Wapsi Square Forum

Does anybody have any recommendations on a decent ginger brandy (as opposed to decent Jin and Brandi), or ginger liqueur even?

Not yet, but I am intrigued...

I didn't even know there was such a thing. I guess with 'Bacon Vodka', then Ginger flavoured Brandy shouldn't be too surprising. I doubt anyone's made it _from_ ginger itself. (brandy is distilled wine, I can't see someone making a wine from nothing but ginger root. Probably would be hard to ferment, as it's very low in sugars)

Bookworm wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2019 7:18 pm I didn't even know there was such a thing. I guess with 'Bacon Vodka', then Ginger flavoured Brandy shouldn't be too surprising. I doubt anyone's made it _from_ ginger itself. (brandy is distilled wine, I can't see someone making a wine from nothing but ginger root. Probably would be hard to ferment, as it's very low in sugars)

When I've made it in the past, it was equal parts ginger and raisins, with some more sugar added.

Most of the recipes I see, don't throw ginger into the fermentation process. Instead, they steep... peeled ginger root, often a vanilla bean, and other ingredients are steeped in brandy for a few days to a few weeks, and then filtered out. Some commercial brands may just add a ginger extract (and other flavorings) to brandy, and declare victory.

There are indeed a lot of brands of ginger brandy available... it seems to be reasonably popular. Not particularly expensive, either.

I'd be curious to know how well a "ferment the ginger with a source of carbohydrates, and then distill" approach actually works out. Some of the essential oils in ginger root would probably come across in the distillation, but others might be left behind, or destroyed by the heat involved.

Dave wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 1:50 pm I'd be curious to know how well a "ferment the ginger with a source of carbohydrates, and then distill" approach actually works out. Some of the essential oils in ginger root would probably come across in the distillation, but others might be left behind, or destroyed by the heat involved.

It's pretty simple to do, though the results can vary considerably in quality. The ginger flavouring does come across fairly well.