Is Crabbies ginger beer a spiced/herb beer?

Not sure why their isn't a listing for it since their are other ginger beers listed on the site.

I did try it one time and would have to agree the style really isn't beer just an alcoholic beverage like Sprecher bourbon root beer.

 

Technically, Zima is a beer. It's an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting grains. Doesn't mean that it belongs here, I suppose.

 

I'm pretty sure it isn't a beer because it doesn't use hops nor a grain product, and thus is missing two of the required ingredients for beer (the others being yeast and water.)

 

Ginger beer tastes like ginger ale with alcohol. Basically a soda.

 

The TTB COLA has the product listed under the Class/Type - "956 - MALT BEVERAGES SPECIALITIES" the same designation that many craft beers which use non-standard flavorings or ingredients (spices, fruit, etc) or are "barrel-aged" with used spirit barrels.

To be classified as a "malt beverage" (the general legal term in the US on the Federal level for ale lager, ale, porter, stout, etc.) it must meet this definition:

An alcohol or alcohol-free beverage made by the alcoholic fermentation of an infusion or decoction, or combination of both, in potable brewing water, of:

· malted barley comprising not less than 25% by weight of the total weight of fermentable ingredients
· hops (or their parts or products) in an amount equivalent to 7.5 pounds per 100 barrels (3100 gallons) of finished malt beverage​

AND, with or without

· other malted cereals
· unmalted or prepared cereals
· other carbohydrates (or products prepared therefrom)
· carbon dioxide
· other wholesome products suitable for human food consumption​

 

True ginger beer uses ginger root, water, sugar and champagne yeast to ferment it.

The beers you list use malted barley, possibly some wheat, water, and beer yeast to ferment them. Fruit, if added is added as an additional fermentable, and is often added after fermentation has already begun. Sours, lambics and Gueuzes are often made without any fruit added at all.

So there are some major fundamental differences between Ginger "beer" and other beers. The biggest similarities are fermentation and water. So the real questions to ask are why did some Englishman back in the early 1800's choose to call it "ginger beer," and why do some soft drink producers continue to use "ginger beer/ale" to name a carbonated, non- fermented beverage with a sweetner and ginger added?

 

So then it does have to use hops and grain product, if it meets that standard. I guess we need to define beer at this point. If most craft brews are under this designation then it looks like Crabbies is a beer, unless the Bros have their own standard. (I would tag them but I'm sure this thread already has their attention). By Purity Law Standards, most craft beers these days would be excluded.

 

If this is the case, why is Fentiman's Traditional Ginger Beer listed on this site at all? It is made with ginger root and a bunch of different herbal extracts, and is very mildly alcoholic, but it contains no barley or hops.

I still like it because of it's strong herbal, spicy taste, but it's definitely not "beer".

 

Because the person who entered it in the database did not know it wasn't a beer (probably keying on the name) and nobody has reported the error to have it deleted?

 

I did not write "most" - only "many" - those that fit the following criteria:

Yes, exactly - they don't follow the legal classification of the TTB. They determine which "Flavored Malt Beverages" are listed on this site, and which aren't.

 

Different countries have different labeling requirements and such products as Crabbies are distributed to multiple countries. Even if in the US it may say Malt Beverage on the label, here is a copy of the Crabbies label ingredients list posted by a reviewer on an Australian blog site:

"Ingredients: carbonated water, ginger wine (water, glucose syrup, sugar water, grape concentrate, spirit alcohol, ginger extract and yeast), fortified glucose wine (water, glucose syrup, spirit alcohol, yeast), sugar, food acid (330), flavourings, colour (150d), preservatives (202) (223) and antioxidant (300)"

http://www.allaboutcider.com/2013/03/crabbies-original-alcoholic-ginger-beer.html

There is no malt listed.

Edit: Note that this would not be the first time that international labeling differences have created confusion for how some beverage should be listed on this site. The Cantillon gueuze has two different listings/names, the European and US, simply because there different labeling restrictions in place for whether or not the term "Organic" can be used on the label. Same beer two different labels.

 

It is not unusual for FMB's (aka "malternatives" or "RTD's" or "PAB's") sold in the US to have a different formula than elsewhere in the world. In the US they will be made with a malt base, so they can be labeled and sold as "malt beverages" - and thus be sold in grocery stores and other beer retailers in those states which have different licenses for beer retailers than for wine and spirits retailers (in some states, only "State Stores" can sell spirits, etc). Additionally, the excise taxes for such "malt beverages" are also much lower than for a wine- or, especially, a spirits-based beverage.

Pretty sure that is the case for such "international" brands like Smirnoff's and Seagram's and even for older "wine cooler" products like Bartles & James and Boone's Farm which are now "malt beverages". I have no idea if that is the case with these"Crabbie's" products - it is not unheard of for some imported products which violate US definitions/regulations to be slipped past the TTB (like gruits and other non-hopped malt beverages, eisbocks, etc).

 

Because at one stage it was a brewed, fermented beverage. See also other 18th century drinks such as "spruce ale" or "treacle ale" containing more sugar than malt, if there was any malt at all.

Once artificially carbonated beverages appeared in the late 19th century, producers jumped on this new method of manufacturing, but kept using the old name.

 

Thanks, that’s very useful background information.