Ginger Beer Concentrate
Mix this non-alcoholic homemade ginger beer concentrate with club soda for homemade ginger beer. Ginger beer cocktails suggestions included.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
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First of all, this ginger beer doesn’t have beer in it. My homemade ginger juice and soda version is non-alcoholic… unless you add liquor, of course.
I’ve been totally obsessed with ginger lately. On its own, ginger is fiercely spicy and fragrant. Used in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine since forever, it’s a powerful anti-inflammatory that can calm nausea and soothe upset stomachs (source: The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia). There’s really not much it can’t do.
Just a hint of fresh ginger lends peppery spice and complexity to savory dishes, and powdered or fresh ginger brightens up baked goods. Ginger has been a predominant flavor in my recipes lately, making its way into ice cream, banana bread, two soups, granola, couscous and pancakes. Ginger beer features the flavor most prominently, which I love. One sip warms me up from the inside.
Ginger beer has traditionally been brewed with a live culture, which creates carbonation as it ferments. These days, most ginger beers available in stores are non-alcoholic. Ginger beer is like ginger ale, but with a lot more kick. It tends to be more cloudy and less sweet than ginger ale, and the ginger flavor is unapologetically in your face. Most recipes for ginger beer and ginger ale have you cook the ginger in sugar water to mellow the flavor, but this recipe uses raw, pungent ginger. Beware: my ginger beer concentrate is for serious ginger lovers only.
To make this ginger beer, you’ll just need a blender or food processor and a good fine mesh strainer. My rusted hand-me-down strainer let too much ginger pulp through, so an upgrade is in order. You’ll also need a big spoon, lots of raw ginger, lime and club soda (because you won’t want to drink the undiluted concentrate).
Ginger beer is delicious on its own, but it also happens to make the best cocktails EVER. Mix ginger beer with a healthy splash of any basic liquor, squeeze in some lime, and you have your self a simple and refreshing highball. You could just buy ginger beer at the store, but most (like Reed’s) are too sweet for my taste.
Here’s a basic list of ginger beer cocktails (let me know if you have any to add):
- Dark ‘n Stormy: ginger beer + Gosling’s spiced rum + lime
- Moscow Mule: ginger beer + vodka + lime
- Gin-Gin Mule: ginger beer + gin + lime
- Pimm’s Cup: ginger beer + Pimm’s No. 1 (add gin for more kick) + lime
- Horsefeather: ginger beer + whiskey/bourbon
Ginger Beer Concentrate
Mix this fiery ginger beer concentrate with club soda to make homemade ginger beer. Adjust the amounts of sweetener, club soda and lime to suit your tastes. Preserve leftover concentrate by freezing it in ice cube trays.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ pounds fresh ginger, roughly peeled and chopped into 1-inch chunks
- 2 cups filtered water, divided
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (from 4 to 5 limes), plus more as garnish
- 1 ¼ to 1 ½ cups of agave nectar, honey or pure cane sugar (to taste, see note)
- club soda
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor, liquefy the ginger and 1 cup of water for 3 minutes. Strain the juice into a large bowl or pitcher. Transfer the ginger pulp back to to the blender or food processor, add another ½ cup of water, and liquefy again. Strain again, adding the liquid to the first batch. Again transfer the pulp along with another ½ cup water, liquefy again, and add to the liquid. Press on the solids with the back of a big spoon to squeeze out as much of the juice as you can.
- Discard the mashed solids and rinse out your blender/food processor. Pour the liquid into the blender/food processor. Pour in the lime juice and 1 ¼ cups sweetener. Blend for 30 seconds. To taste for sweetness, pour about 2 ounces ginger concentrate into a glass along with about 8 ounces of club soda. If it’s not sweet enough, blend in more sweetener until it reaches your preferred sweetness.
- Refrigerate up to 3 weeks. Shake before serving. Add a squeeze of fresh lime to your ginger beer before serving. Fresh mint and/or candied ginger make nice garnishes as well.
Notes
- Adapted from Lottie and Doof, originally from Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It by Karen Solomon.
- Yields about 36 ounces ginger beer concentrate. If you are using 2 ounces ginger beer concentrate per ginger beer, that means you can make 18 ginger beers. Feel free to double the recipe if you’re throwing a party.
- I’ve tried this recipe with agave nectar and honey. I prefer the neutral taste of agave nectar. Pure cane sugar is traditionally used in Jamaican ginger beer recipes and may produce the best flavor of all.
- If you want a ginger ale syrup recipe, check out Joy the Baker’s recipe.
- If you’re not sure what to do with all that ginger beer concentrate, freeze it in ice cube trays! The cubes will last for several months in the freezer (store them in an airtight freezer bag). See photo below.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
P.s. If you’re looking for a simple savory dish to put together this week, I highly recommend this Greek quinoa with avocado, arugula and cherry tomatoes. Find my version of BHG’s recipe at the Delish Dish blog.
I did step 1. Water and ginger. Nothing else because I want to use it in cooking and baking. Put half in the freezer and half in the refrigerator. So far I’ve only made tea. It is so good. 2 tablespoons ginger concentrate, 1 tablespoons honey and a little munkfruit to make the sweetness perfect for me. I love this stuff! Hot. Cold. Great technique! Thanks
Thank you for sharing your experience, Carol!
It may sound funny but I was into beer making and had been using a muslin bag, but that was a 1x use only per round. Someone suggested a nylon paint strainer. Nylon is generally food safe as long as it doesn’t stay in contact with warm food/liquid for prolonged periods. A short straining session should have no real plastic-to-food effects, so long as it’s washed first with soap. I use the paint strainer to squeeze out the ginger pulp in making my ginger juice…it’s way better than the collander and french press system I originally used. It also cuts the time down by a lot.
This is so yummy and surprisingly easy! I made half the batch with regular sugar and the other half with erythritol/monk fruit blend because I am watching sugar intake. Both taste amazing!
Thank you for sharing, Lava!
I’m from the UK and I’ve been on a Moscow Mule kick recently (pun intended), but good ginger beer here in the US is either hard to find, or very expensive, and often not that great. It’s either too sweet, or too bitter.
I’ve been using the ‘boil ginger and sugar together’ then add water + yeast for the carbonation recipe for a while, but it takes so long between cooking and cooling, it’s messy, and it separates too quickly, meaning you have to gently shake it all the time before use, losing a lot of the carbonation.
While I did change some things, this recipe came out excellent.
First, I only used about 1/2lb of fresh ginger, chopped it into cubes, but didn’t bother peeling as it’s a pain in the arse to peel, and the papery skin doesn’t affect the taste (make sure you’re using young ginger, not old dried-up stuff from the back of your fridge.)
I added the chopped ginger and 1/2 cup of water to the blender, let it whizz for a minute or two, then in stage 2 of the recipe, I added another 1/2 cup of water with the pulp. In stage 3, instead of adding more water, I put the already strained juice back in the blender with the solids, and let that rip for 30 seconds or so, then strained everything through a nut milk bag, which let me squeeze out all the remaining ginger juices from the pulp.
I discarded the solids, rinsed the blender, added the strained juice back in along with 1 cup of Turbinado sugar, some lemon juice, a little bit of cayenne pepper to give it some extra kick, and some ground cloves to add warmth, blended for 30 seconds, then bottled it. I ended up with about 20oz of syrup.
Using the ratio in the recipe (2oz syrup to 8oz club soda), it came out perfect! I think squeezing out the pulp in the nut milk bag was the key to making it strong enough, but with only using less than half the amount of ginger root.
This will be my go-to recipe from now on!! Thank you! Definitely 5-stars!
Thank you for sharing, Jim.