Ginger beer

Ingredients

The brew

• 300 gfresh ginger, young if possible, scrubbed and roughly chopped
• 2 litreswater, just boiled
• 6whole cloves
• 1blade mace or ¼ tsp grated nutmeg
• Peel of 1 lime, in wide strips

To finish

• 250–350 ggranulated or demerara sugar, to taste
• Juice of 3 limes (about 90 ml)
• 1 tspuncooked long-grain rice, as a natural starter (optional)
• Ice, to serve

Directions

1. Pound the ginger in a mortar or blitz it briefly with 200 ml of the water; you want it bruised and shredded so the juice and heat come out, not pureed smooth.
2. Put the pounded ginger, cloves, mace and lime peel in a large heatproof jug or an enamel pot and pour over the just-boiled water.
3. Cover and leave to steep at room temperature for at least 6 hours, ideally overnight. The liquid should smell hot and peppery, and sting the back of the throat.
4. Strain through a fine sieve lined with muslin, pressing the pulp hard to get every drop, then squeeze the pulp in the cloth.
5. Sweeten to taste with the sugar while the liquid is still slightly warm so it dissolves, then stir in the lime juice. Taste: it should be sharp first, sweet second, and burn on the finish.
6. For a traditional lightly fermented beer, add the grains of rice, cover the jug with a cloth and leave 2–3 days at 26–30°C (80–85°F) until it smells yeasty and small bubbles cling to the sides.
7. Strain again, bottle in plastic bottles, leaving 5 cm headspace, and refrigerate. Squeeze a bottle daily and open to release pressure once it feels hard.
8. Serve very cold over plenty of ice, diluted with a little water if it is fierce.

Technique

• Caribbean ginger beer is made by cold or warm steeping, never by boiling the ginger: boiling drives off the volatile gingerol heat and leaves a flat, cooked taste.
• The rice grains, or a spoonful of a previous batch, carry wild yeast. Fermentation is short and produces very little alcohol, but it does produce carbon dioxide, so use plastic bottles and burp them or glass can burst.
• Old ginger with a thick skin is hotter and more fibrous; young ginger with a pink tip is juicier and milder. Antiguan cooks pick by heat, not by looks.

Substitutions

• No fresh ginger of any quality: 60 g dried ground ginger steeped in the same way gives heat but not the fresh citrus lift; add extra lime.
• Skip the ferment entirely and serve the sweetened infusion over ice topped with soda water for a still-sharp, same-day drink.

Variations

• Christmas ginger beer, spiked with a shot of dark rum per glass.
• A cloudier Jamaican style with more sugar and a longer three to four day ferment.

History

Brewed in Antiguan homes for Christmas and Carnival, fermented briefly with the local ginger that colonial gardens introduced.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ginger beer?

Ginger beer is a drink from Antigua and Barbuda: sharp homemade drink of pounded fresh ginger, lime and sugar. Brewed in Antiguan homes for Christmas and Carnival, fermented briefly with the local ginger that colonial gardens introduced.

How long does Ginger beer take to make?

Ginger beer takes 25 min of preparation and 2 to 3 days fermenting, plus chilling of cooking. The recipe makes 2 litres. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Ginger beer?

Yes, within limits. No fresh ginger of any quality: 60 g dried ground ginger steeped in the same way gives heat but not the fresh citrus lift; add extra lime. Skip the ferment entirely and serve the sweetened infusion over ice topped with soda water for a still-sharp, same-day drink.

What is the most important thing to get right in Ginger beer?

Caribbean ginger beer is made by cold or warm steeping, never by boiling the ginger: boiling drives off the volatile gingerol heat and leaves a flat, cooked taste.