Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.
When I did a tour of Fever-Tree’s fancy-pants mixers last month, I noted the ginger beer was far and away the star of the show (with a nod to the sparkling grapefruit). Fever-Tree must be acutely aware of this, because it expanded that beverage line out to a new flavor this fall: blood orange.
That’s … interesting. When it comes to ginger mixers I’ve well versed with lime and cranberry and other bitter citrus, but orange and ginger is a new one for me outside of chicken dishes. Fever-Tree already has a handful of lime-based mixers, so doing something that could easily translate to a one-step dark and stormy or Moscow mule seemed like the more logical progression.
But no, instead we’re gonna take those old classics and add a little more citrus and see what we get. I can understand it. Fever-Tree is fancy stuff, so you’d expect it to default to something a little more involved than rum and Coke. But I still used it in a couple two-step cocktails because I’m a lazy man and I’m not about to pretend to be fancy here. Y’all saw me drink out of a dog bowl last week, I won’t insult you by suggesting I’m zesting lemons or making shrubs over here.
Here are the basic drinks I made instead and how Fever-Tree’s Blood Orange Ginger Beer mixed with both.
Blood orange Moscow mule (kinda): B
First off, this pours a nice pretty cocktail. I know a Moscow mule is supposed to be in a copper mug — and have lime in it — but I have neither of those at the moment so we’re highballing this guy instead. And it looks very, very pleasing. Like, feature it in a commercial nice.
The aroma starts off a bit citric but quickly becomes a ginger beer production. Which is to say it smells great. This thing is already two-for-two when it comes to my senses, which a nice start.
The taste is … a bit earthy. The orange doesn’t really come through and the ginger’s root background kinda takes center stage. Then it sweetens up and finishes dry, but with that lingering, dirt-adjacent aftertaste.
The second sip is more pleasant, and while the orange is still pretty subtle the ginger beer remains a hit. The sweet spice lingers on your lips, providing a nice cool/warm balance in a drink that gets better as it goes.
The blood orange here is minimal, which is a welcome surprise. Ginger beer is great on its own, so overpowering it with fruit was a concern. This is much more ginger than orange, which is a win. It’s different enough from the regular version, but not so different it isn’t ginger beer. The more I drink it, the more I like it.
Blood orange Kentucky mule (kinda): B+
My first impression is … I made this too strong. I got too excited about the sample bottle of Maker’s Mark I had and rather than hitting the 25 percent booze mark Fever-Tree has made its hallmark I wound up around 45. Which is fine — it’s good whiskey — but not especially helpful for a ginger beer taste test. “Tastes like bourbon!” would not be very useful here.
After drinking about half that and adding more blood orange ginger beer, you get a drink more closely resembling a cocktail than a low-key drinking problem. The bourbon stands out more than the vodka (duh) but the mellowed malt is quickly whisked away by the spice of the ginger. It makes me wonder if using a sweeter whiskey would be better or just more likely to blend into the mixer.
Either way, the result is a dry, crisp drink that has a nice burn to it. It’s smooth enough to drink in large gulps but not so sweet you’d get sick of it. Each sip snaps off sharply and, once there’s a reasonable amount of bourbon there, it’s easy to drink — never burning beyond the spice of the ginger itself.
The orange is a minor factor, but it’s different enough to be an occasional change of pace. Or maybe you just want it handy to look fancier. Both work.
