Merry Christmas from the Land Down Under! I found this seasonal variety of Bundaberg Ginger Beer during a recent visit to the Seattle Rocket Fizz. I thought I had already reviewed their regular ginger beer, but now that I search the website that appears to be my imagination. I bought a twelve pack of the original ginger beer bottles at Costco recently so it’s been fresh on my mind, but apparently not fresh on the blog. I’ll get there.

IMG_20171221_210057.jpg

I like Bundaberg’s root beer, but I don’t love it. The bottles that I had recently all seemed a little flat with a notable bitterness, probably from the molasses.  I like their ginger beer more, as do most people around the world. It’s their most popular drink.

The Bundy Barrel. A museum that teaches all about the Bundaberg brewing process.

Their website provides fascinating details of both the history of their family owned brewery as well as insight into their brewing process. They’ve been in Bundaberg Australia since the 1960’s but really started gaining traction in the international market within the past 20 years. Their stubbie bottles are iconic, and they’ve since introduced at least a dozen varieties of ginger based beverages as well as sparkling fruit flavored sodas. The ginger beer starts with a powdered ginger base mixed with sugar and water to create a wort. The wort is then fermented with yeast and filtered. They add some more sugar, some citric acid, and water to get it to the right concentration. When it’s time to bottle they add water and carbonate.

IMG_20171221_210125.jpg
Yeast isn’t super common in ginger brews, but it adds to the flavor and texture of this brew

 

Enough about the history, let’s talk about the Spiced Ginger Beer’s flavor. It’s a nice soda. The ginger is strong but not spicy. There was plenty of carbonation. The spices came in two waves. I got a wave of aromatic sweetness from the cinnamon and then finished with a bit of clove. The spicing was great, but if I could change anything it would be the sugar content. I thought it was a just a bit too sweet (same with the original ginger beer). I’m waiting for an email from Bundaberg to see if the local Australian bottles have less sugar content. All in all I’d give this a 7.5 out of 10 on my rating scale, but had it been more dry I’d go above an 8. I’ve heard that the diet ginger beer has more ginger and less sugar, so maybe that’s the way to go.

Catalog: Purchased at Rocket Fizz in Seattle, WA for $2. Sampled on 12/21/2017

To see reviews of other Rocket Fizz products, click here.