Thomas Henry, More Wheat Beers & A Vegetarian Symbol

Mixology is the art of mixing alcoholic drinks. It is also the name of a German trade magazine for bartenders and drink connoisseurs. Recently the magazine contained an article comparing a number of ginger beers (Gosling's, Fentimans and Thomas Henry) from a German point of view. What attracted my attention most was Thomas Henry and the fact that, despite its name, it is a German company. The name refers to an 18th-century scientist and surgeon-apothecary from Manchester, England, who is credited with the first production of carbonated water. There is one thing that puzzles me about Thomas Henry the company. If you compare the English and German-language websites you will see that both sites refer to a ginger ale. But the English-language site also contains a ginger beer whereas the same drink on the German-language site is called "Spicy Ginger".

black & white, a newspaper from Birmingham, Alabama, reports the arrival of a Belgian-style witbier containing ginger. White Thai, from the Westbrook Brewing Company in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, is spiced with lemongrass and ginger root and comes in at 5% abv. As we have seen in previous posts, the Americans love their witbier with ginger, something the Belgians appear to have missed.

And talking of previous posts, here's something I forgot to mention at the time. Two weeks ago the Monday Night Brewing Company from Atlanta, Georgia, launched Fu ManBrew, a 5.2% abv ginger wheat beer. This is the third offering from a brewery which began life in a weekly Bible study group.

Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Cold Stores has relaunched its Elephant Ginger Beer (EGB) in India to meet new vegetarian labelling requirements. These requirements state that vegetarian food and drink products on sale in India must be identified with a green dot. EGB uses natural ginger extracts produced by 250 farmers. (Source: Sunday Observer)

this is Somerset reported that a new ginger soft drink is about to be launched in the UK. KOJI Lemon & Ginger, from Future Drinks Ltd, is currently being bottled and will soon be launched in pubs, cafes and delicatessens in the South West. This Japanese-style infusion also contains persimmon, goji berries, hops, cranberry, lemon zest, and apple. I shall look forward to trying it.

The Public Ledger contained a small article about how Indian ginger prices have risen by nearly a quarter in recent weeks. This rise has been attributed to farmers growing less ginger than previous years because of recent low returns. And there is icing on the cake as well. The crop this year is looking very good. Unfortunately, I can't tell you any more about this article as we have to pay to find out.