24 Ginger Beers Made in NZ
The NZ market supports an incredible 24 ginger beers brewed by 13 brewers. And that’s only the ones I could find via Googling and searching my local stores - I’m sure there are more out there. To say kiwis love ginger beer is an understatement!
In no particular order, I’ve listed them all here:
Hawkes Bay Brewing Co
Hawkes Bay Brewing Co offer two non-alcoholic brews, Old Fashioned Ginger Beer and Spiced Ginger Beer. I first tried their spiced ginger beer when visiting HB in 2017. I don’t recall the flavour but love the distinctive bottle shape!
They also offer an alcoholic ginger beer, Ginger Fusion. Confusingly, their website lists it as 5% ABV, the product photo shows 4%, and the bottle I just bought from Liquor Land says 6%!
Hakanoa Handmade
Hakanoa produce two ginger beers, their Dry Ginger Beer and Lime and Chilli Ginger Beer. According to my photo album I was drinking the former during the 2016 Christmas holidays. Truly there are few summer experiences quite like lying on a warm deck drinking ginger beer! Unfortunately not sold in New Plymouth.
Mac’s Soda
This is an odd one - first, I didn’t know Mac’s produced a line of soda, and they make no mention of it on their website. Secondly, this is absolutely overshadowed by memories of Mac’s alcoholic Ginger Brew … but that was about 10 years ago and according to their website they no longer make it. My children describe this ginger beer as “sweet, with a gingery flavour and not spicy”.
Ranga
Alcoholic Gingerbeer (4.5%). Sold at my local New World in unsexy 1.25 litre plastic bottles reminiscent of the scrumpy cradled by homeless men outside Tesco in the UK.
I’ve tried Ranga before but don’t recall anything in particular! I’ll likely update this list with proper notes after sampling them.
Sprig + Fern Brewing Co.
My local New World sells Sprig + Fern’s 4% Grown Up Alcoholic Ginger Beer chilled in 1.25L bottles but S+F’s website also sells Non-Alcoholic Ginger Beer in 330ml cans. The former is quite laid back given its mild flavour (it has a cider base). Those who prefer something with a bit of heat are probably best looking elsewhere.
East Imperial
… produce a line of award-winning tonic waters and mixers, but for this list we’re only interested in their Mombasa Ginger Beer and Dry Ginger Ale.
They’ve gone for a late-empire aesthetic which goes well with their product range - they even have a jazz / world fusion Spotify playlist!
Monteith’s Brewing Co.
Monteith’s is perhaps the most well-known brand on this list with history going back to 1868 but is now owned by DB Breweries which is in turn owned by Dutch multinational Heineken. Despite being overstocked at my local supermarket this 4% alcoholic ginger beer gets no mention on the Monteith’s website.
Zeffer Drinks
Like HBBC, Zeffer also hails from Hawkes Bay - 1747 Korokipo Road in Fernhill, to be exact. Funny story: I was once cycling home on a dark night night from EIT to Flaxmere and got shot at by someone learning out of a speeding car. No idea what that was all about. Anyway, the mean streets of Fernhill bring to you the imaginatively-named Alcoholic Ginger Beer and Hazy Alcoholic Ginger Beer.
Like East Imperial, Zeffer also has a Spotify playlist. Where EI’s vibe might be described as dimly-lit cocktail bars playing jazz / Massive Attack / Bonobo, Zeffer is more hot sand, tanned bodies and endless summer days.
Phoenix Organics
I always bought Phoenix Cola when I lived in Auckland, sadly it doesn’t appear to be stocked in New Plymouth supermarkets. Their site lacks an HTTP cert - not that it’s too important since they don’t have an online store.
They’ve been around since 1986, but apparently haven’t updated their site or social media recently. The ingredients list looks solid and it’s clearly brewed since yeast is mentioned. Another one to try!
Stoke (McCashin's Brewery)
Is a ginger beer still a beer if it’s based on cider? Was the ginger brewed, or just the base cider? Deep and troubling philosophical questions aside, this is a pleasant but inoffensive ginger beer. It’s the first I’ve tried containing cinnamon as an ingredient but it didn’t seem to add much. McCashin’s has been around since 1981 and brews ginger beer under its Stoke brand - Classic Ginger Beer and Alcoholic Ginger Beer at 4.2%. Interestingly they used to also own Macs but sold them to Lion in 1999 - Stoke was launched in 2010.
Monsoon Drinks
Another company hailing from Hawkes Bay (I count three so far!) the Monsoon brand reportedly has a long heritage via its parent company Gilberd Organics dating back to 1860 with the beer itself is inspired by a recipe of similar vintage.
Their store page isn’t the best, with their brand miss-spelled as “Monsson” in the the page’s <title> and the product only has mockup photos. Like Phoenix Organics their site also lacks an HTTP cert. Finally, it’s called “sparkling” ginger beer. If a ginger beer weren’t effervescent it’d simply be a ginger syrup!
Regardless, I’m keen to taste Monsoon’s Sparkling Ginger Beer since they include star anise in the ingredients, something I’ve also experimented with.
Crimson Badger Brewing
Crimson Badger brews Ginger Bear (geddit?) available as non-alcoholic and 4% alcohol. Their website sells packs of 330ml, but I managed to get a 440ml from Liquor Land. Their 440ml, 5.8% Dark & Grizzly containing spiced rum and lime sounds exciting and I can’t wait to try it.
Canyon Brewing
Another ginger beer I have yet to try, Canyon Brewing’s Bang Bang Ginger Beer is 4% alcohol and intriguingly contains black pepper.
This list took suprisingly long to compile and I discovered even more brands I hadn’t heard of when I went out shopping.
Do you know of any I’ve missed? Let me know and I’ll add it to this list!
I do enjoy a Ginger Beer
Not sure Ireland can stretch to that many brands or bottles produced here - but I’ve had a couple!