Fresh Ginger Ginger Ale

There’s something to be said for giving any drink the benefit of the doubt. If you offer me something (and I trust you aren’t trying to poison me), I try not to look gift horses in the mouth. So it was that The Feisty Foodie gave me a couple bottles of what looked to be another entry into the small-batch, specialty sodas niche popping up everywhere the past few years.

BCGA Concepts, headed by one Bruce Cost, markets three flavors of Fresh Ginger Ginger Ale locally — Original Ginger and Jasmine Tea, shown here, and Pomegranate with Hibiscus. At the rate bottle images and reviews are appearing on the web, I would guess that there are expansion plans afoot. But I’m here to drink the ginger ale, not give a history.

The bottles are pretty basic with the artwork, with a little chunk of ginger on the label to drive home the point that yes, this is Ginger Ale, though I’m pretty sure that touting medical claims right there on the label can run you afoul of the law. At any rate, the Original Ginger Ale and the Jasmine Tea Fresh Ginger Ginger Ales promise to help digestion, restore appetite, and calm your stomach. I’ve had success with ginger settling my stomach before, so this really doesn’t bother me personally. On to inspecting the soda, yes?

You can see from the bottles that there is a lot — a LOT — of sediment in these sodas. That’s ginger, or as the bottle says, “100% Fresh Ginger”. Shaking it up slightly, I pour the contents of each into a simple pint glass, letting them fizz happily while I studied them, swirling as I pour in order to get all the ginger solids out as well.

The Original has a faint gingery aroma, as expected. The Jasmine Tea version, on the other hand… one big perfumed jasmine ball. I’ve had beverages that overdosed on jasmine before. This ranks up there. Wow. Obviously Jasmine Tea adds a hazy burnt-orange color to the proceedings as well.

I was not prepared for the taste of a really gingered ginger ale, I admit. So when I took a deep sip of the Original, I was surprised by the fullness of the ginger flavor. Followed several seconds later by the scorch of straight ginger applied to my tongue. That is a strong ginger beverage. It burns all the way through the finish too, and does not, in fact, make me want another sip.

So I moved over to the Jasmine Tea. Oooh, this is a little sweeter, with a mouthful of big, full flowers… followed by a massive ginger burn. Hm. In addition, the Jasmine Tea seems to have even more ginger sediment, which leads to it clinging to the glass as I drink, kind of like the head on a beer, only solid. I will say, it’s quite a bit more interesting than the Original, and there’s more there to enjoy. It also makes the Original a little more tolerable.

These bottles are clearly not the very newest Fresh Ginger bottles; Feisty Foodie found them in New York Supermarket, Elmhurst, and gifted them to me; not knowing whether to drink them or hold on to them, I held on to them (refrigerated), until recently opening them for judgment. The label has since changed; the flavor is printed on the neck label now, while the main label looks identical for all three flavors. I do wonder if the label change was due to the “health” claims printed on them.

I’ll lump the Fresh Ginger products into the “tough to love” category. It’s the type of soda that has to grow on people, like Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray, and I’m willing to try again. The singles were $1.79 in Elmhurst; they’re probably a bit cheaper per bottle as four-packs. I suggest attempting one bottle first, just to make sure, before ponying up for a whole four-pack. Let me know what you think!