A Handshake, a Diplomat and Taipei in a Bottle
Seventeen months after my last ginger beer census, New World’s shelves decided to test my attention span. Three newcomers materialised this week - no press release, no fanfare, just suddenly there. As someone whose taste buds were forged on Jamaican ginger beer (the kind that rewrites your neural pathways) but calibrated on black sand beaches, I consider it my cross-cultural duty to investigate.
Parrotdog
That sunset-orange can had me hoping for something with proper ginger bite - the kind that makes you blink twice and question your life choices. Instead, I got the liquid equivalent of a polite handshake. Not offensive, not memorable, just... there. Like a bank manager at a barbecue. The 4.5% ABV suggests ambition, yet the ingredients list reads like a breakfast cereal: barley, wheat and oats? It’s either ginger beer or some sort of granola. Either way, buy it on Parrotdog’s online store.
Garage Project
Only launched in June 2025, which explains why it arrived like a ninja. A very polite ninja. This is ginger beer for when you want refreshment without drama - the Switzerland of the category, if Switzerland were made in Wellington and used rice as a diplomatic envoy to carry the ginger flavour. At 4%, it’s the session-strength option your palate doesn’t need a lie-down after. The rice adjunct lets the ginger do the talking without all that grainy small talk. Available in everything from single-can reconnaissance to full 24-pack commitment.
Aotea Company
This isn’t technically beer (carbonated water, no yeast, no alcohol) and my first sniff had me wondering if I’d accidentally uncapped a bottle of air freshener. Yet one sip transported me to Taipei’s Dihua Street - minus the omnipresent scooter fumes. There’s hinoki wood, temple incense, hotel lobby air freshener and a hint of jasmine. The honey notes are there, but it’s the “Natural Flavours” lending the flavour profile you’ll remember. It’s floral, it’s unusual and it’s available through the Aotea Company’s website.