massive amount of bubbles rising to the surface.
I think the carbonation got in the way of the taste. It just felt like bubbles in my mouth. When those gave way, I got a lot of ginger and some pineapple – though all the flavors were quite muted. I’d think the barrel aging might have to do with this, tough I really didn’t get any flavors from the bourbon barrel. A little earthy, woodiness came through in the end, but I really had to search for it.
It drinks a lot like a watery champagne – extremely bubbly, sort of dry and not very flavorful. If this is how its supposed to taste, they might think about putting a champagne cork in it, just to set expectations. hmmm, perhaps it would work better with OJ – worth a try. I do dig the label – very interesting mix of 60s funky psychedelic typography and arts & crafts movement design – very fitting with the Artisan Beverage Corporation brand.
I had it with some coconut cream pie my sister made. A drink like this should pair nicely with it, but it couldn’t hold its own – just not enough flavor.
I’ll just have to compare it to a standard version, but if it drinks like this one, i’ll pass. Great idea, poor execution.
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