Ginger beer vs Ginger Ale – A difference found?

Even though most of us are lovers of ginger beer and also with ginger ale, I’m just confused up with what’s the difference, how, and what it is? This post will come up with everything, as it says, “Ginger beer vs ginger ale.”

Ginger beer and ginger ale both are common up with something. What’s that? It’s the use of ginger similarly.

We are here to explain what ginger beer and ginger ale is, their differences compared to one another, their benefits and disadvantages, and also different brands of ginger beer and ginger ale.

So it’s time to go ahead!

Ginger Beer VS Ginger Ale: What is ginger?     

Since ancient times ginger has been an old spice variety that had been used for cooking purposes and as medicine. It is an aromatic, pungent rhizome, simply an underground stem. If we talk about its origin, ginger had been found first in the Southern part of China, next spread to India, Europe, then in Asia and West Africa. At present India has been the largest ginger supplying country throughout the world.

We all know ginger is used in preparing meals. Ginger takes a special place as an ingredient used in food. Moreover, ginger is used as a remedy in medicine from the past. And also with the purpose of revealing the headaches, ginger is used as a paste in India. Ginger is said to be a substance that affects highly nausea.

The below facts will explain more benefits of ginger on human health.

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What is ginger beer?

As we are here to talk about ginger beer and ginger ale, we’ll first talk about ginger beer. Even though most of us use ginger beer, have you ever thought about what it is really made of even?

With the first origin in England in the mid -the 1700s, ginger beer is typically a fermented alcoholic beverage. It has been composed up of water, sugar, ginger, with additional lemon fermented with yeast and then carbonated.

Years ago, ginger beer was considered an alcoholic beverage. But with the new process of carbonation, it transformed into the form of non-alcoholic. Even when we buy ginger beer bottles, that makes us feel it’s just a type of soft drink. In some situations, we find both alcoholic and non-alcoholic ginger beers too.

Steps of preparing ginger beer

This recipe is a fast version of preparing ginger beer at home with the aid of yeast within 2 days.

This would be a fabulous recipe. So let’s dive right in!

Ingredients:

                          raw ginger 200g

                          1 teaspoon of yeast

                           2 litres of water

                           a medium-sized lemon with skin

                           sugar (3 cups)

Method:

Step 1: The first step you have to do in this process is the activation of the yeast. Add 1 teaspoon of yeast into a bowl with 30ml of water. And stir it well.

Step 2: As you mainly require ginger for this recipe, wash the ginger and chop/grind the 200g ginger.

Step 3: Preparation

• Keep a Dutch oven filled up with 2 litres of water in the gas cooker and let it heat up. Then, add the scattered 200g of ginger into the Dutch oven with boiling water.
• Next, add the lemon juice and leave the skin of the lemon in water so that it boils.
• Afterwards, add 2/3 cups of 125ml each of sugar into the boiling water.
• So you have to stir up this mixture well inside the Dutch oven while letting it boil for about 6 – 9 minutes.

Important fact

(Boiling is said to be the most protective way to be away from kill diseasing organisms. So in this recipe we too use boiling, so we can be sure that the mixture is sanitized and rid of various bacterial infections.)

• Then, stop the boiling of the mixture which is in the Dutch oven. Then let it cool down at room temperature.
• After the mixture has got cooled down, filter the mixture with the use of a fine strainer.
• Add the activated amount of yeast into the filtered mixture and mix it well.

Step 4: Arranging into bottles

(In this process, make sure all the three bottles you use are well sterilized. This will protect from affecting the mixture with various contaminations.)

(As we use yeast in this procedure, it is very important to use plastic, PET bottles or flip-top bottles only. If you use glass bottles, they may get exploded due to the yeast’s gas formation.)

• Fill up the three plastic bottles with the filtered mixture. Make sure to leave some air gap for the pressure to be contained. And be assured you have closed the cap firmly.
• Next, you have to store the filled up beer bottles in the dark at normal room temperature for about 2 days.
• After 24 hours you’ll be able to see the bottles have got exploded as I said that’s due to the reactivity of yeast.
• Before the bottles get exploded, you have to release the carbon dioxide stored inside these bottles every 12 hours.
• Finally, the last step is to refrigerate the bottles for 2 days letting down their fermentation.

Enjoy your ginger beer with lemon and some ice cubes.

What is ginger ale?

After the discussion of ginger beer, it’s time to talk of ginger ale. Ginger Ale became more prominent with the use of ginger beer those days. If we talk about ginger ale’s origin, it had been created principally during the 1850s in Ireland. Ginger Ale had been a non-alcoholic beverage similar to a type of soft drink.

The modern dry version of ginger ale has been invented by Canadian pharmacist John McLaughlin in 1907.

So next let’s talk about how we can prepare ginger beer of our own.

Steps of preparing ginger ale

This would be an amazing recipe that would make you feel it of your own. So let’s move in.

Ingredients:

300g of ginger

2 cups of sugar (125ml cup)

5 cups of water (125ml cup)

Method:

Step 1: Wash well and peel the ginger into small slices.

Step 2: Preparation of ginger syrup

• Take a saucepan and add 5 cups of water.
• Next, add chopped ginger into the saucepan with water.
• Turning on the gas, keep the saucepan on the gas and let it boil for 15 minutes.
• Then, turn off the gas and let it cool down at the normal temperature.
• Strain the ginger syrup into a glass bowl.
• Afterwards, add the strained ginger syrup into the saucepan again while adding 2 cups of sugar.
• Turn on the gas and boil the syrup until it becomes a colourful thickened syrup.
• Once again, let it cool down at normal temperature.
• As soon it gets cool down, bottle the ginger syrup and refrigerate.

Step 3: End Process of preparing ginger ale

• Pour a little amount of ginger ale into the glass.
• Then, add the juice of 1 lemon, lemon slices, mint leaves and ice cubes into the glass.
• Pour cold soda or ice water into the glass and stir it well.
• Next, enjoy the ginger ale.

Difference between ginger beer and ginger ale     

When we speak of ginger beer and ginger ale, it’s now time to seek their similarities and dissimilarities. A straightforward look seems there’s no similarity between one another of ginger beer and ginger ale. It is believed real ginger beer and ginger ale is composed up of ginger roots. Modern ginger beer is even not considered to be alcoholic, as it contains only less than 5% of alcohol. So another similarity we meet up with is, both ginger beer and ginger ale are non-alcoholic.

If you read the above preparation methods on alert you can clearly notice their method of preparation is disparate one another. Rather than the method of preparation, their flavours, nutrition, alcohol content and taste are dissimilar to one another.

Flavours of ginger beer and ginger ale

Ginger beer consists of a strong flavour that is spicier than ginger ale. But it too has flavours such as lemon and lime etc.

Ginger ale is composed up of many flavours such as blackberry, peach, passion fruit, pomegranate and green tea. The ginger ale’s flavour tastes a sour taste which makes it energizing and refreshable. The real peppery taste is reflected by ginger ale due to the presence of real ginger in the ginger syrup.

 Nutritional level: ginger beer vs ginger ale

There’s no significant difference based on the nutritional level between ginger beer and ginger ale.

Ginger beer also contains carbohydrates. If we consider its calorie level, 341 ml of ginger beer contains 120 calories.

Many people raise up the question of whether the ginger beer is high in sugar and whether it helps in weight loss. Through the daily facts we matter in, it is said 375ml serving cups contains 10.8g of sugar. This means ginger beer is a little high in sugar and it matters in a diabetic persons’ meal plan. None of the information says ginger beer and ginger ale helps in the process of weight loss of a person.

Alcohol content: ginger beer vs ginger ale

As per the FDA requirements, ginger beer is considered to be non-alcoholic as it contains only .5 % of alcohol content. Even though ginger beer is naturally fermented, ginger ale is artificially carbonated with the use of water. Ginger ale is too considered as a non-alcoholic drink, simply, meant as a soft drink.

Ginger beer and ginger ale never provides a negative influence on the health of a person based on their alcoholic content.

 The difference in preparation: beer and ale

As shown above, with information, ginger beer and ginger ale are composed up of two different aspects.

They use two different types of fermenting agents which is called yeast and whey. Ginger beer uses yeast in its production while ginger ale sometimes uses whey in its production.

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Health benefits and effects of ginger beer vs ginger ale

There are many health benefits that ginger beer and ginger ale provide for our health than considered with other drink beverages. One of the main bioactive compounds present in ginger is gingerol. All the benefits we get through ginger is due to the presence of gingerol. Meanwhile, ginger is really helpful to us in our health issued problems due to its presence of high antioxidant properties.

So let’s take into discuss several benefits of ginger beer and ginger ale.

1.  Aids indigestion

Indigestion means the situation which makes your upper abdomen discomfort or unstable. Some symptoms you come up with is: feeling a burning feeling, a pain and makes it uncomfortable after having a full meal.

Ginger has the ability to enhance the digestion process while it makes food move smoothly through the stomach. Gingerol which is meant to be ginger’s active substance really helps in relieving digestive discomforts such as indigestion. Ginger can warm the stomach and it’s really a tonic based on the digestive system.

So with the use of ginger beer and ginger ale you can feel a relief emptying the stomach.

2.  Lowering risks of cancers

Ginger consists of some cancer-fighting qualities. Colorectal cancer, gastrointestinal cancer and liver cancers are some globally spread cancers in the world.

Once in a study that was done in 2013 conducted by the Cancer Prevention Research, illustrated that ginger had killed off the colorectal cancer cells and also had had the ability to stop the growing back of cancer cells in the human body. In 2016, another research was conducted by the Molecular Nutrition and Food Research which proved ginger had prevented the growth of human cancer cells.

 3. Fights with variant infections

In the beginning, as we mentioned ginger is composed up of antioxidant features and anti-inflammatory features, it really helps to avoid the growth of various infections. Some common infections are, viral, bacterial and fungal. So drinking ginger beer and ginger ale would help you to reduce the risk of various infections.

4. Reduce the cholesterol levels

Ginger is a super ingredient that helps to lower the risk of high cholesterol in patients. Researchers recommend a person to take 1 gram of ginger 3 times a day for continuous 45 days if needs to lower the cholesterol risk.

But you should be careful to consume only 1 gram of ginger 3 times a day only. If you consume similar to a high amount of 5 grams per day sometimes it will affect you with mild side effects. But this is a rare fact we come up with. Abdominal discomfort, diarrhoea and heart burning are some side effects of consuming a high amount of ginger daily.

5. Fighting against nausea

Do you really think ginger helps in acting against forms of nausea? Researchers recommend consuming 950ml of ginger tea to reduce nausea. It is an inexpensive and an effectual ingredient that really helps to be away in form of nausea.

Consuming ginger beer and ginger ale is a superior alternative in these situations like nausea; motion sickness, seasickness, intense pain and also food poisonings.

Ginger beer brands

As there are many beer manufacturers world spread around the world, we’ll talk about some famous ginger beer brands globally.

• Fever-Tree premium ginger beer

This is a non-alcoholic beer while it is not a too sweet beer, it has a spicy, warm and refreshing taste. Fever-Tree premium is a beer composed of brewing a mixture of three various gingers from Nigeria, Cochin and Ivory Coast. Made with real ginger and doesn’t use artificial flavourings, artificial sweeteners or preservatives.

• Cock n’ Bull ginger beer

It’s a beer composed up of pure cane sugar, carbonated water, natural flavours, caramel colour, citric acid and sodium benzoate.

• Read’s Zero Extra ginger beer

This ginger beer is composed up of filtered water, natural flavourings, ginger root, lemon, natural sweeteners (Stevia, Monk Fruit, Erythritol) and spices. This too is comprised of an amazing quick taste loved by many beer lovers.

• Royalty ginger beer

This beer is comprised of a really amazing flavour and a taste that is more liked by individuals. It has ingredients such as carbonated water, flavouring of ginger root extract, preservative (sodium benzoate), citric acid, colour (sulphite ammonia caramel).

• Q Mixer ginger beer

Q Mixer is another most popular beer among beers in the global market. It is composed of carbonated water, ginger extract, citric acid, extracts of chilli, pepper, cardamom, orange, lime and organic agave. Beer devotees mostly like Q Mixer ginger beer too.

• Bundaberg ginger beer

One of the most versatile beers brands on the markets at present. Its’ sweetness and spiciness is really well balanced due to its presence of real ginger and natural ingredients.  Carbonated water, ginger root, sugar, Citric acid, Malic acid, Ascorbic acid, flavourings and Sodium Benzoate are used in the preparation process of Bundaberg ginger beer.

• Regatta ginger beer

• Parker’s ginger beer

 Ginger ale brands

Following are some names of popular brands of ginger beer.

• Bruce Cost

This ginger ale takes a simple, delicious and a bit spicy taste. Comprised with real ginger and sugar cane without any use of artificial additives. Carbonated water, real ginger, pure sugar cane and citric acid are the ingredients used in this preparation of Bruce Cost ginger ale.

• Seagram’s

This is a delicious alternative to seltzer water or tonic water. However, it comprises a flavoursome ginger flavour. Composed up with the ingredients: carbonated water, citric acid, ginger extract, potassium sorbate, caramel colour, fructose cone syrup and sodium benzoate.

• Schweppes

• Ale –8-1

• Gingeroo

• Blenheim

• Fever-Tree

Conclusion

You may have come with the idea ginger beer and ginger ale have similarities with some dissimilarities too. This article mainly tries to focus on what they both differ from one another. The flavours, tastes and aroma make ginger beer and ale more unique. In many situations, we said they are non-alcoholic, and derives many beneficial advantages on human health.

Hope you really enjoyed what we have provided in “Ginger beer vs Ginger ale”