[photo via Loti.com]
I love beer so much that when I go out I usually never order cocktails. When the beer selection is poor, I'm like a deer in headlights and instinctually order a gin and tonic (or an old fashioned if it seems like a place that would actually know what it is). Well, sorry to say, but the following ginger beer cocktails will also be hard to find at a bar since most bars don't carry ginger beer. But, y'know what, when life (or liquor store) hands you rum/vodka, ginger beer, and limes, make Dark and Stormies and Moscow Mules!
The Dark and Stormy and the Moscow Mule have almost the exact same recipe:
- 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 of rum (for the Dark and Stormy) or vodka (for the Moscow Mule)
- 1/2 lime wedge
- ginger beer
Get your highball glass with ice, pour the liquor in, squeeze the juice out of the lime wedge (and get another for garnish), and fill with ginger beer up to the top. Delicious and easy.
Of course, as with all cocktails, the ingredients you use make all the difference. Here are my ingredients of choice:
Goslings Black Seal Rum is pretty effin amazing. Sailor Jerry's Spiced Navy Rum is also fantastic.
Stolichnaya vodka is my fav, but any vodka that doesn't come in a plastic bottle will do.
And for the most important ingredient, Elephant Ginger Beer is my ginger beer of choice. This stuff seriously blows all other ginger beers out of the water. So much kick. This will be difficult to find though. You're going to have to find a Sri Lankan grocery store (which can be very difficult to find unless you are near Staten Island) or an Indian grocery store that carries this stuff. The Goya stuff is aiiggght. Regatta Ginger Beer is decent and easy to find. I've also read great things about D & G Genuine Jamaican Ginger Beer. Regardless of what brand you go for, I recommend hitting up the bodegas and ethnic food stores before you go to the big supermarkets.
Happy drinking!
[Via Valet.]
Related: Happy Hour: Maple Syrup Cocktails