Pumphouse Burning Man Ginger Ale

Finally a ginger beer that actually has some ginger flavor to it. You can really taste the spiciness in this one, medium bodied and pretty well balanced.

Nice and frothy head with sticky, lasting lace. Creamy-smooth with a light body. Spicy, wafty nose. "Hot" and peppery ginger throughout. Strong, but interestingly enough, it didn’t seem overpowering. Very organic-tasting and herbal. Decent amount of bitterness to boot.

On tap @ Pumphouse poured a hazy golden amber with a lasting amber head. Aromas of ginger and a hint of citrus. Palate was light bodied. Flavors of ginger and light citrus with a crisp refreshing finish.

Draught. Head is mostly diminishing. Body is light amber. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted grain), with a note of ginger, light note of lemon zest. Flavor is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, watery/velvety texture, lively carbonation. Realistic ginger in the nose, but not much else. Good balance, refreshing. Nice enough, but like Redfish’s ginger beer, needs more depth to be interesting. It’s like painting a picture of a piece of ginger with nothing else on the canvas; no matter how great the ginger looks, without anything else to engage the eye, it’s just not exciting. One has only to imagine how Fantome might make a "ginger ale" to understand the nearly limitless potential of any beer idea. American brewpubs are sadly limited by such things as budgets, time, and a less-than-demanding public. But I’m rambling...

On tap at the brewpub, 4/13/06: Medium orange-yellow with a strong ginger essence. Well made, I suppose, but I don’t like it.