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Praising the Rivals

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Alcoholic Ginger Beers

I regularly try and taste each alcoholic ginger beer and ginger ale of my competitors. My primary purpose is to keep my business plan up to date, but also to collect ideas about how to improve the Ginger Tipples and for new products.

Ginger AleFor the purpose of this article, I will not name the products of my competitors, and if you ask me about a particular one, I will always praise their attributes, perhaps not as ebulliently as Ginger Tipple. Also, I always taste them together with a one or two ginger beer lovers whose opinions I value.

Conceptually, when we hear the word ‘ginger’ we think of people with red hair. In fact ginger beers and ales made from fresh root ginger will be an almost light grey in colour. The association of red and ginger comes from a specific type of ginger found in Malaysia which was common during the days of the British Empire.

Some ginger ales, especially the lower quality non-alcoholic ones use processed ginger, or ginger powder which has a darker hue to it. Many use ginger essence in conjunction with flavour enhancers and artificial colourings.

For reference, we achieve our golden colour by using exotic sugars and hops and only use very fresh ginger.

Passover

Ginger Beer
Machane Yehudah

A few years ago, I went to a beer bar and shop in Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda market where the owner, an old friend of mine, shared a Tipple with me and his bar-tenders. I apparently inspired one of them to crystallize his own ideas and create an alcoholic ginger beer.

Before it was launched, I saw pictures of production which showed that the ginger was boiled.

We tasted it on Passover and we all noticed that the ginger was cooked and that it was too sweet for our liking. Should be good as a cocktail mixer.

The Best Rival

After Ginger Tipple, the best alcoholic ginger beer comes from on of the leading cocktail mixer producers. With an ABV of 4%and a light to middling sweetness, you are still able to taste the gingers used. I say gingers, because there is a mixture of processed and fresh gingers. They also use better sugars.

Champagne

Ginger BeerI don’t want to boast too much, but if we were to compare the competitors of Ginger Tipple, the first one I reviewed in this blog is like an Asti Spumante. The second like a Cava.

We aim to be the champagne of this sector, and believe that we are that good.

 

Mombasa Menu

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Café Mombasa

In Borgerhout, a suburb of Antwerp with a large Muslim population, there is a popular bar called Café Mombasa. Founded about 5 years ago, it has quickly become a favourite watering hole for beer lovers in the area. There is a broad selection of well-known and rarer beers, an ideal location to find a Ginger Tipple, or so I hoped.

15 Months

Ginger BeerI first went to Mombasa in February 2017 and presented Ginger Tipple to the owner, Rein who ordered immediately. She planned to put it on their menu once they had finished revamping it. I thought it would only take a few weeks.

Some customers of Ginger Tipple have taken up to 6 months to put our beverage on their menus as they change and print their menus once every 6 months.

This time it took 15 months.

The Writing on the Wall

Ginger Beer

Their selection of beers is also written up on a large blackboard behind the bar, and I admit to a feeling of pride when I see Ginger Tipple up there.

Mombasa only serves Belgian beers. It is also one of the few places which serves Dupont’s excellent saison on draught, which is worthy of a blog on its own.

Cycling Motif

There is a bicycle hanging from the ceiling and a lot of bike parts and posters because Beligan’s leading cyclist, Victor Campenaerts,  is a nephew of the owner.

On Friday 4th May, I want to Café Mombasa to replace the old bottles of Ginger Tipple. I arrived there soon after Victor Campenaerts come in 2nd place at the first stage of the Giro D’Italia which this year started in Jerusalem.

Favourites

When my sons are home during vacations, we love going to Café Mombasa because of its atmosphere and beer.

Now there is even more of a reason.

 

 

Tipple on the Catwalk

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Panningen 2018

About one month ago, Ginger Tipple’s distributor in Herentals asked me if I would like to do an event with a customer in Panningen on Sunday April 8th, I answered positively. It was not on Passover, and my sons would be here to help, so it sounded like a great idea.

Step 1 – Where is Panningen?

Ginger BeerPanningen is a small town of 7,500 people in south-eastern Holland. It is also the location of Wijnhuis Panningen, a beautiful wine, spirits and beer store which also stocks Ginger Tipple. Each year Panningen hosts a classic car and fashion event in the town center.

One upmarket clothing store which was exhibiting in the hourly fashion show is called Ginger, run by Elly van Bilzen, who has ginger hair.

For the first anniversary of her store what could be more appropriate than to offer Ginger Tipple to Ginger’s customers?

Expectations

Ginger BeerWe expected to be in a small shopping mall, but were happily surprised to be outside the shop on the main shopping area right next to the fashion show. There were ballet performances from the local girls’ dance school and a local fitness studio staged an impressive exhibition of weight training and boxing.

It was most probably the first time citizens of Panningen saw orthodox Jews with their skullcaps on their heads, but it did not seem to affect the flow of people to our stand.

The people there were very friendly and open to talking to strangers.

We were really lucky with the weather, a pleasant and sunny 25 Celsius; had it rained, a common occurrence in this part of the world, the whole fashion show would have been a disaster. One of the local wine bars had a notice which read “A meal without wine is like a day without sunshine.”

Feedback

Ginger BeerThis was the first event where we were presenting both the regular 8.5% ABV Ginger Tipple and the 4.5% version, Ginger Tipple 4. Also, the stronger Tipples were older, two years as opposed to two months. The Tipple 4 was considered more refreshing while the regular Ginger Tipple came over as more of a “drinker’s” drink.

Thanks to Caspar and Lindsy at the Wijnhuis for their help in initiating and organizing the event. Hopefully we’ll be back next year.