Carib Ginger Shandy
Carib Brewery Limited

275 mL bottle from a six-pack purchased at the LCBO; best before Aug 2023 and listed at 0.9%. Served slightly chilled.

Pours crystal clear golden-yellow, stirring up a thin layer of bubbly suds that barely qualifies as a head. Within thirty seconds, it has sizzled away, leaving the surface utterly barren - no lace, either. The aroma is sweet, smelling mainly of candied ginger and sugar; not much going on, but it's appealing enough.

The flavour profile is similar - there's no depth whatsoever, but since it's also palatable, I'm not too inclined to complain about a 0.9% shandy lacking complexity. Sugary sweet at the forefront, with notes of ginger spiciness giving way to a sweeter, candied ginger-like flavour on the back end. Maybe a hint of caramelized sugars and grainy malts, but sugary ginger is the main takeaway; the aftertaste is a little sweet. Light in body, with crisp, prickly carbonation that complements its ginger flavours nicely; it's refreshing and effortlessly easy to knock back.

Final Grade: 3.01, a C+. My most common complaint about ginger beers is that they don't have enough of a 'bite' to them, and sadly Carib's Ginger Shandy is no exception. That being said, if I were sitting on a Caribbean beach in the summer, I think I'd be quite content with this very basic ginger beer. It's acceptable, and not much more than that - I might buy another six-pack, mostly because it's nice to have a (functionally) non-alcoholic brew in the back of the fridge for afternoon refreshment... and also because there aren't many other real ginger beers to pick from around here.

 

(12 oz clear bottle, 0.9% alc/vol., code 09 15 AM 20024; purchased single off shelf... poured into a fat tulip)

polished-clear, gold liquid; 'foam' disappears in seconds... basically candied/crystallized ginger on the nose... just about the same on the palate - candied ginger, marginally ginger 'beer' aftertaste; mellow-moderate spicy bitterness, however, caramel sweetness holds momentarily before fading away, so it's not too terribly sweetish... somewhat flat in fizz; roundish, but short of viscous... flavorful enough, but also arguably bland; could use a bit more spicy (acidic) zip to achieve more balance with the dull sweet lull; liquid, diluted candy, more alco-pop than beer/malt-bev, more or less (1711)

(Original review from October 19, 2004)

I finally tried the ginger version of this. It has a light tan, ginger ale color to it. Some foam forms but it fizzes instantly away like soda. The aroma is sugary sweet and gingery, with a mouthfeel much like ginger ale. The flavor is sweet and gingery. It isn't as intense as a ginger beer, but still has a tiny bit more burn than a ginger ale. The aftertaste has some ginger flavor lingering along with some bready notes (the only beer-llike characteristic I detected. No alcoholic warmth to finish it out.

This is basically alcoholic ginger ale. It was much better than the bright red sorrel version, but it is still more alcopop than beer. I could actually imagine drinking this as a refreshing beverage, unlike the cloying sorrel version.

 

 

Transparent, pinkish blonde body with a small, broken head. Big time ginger aroma. Sugary sweet, some vanilla notes. Lots of ginger. Too sweet for me. No way I could drink much of this. Headache.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A: The beer is clear yellow in color. It poured with a short white head that quickly died down and completely faded away.
S: Moderate aromas of ginger are present in the nose—just like you were sniffing the fresh ginger that you get as an accompaniment to sushi.
T: Much like smell, the taste has lots of moderate flavors of ginger. Neither sweetness nor bitterness are perceptible.
M: It feels light-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer tastes like a ginger ale without the sweetness. It is quite flavorful for a shandy.

330ml single bottle, procured at my favorite down-market 'bottleshop' in E-town.

This 'beer' pours a clear, pale golden amber colour, with one (I think) finger of fizzy soda-pop 'head', which predictably wisps away just as fast as you can look at it, leaving nothing resembling lace near the glass.

It smells of sharp, edgy, and duly spicy ginger root, middling caramel notes, and a gritty sugarcane sweetness. The taste is much more of the same - rather sweet, syrupy sugar, tinted with a burnt caramel/toffee essence, still perky and peppy natural spicy ginger, an echo of actual indistinct malt, and a mild herbal astringency, very much like those Caribbean bitters.

The bubbles are barely adequate, more like the kind that remain in a bottle of cola left in the fridge for three days, the body a deceptive medium weight, as all that extra sugar has to go somewhere. It finishes well, sweet, in a rather saccharine sense, the ginger holding on, much as it would in the associated soft drink.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is sweet like soda, low alcohol, and yet pretty gingery. This all may be a bit confusing, but I'd take this in a heartbeat over any actual 'ginger ale', as all other things being equal, the minor ABV and heady ginger root notes make this a winner. A winner for Canadian grocery stores, that is, and not as a 'lager beer', as they've so brazenly plastered on the label.

 

 

12 oz bottle poured into pint glass

A: Pours very very light yellow, good finger and a 1/2 of white head that settles to nothing... no lacing at all... Looks very flat, no carbonation at all.

S: Ginger ale, a little caramel and lots of sweet sugar. (Is this beer ??)

T: Just like the smell, straight up ginger ale, hint of caramel... very sweet... not beer like at all.

M: Light bodied, no carbonation, but leaves a sugary sticky feel in the mouth.

D: Lets be honest this is not a beer, it is ginger ale with a touch of alcohol... Run away.