Ginger Libations

Ginger with Bite

Ginger Libations

Description

A spirited sibling to St. Ginger: gin and bright lime meet a generous pour of spicy ginger syrup and a touch of Suze. Bold, refreshing, and full of ginger character, with a bittersweet finish.

Ingredients

  • 2 parts Gin
  • 2 parts Lime Juice
  • 1.5 parts
  • 0.5 parts Suze

Spicy Ginger Syrup

Peeled fresh ginger pieces on a wooden cutting board.

A bold, spicy ginger syrup made with ginger juice instead of water. Palm sugar is my favorite: its rich flavor plays beautifully with the ginger heat. Cane sugar or another sugar works too.

Ingredients

  • Ginger juice — start with 1 cup and weigh it
  • Palm sugar — the same weight as the ginger juice; cane sugar or another sugar may be used instead

Directions

Make the syrup

Get your ginger juice first. Buying pure ginger juice by the jug, including organic options, is the easiest way I make this syrup, and it comes out great.

Weigh the ginger juice and measure an equal weight of palm sugar, cane sugar, or your preferred sugar. Stir the sugar into the juice until dissolved. The main recipe is 1:1 by weight; there is no added water.

Fresh ginger option

For homemade juice, I like the large ginger pieces available at Asian markets. Peel the ginger, then run it through a centrifugal juicer. Stop the juicer and clear accumulated pulp as needed while processing the ginger.

Freshly juiced ginger can give a fresher, spicier result. For me, though, the difference from good bottled ginger juice is usually not enough to justify the extra hour of prep and cleanup.

Variations & alternatives

One-cup alternative

You can also use 1 cup ginger juice to 1 cup sugar by volume. Both methods work, but equal cups and equal weights give different sugar concentrations. Weighing is more consistent, especially when palm sugar comes in chunks or blocks.

Buying ready-made syrup

A high-quality ready-made spicy ginger syrup is another option. Look for one made with ginger juice as the base, rather than water with a little ginger flavoring. Good versions often cost more, but should have a clear ginger bite; weaker syrups can taste mostly like sugar water.

Directions

Shaken

Shake the mixing ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker.

Additional steps & variations

Strain into a coupe.

If you like this, check out one of the drinks below

St. Ginger

Ginger in Bloom

Desert Bloom

Cactus Kiss

La Luna

A Sesame Ginger Whiskey Sour

Find your next drink

Find something worth mixing.